Performance Max Agency: What to Ask Before Signing

Most lists of questions to ask a Google Ads agency are opinions. They sound sensible, they are hard to argue with, and a well-drilled salesperson can pass every one of them without committing to anything you could later hold them to.

Performance Max makes that worse. Google’s automation now handles bidding, placements and creative combinations, so the old proof questions about bid management no longer separate a good firm from a poor one. Both will say the machine handles it, and both will be right.

There is a better source of questions. Google publishes rules on what a third party must disclose to advertisers, and documents exactly which campaign controls survive the automation. Questions drawn from those two documents have answers that are either correct or not — which is the entire point. The audit walkthrough below shows what those answers look like inside a real account.

PART 1 · DIAGNOSE

Why the Usual Agency Questions Stopped Working

IN BRIEFQuestions about keywords, bids and ad rotation no longer test anything, because Google’s automation owns those decisions. Ask instead about the inputs and disclosures that remain the advertiser’s, which is where a Performance Max and Shopping partner either earns its fee or does not.

Three shifts explain why a familiar question set now passes almost everyone.

• The execution questions answer themselves — Google documents Performance Max as using its AI for bidding, budget optimisation, audiences, creatives and attribution. Asking how a firm manages bids invites a description of something it no longer does.
• The reporting questions get a dashboard — every agency can produce a screen of numbers. Whether those numbers separate branded from non-branded revenue is a different question, and far fewer firms answer it comfortably.
• The experience questions reward age, not fit — years in business tells you a firm survived. It does not tell you whether it will set conversion values before spending your budget.

The replacement is narrower than it looks. Ask only what has a documented right answer, and let everything else be conversation. Our list of agency warning signs covers the softer signals worth noticing alongside.

PART 2 · DIAGNOSE

The Four Questions That Sort a Shortlist Fastest

IN BRIEFFour Performance Max agency questions remove more candidates than a fortnight of proposal comparison. Ask them in writing, in the same order, of every firm — including the one you already like. Our review of Malaysian Performance Max agencies uses the same standard.

Each question below comes with what a usable answer must contain. Anything vaguer is a no.

1. What target return will you point the campaign at? A usable answer names a CPA or ROAS figure and explains where it came from. Google’s own description of Performance Max puts your CPA or ROAS target among the inputs that steer the system, so a firm without one is handing the automation a blank instruction.
2. Whose name will the accounts be in? Yours — Google Ads, Merchant Center and the conversion actions. A firm that wants ownership is asking to keep your data if the relationship ends, as our note on who should own your Google Ads account explains.
3. What is your fee, separately from ad spend? A figure, in writing, before you buy anything. This is not a negotiating position; it is a Google disclosure requirement covered in the next section.
4. Which campaign controls will you set, and why those? Search themes, negative keywords, brand exclusions and Final URL expansion are documented settings. A firm that cannot list its choices is funding a campaign rather than steering one.

Write the answers down during the call rather than afterwards. Recollection flatters whoever spoke most confidently.

BENCHMARK BRIEFING 1 OF 4

What Does Google’s Third-Party Policy Entitle You to Ask?

IN BRIEFGoogle’s transparency rules for third parties are published and specific. They convert four polite requests into entitlements, which changes the tone of the conversation entirely — you are checking compliance, not asking a favour.

Each row pairs a documented obligation with the question that tests it.

PART 3 · DESIGN

Questions About Money: Fee, Spend and the Invoice

IN BRIEFYou cannot calculate a return on a blended figure. Insist on the fee and the media spend as two separate numbers, then decide which fee model suits your growth plan. The split matters more than the size, as our breakdown of management fee versus ad spend sets out.

Three fee models dominate the Malaysian market, and each one quietly rewards different agency behaviour. None is dishonest. They simply point the incentive in different directions, so choose the one whose incentive matches what you need next year.

BENCHMARK BRIEFING 2 OF 4

Which Questions Actually Change the Outcome?

IN BRIEFNot every question carries equal weight. Ranked by how much a poor answer costs you over a year, measurement and ownership sit far above the pitch topics most owners spend their meeting on.

Relative weighting below is our judgment of downstream cost, not a measured figure.

PART 4 · DESIGN

Questions About the Controls Google Still Gives You

IN BRIEFGoogle lists five campaign-level controls that Performance Max keeps. Each is a fair question with a checkable answer. Together they separate a firm steering the campaign from one merely funding it, which is the same divide our comparison with standard Shopping explores.

These five are the sharpest Performance Max agency questions in the whole list, because each has a documented answer. Ask which the firm will use on your account, and why those choices rather than the defaults.

