What is an asset group in Performance Max?
A creative library organized around a single theme
An asset group is a collection of creative elements centered on a specific theme, product category, service, or audience. Google uses the items within this group to automatically assemble ads likely to generate the best results based on the channel, the user, and the context of the placement.
Assets within the same group can be combined with one another. For instance, a headline might appear with various images, descriptions, or videos. It is therefore essential to ensure that every potential combination remains logical, coherent, and consistent with the promise of the landing page.
To see how this structure fits into the platform's ecosystem, also check out our guide on the different types of Google Ads campaigns.
On which channels can assets be displayed?
Performance Max provides access to the entire Google Ads inventory from a single campaign. Combinations created from the group can be used across Search, Google Maps, YouTube, the Display Network, Discover, Gmail, and Google partner sites. However, not all assets are used on every channel: video primarily powers YouTube, while headlines and descriptions are mainly used in text and responsive formats.
Diversity in formats is therefore essential. A group consisting only of square images or a single horizontal video limits the ability to adapt to different placements and screens.
This logic is part of a broader trend toward campaign automation. Our article on how Google Ads is transforming SEA strategies details the key changes to incorporate into your management approach.
What is the difference between an asset group and an ad group?
An ad group is the structure used in campaigns like Search or Display to organize ads, keywords, or targeting. An asset group is specific to Performance Max: it brings together components that Google automatically combines to create various ad formats.
However, the logic remains similar in one respect: each group must represent a consistent intent or offer. For example, it would be ill-advised to mix a B2B consulting offer, an e-commerce promotion, and a recruitment campaign in the same group, as the copy, visuals, and landing pages do not address the same need.
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What elements make up a Performance Max asset group?
Text assets
A group without a Merchant Center feed must include at least three short headlines, one long headline, and two descriptions to be published. However, Google recommends going well beyond this minimum to increase the variety of combinations.
A group can contain up to 15 headlines of 30 characters, including at least one headline of 15 characters or less, five long headlines of 90 characters, and five descriptions of 90 characters. It also includes a business name of up to 25 characters, a call to action, and a final URL.
Variations should present truly different angles: primary benefit, social proof, use case, differentiating feature, reassurance, urgency, or a commercial offer. Simply changing the word order provides little value to the algorithm.
Images and logos
Images are used to adapt the campaign to Google's visual environments. It is recommended to provide at least four horizontal images in 1.91:1 format, four square images, and two vertical images in 4:5 format. The group can contain up to 20 images in total.
Creatives must remain legible when cropped and displayed in small placements. Place the product, face, or essential message in the center, limit embedded text, and avoid duplicating the exact same composition across all ratios.
For logos, Google allows up to five files. A square logo is required when manual creatives are added, while a horizontal logo is highly recommended. White logos on transparent backgrounds may become illegible when displayed on a light background.
Videos
Video allows the campaign to access more YouTube inventory and multi-screen formats. Google recommends uploading 16:9 horizontal, 9:16 vertical, and 1:1 square videos, each at least ten seconds long. Up to 15 videos can be associated with a group, across all orientations.
Adding a video is not always technically mandatory. If no video is provided, Google can automatically generate them from the available images, text, and other assets. While this solution facilitates delivery, it offers less control over pacing, storytelling, and branding. A video designed specifically for the campaign remains preferable.
To quickly produce variants adapted for Performance Max, advertisers can rely on Google Asset Studio and its AI-powered creative tools, while maintaining human validation for each asset.
Final URL, business name, and call to action
Each group has a primary final URL. This page must clearly reflect the product, service, or promise presented in the assets. A disconnect between the ad and the landing page degrades the user experience and complicates campaign learning.
The business name must match the advertiser's legal name or verified domain. The call to action can be selected from Google’s provided list or left in automatic mode. It must remain consistent with the objective: buying, requesting a quote, signing up, discovering an offer, or booking an appointment.
Audience signals
Audience signals provide Google with insights into profiles likely to convert. They can include Customer Match lists, site visitors, custom segments, demographic data, or interests.
