Performance Max is hiding your brand traffic

Performance Max reports one blended figure. Brand search converts at 8 to 14% for most ecommerce stores. Non-brand converts at 1.4 to 2.6%. Averaging them gives you a number that tells you nothing.

Run a brand exclusion list at the account level and a separate brand-only campaign. Two weeks of clean data is enough to see the split. In 41 of the last 50 audits we ran, reported ROAS dropped by more than a third once brand was isolated.

Then set the target on the non-brand campaign only. That is the number that decides whether you can scale.