• Brand exclusions — Google states that a Performance Max campaign may show for branded keywords already in your Search campaign, particularly when that campaign is budget-limited. Excluding your brand is how you stop paying twice for the same customer.
• Negative keywords — a documented control, not a Search-only feature. A firm unaware of it will report waste as learning.
• Search themes — Google prioritises these like phrase and broad match keywords, so they nudge rather than dictate. Ask which themes were added and on what reasoning.
• Final URL expansion — when it is on, Google may swap your landing page for one it judges more relevant. Whether that suits you depends on how deep and well-organised your site is.
• Keywordless targeting — the default state the other four controls exist to shape. A firm treating it as untouchable has not read the documentation.

Google’s own guidance on search targeting and controls covers all five. Ask separately about asset groups and product filters, since how your catalogue is split decides which products get budget. One asset group holding everything is still a decision, just an unexamined one.

BENCHMARK BRIEFING 3 OF 4

When Should Each Question Be Asked?

IN BRIEFQuestions asked too late lose their power. Ownership and fee belong before signature, because afterwards you are negotiating from inside a contract rather than outside one.

The sequence below is a review schedule, not a forecast.

PART 5 · DEPLOY

How to Get the Answers Into the Contract

IN BRIEFA good answer that never reaches the contract is a good conversation. Five steps turn spoken answers into clauses, alongside the wider terms in our guide to digital marketing contract terms worth negotiating.

How to turn agency answers into contract clauses

Work through these in order, between the final pitch and signature.

1. Write the four answers into the scope. Target return, account ownership, fee split and the named controls go in as text, not as an appendix nobody reads.
2. Name the reporting set. List the reports you expect monthly — channel performance, asset group reporting and conversion tracking at minimum — so “reporting” is not left to interpretation.
3. Add the branded revenue split. Require branded and non-branded results reported separately from day one. This single clause prevents most month-eight arguments.
4. Agree the handover on exit. Accounts, feeds, conversion actions and creative files stay with you. Google lets an agency work through shared account access, so there is no technical reason for transfer of ownership.
5. Set a review date, not just a notice period. A fixed ninety-day review turns “give it more time” into a scheduled decision.

BENCHMARK BRIEFING 4 OF 4

What Does a Weak Answer Usually Hide?

IN BRIEFWeak answers are rarely lies. They are usually an honest signal that a decision has not been made yet — useful information, provided you read it correctly rather than politely.

Answers grouped by theme, with the strong version and what the weak version tends to mean.

PART 6 · DRIVE

The Questions Worth Re-Asking After Ninety Days

IN BRIEFPre-signing questions test intent. The same questions after ninety days test delivery, and the gap between the two answers is the most useful thing you will learn all quarter.

Three re-asks matter more than the rest.

• Are we still aiming at the target we agreed? Targets drift quietly when results disappoint. A change is fine; an unannounced change is not.
• How much of the revenue is branded? If growth came from customers already searching your name, the campaign found your existing demand rather than new demand.
• Which controls changed, and why? Asset groups, exclusions and themes should have moved by now. A settings screen identical to launch means nobody has read the reports.

FAQ

Common Questions Before Signing With a Performance Max Agency

1. What are the most important Performance Max agency questions to ask?

Ask about the target return, account ownership, the fee quoted apart from spend, and which campaign controls will be set. It depends slightly on your situation, since a retailer with a large catalogue should press harder on feed ownership. Those four still sort most shortlists faster than anything else.

2. Should the agency own my Google Ads account?

No — the account should be in your business name, with access shared to the agency. It depends on nothing much, as Google supports shared account access for exactly this arrangement. Owning the account keeps your conversion history and campaign data yours if the relationship ends.

3. Is an agency allowed to quote one combined figure for fee and ad spend?

It should not, and you should not accept it. Google requires third parties to disclose a management fee in writing before the first purchase and on every invoice, so a blended number sits awkwardly with that rule. Without the split, you cannot calculate a return on either part.

4. How do I test whether an agency really understands Performance Max?

Ask which of the five documented campaign controls they will set on your account and why. It depends on the answer’s specificity, since naming brand exclusions and search themes with reasons is very different from promising to optimise. Vague answers usually mean the defaults will stay.

5. How long should the first contract run?

Long enough to judge the channel, with a review date inside it rather than at the end. It depends on your conversion volume, because thin data takes longer to settle. A ninety-day written review beats a short contract, since it forces a decision instead of a renewal reflex.

THE VERDICT

Ask Fewer Questions, and Only the Checkable Ones

A long question list feels thorough and rarely is. The Performance Max agency questions that carry documented right answers tell you more than twenty opinions would. A firm can perform enthusiasm, but it cannot invent a Google policy saying the opposite of what it says.

The stakes are ordinary commercial ones. Malaysia’s services sector recorded RM682.0 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2026, up 8.1 per cent year on year, according to the Department of Statistics Malaysia. In a market that size, a year of undirected ad spend is a genuine cost rather than a rounding error.

So name your target, keep the accounts, split the fee from the spend, and get the control list in writing. Do that and the choice usually makes itself, whether or not the firm you pick appears on our own list. The same discipline transfers to the organic side, as our 2026 shortlist of Malaysian SEO agencies shows.