These signals do not constitute strict targeting. Performance Max may serve ads to people outside the specified segments if the algorithm determines they have a high probability of achieving the campaign objective. Their role is to accelerate learning, not to permanently limit the audience.
First-party data is generally the most useful: high-value customers, qualified leads, visitors to strategic categories, or users who have performed a significant action. Audiences that are too generic provide little additional information.
Search themes
Search themes allow you to specify the words and phrases customers use to find your offer. They are optional and supplement what Performance Max already infers from assets, feeds, and landing pages.
You can add up to 50 search themes per asset group. These themes do not function like traditional keywords: they provide context to the AI and can help the campaign discover relevant queries more quickly, especially for a new product, a niche offer, or a site with limited content.
Avoid using near-identical synonyms and focus on providing information that is difficult to grasp from the landing page, such as use cases, customer needs, industry terminology, seasonality, or new categories.
Listing groups for e-commerce campaigns
When a campaign is linked to Merchant Center, each asset group also contains a listing group. This determines which products from your feed are eligible to be displayed alongside the group's creative assets.
Products can be organized by category, brand, type, ID, or custom labels from your feed. Your selection must align with the group's text and visuals. A group dedicated to running shoes should not include your entire catalog unless the assets are generic enough to justify it.
A Performance Max Shopping campaign can be launched in feed-only mode without adding text, images, or videos during setup. Once manual assets are added, minimum requirements apply, and it is no longer possible to simply revert to a fully feed-only configuration.
How should you structure your Performance Max asset groups?
Create one group per offer or consistent business segment
The best structure generally follows your offer or website architecture: product category, range, service, customer need, geographic area, or seasonal event. Each group should answer a simple question: what is the promise, who is it for, and which page does it lead to?
For e-commerce, you can base your structure on categories, margin levels, seasonality, or best-sellers. For service companies, it can follow specific offers, use cases, or target sectors. In both cases, groups must be distinct enough to justify their own unique creative assets.
Do not create a separate group for every audience
Creating multiple identical groups with the same assets and URLs, changing only the audience signal, fragments your data without creating a genuine creative strategy. Since signals are not restrictive, delivery can extend beyond the specified audiences anyway.
A new group is only relevant when the message, landing page, visuals, or product selection actually change. Otherwise, it is better to enrich an existing group with multiple useful signals.
Finding the right level of granularity
There is no universal number of asset groups. A simple campaign can work well with a single, highly cohesive group. A large catalog may require several groups, provided that each set has sufficient volume and tailored assets.
Excessive granularity slows down learning, increases maintenance, and makes creative production difficult. Conversely, a single group containing all offers prevents message personalization and complicates analysis. The right structure should remain clear, manageable, and aligned with business priorities.
Controlling Final URL expansion
Final URL expansion is enabled by default in Performance Max. It allows Google to replace the provided URL with another page from the same domain deemed more relevant to the user's search. The system can also generate text tailored to that page.
This automation can improve coverage, but it must be controlled. Exclude non-commercial pages, legal notices, job postings, outdated content, products that are permanently out of stock, or pages that do not align with conversion goals. Page feeds and URL rules can also guide delivery.
URLs are not the only control lever available. The datashake guide on exclusions in Performance Max also covers brand, placement, and audience exclusions to monitor.
How to create an asset group step by step?
1. Define the theme and landing page
Start by choosing a specific offer and a landing page capable of converting. List the need it addresses, the main proof point, potential objections, and the expected action. This foundation will guide all components of the group.
2. Prepare your messaging before formatting
Develop several editorial angles, then adapt them to fit character limits. Short headlines must remain clear on their own. Long headlines can expand on the value proposition, while descriptions provide details, proof, or reassurance.
3. Produce a multi-format creative matrix
Plan for multiple concepts rather than just a single cropped visual. For each concept, produce horizontal, square, and vertical versions. Vary the product shown, the context, the benefit, the level of branding, and the presence of people to give the algorithm genuine options.
4. Add polished videos
Create videos where the message appears in the first few seconds, with recognizable branding and a benefit that is clear even without sound. Vertical formats should not be simple automatic crops of horizontal videos.
To avoid lackluster or generic creative, also check out the main mistakes to avoid on Google Ads.
5. Provide useful signals
Prioritize adding your first-party segments, followed by custom segments built from queries, sites, or apps actually associated with your offer. Supplement these with search themes when you have information that Google cannot easily infer from your site.
6. Check all previews
Google Ads displays previews of possible combinations. Check your ads across different channels for text cut-offs, contrast, cropping, the pairing of headlines and images, and the consistency of your call to action. Any awkward combinations should be corrected before launch.
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How to optimize asset groups after launch?
Analyze the group-level report
The asset group report allows you to compare impressions, clicks, costs, conversions, conversion value, conversion rate, CPA, or ROAS using the available columns. It helps you understand how each creative theme contributes to your campaign goals.
A group with a CPA above the average should not be deleted automatically. It may be reaching an incremental audience, supporting other groups, or contributing to the campaign's marginal performance. Analyze its role in the mix, its volume, its margin, and the quality of conversions before making a decision.
Use asset and combination reports
The asset report helps you identify which components are being served, their status, their metrics, and their last modified date. The combinations report shows the best associations of text, images, and videos, which helps you understand which creative concepts appear in high-performing ads.
These reports should be used to formulate hypotheses: does one benefit seem more compelling? Does a lifestyle image generate more value? Does a vertical format capture attention better? The goal is not to mechanically replace every underperforming asset, but to guide your future concepts.
Correctly interpret conversions by asset
Google Ads now allows you to add conversion metrics to the asset report. While this data improves visibility, it does not function as an exclusive attribution between the components of an ad.
When an ad consisting of a headline, a description, and an image generates a conversion, all three assets may each receive a conversion in the report. Therefore, you should not add these figures together or conclude that a single component caused the result on its own. Compare trends, delivery contexts, and overall group performance instead.
Aim for excellent ad strength without making it your only KPI
The ad strength indicator primarily measures the quantity, variety, and compliance of your assets. Reaching "Excellent" status increases the number of possible combinations and is a best practice, but it does not guarantee profitability on its own.
The quality of your offer, conversion tracking, bidding strategy, budget, product feed, and landing pages remain the deciding factors. A campaign with many mediocre assets will not necessarily outperform a campaign that is more focused on distinctive and relevant creative.
Test creative with a real methodology
Creating two nearly identical asset groups does not constitute a reliable A/B test: traffic distribution is uncontrolled, and the groups may reach different contexts. To measure the incremental impact of a creative change, use Performance Max optimization tests when available in your account.
Asset tests allow you to evaluate adding creatives to a feed-only campaign, the value of video, or, in certain eligible interfaces, comparing two sets of components within the same group. Define a hypothesis, a primary metric, and a sufficient duration before launching the test.
Refreshing assets based on data and your marketing calendar
There is no need to replace creatives on a fixed schedule. Monitor drops in click-through rates, rising costs, stagnant conversions, frequency, and changes in offers. Also, refresh assets as you approach product launches, promotions, and seasonal peaks.
Keep winning concepts and produce structured variations: a new hook, new social proof, a different demonstration, a new setting, or an adaptation for a specific format. Removing all high-performing assets at once will cause the algorithm to lose useful benchmarks.
Common mistakes to avoid
Mixing multiple offers in the same group
A group that is too broad generates generic combinations and may pair a message with an unsuitable landing page. Separate offers when their benefits, visuals, or destinations are truly different.
Confusing audience signals with targeting
Signals guide the learning process, but they do not prevent the campaign from serving ads beyond those parameters. Do not build your strategy assuming that a group will only reach the specific list or segment provided.
Duplicating the same assets across all groups
Identical groups complicate performance analysis and limit personalization. Each group should feature elements tailored to its specific theme, even if some brand components remain consistent.
Letting Google generate all video content without oversight
Automatic generation can be a quick fix, but it doesn't replace storytelling designed specifically for YouTube and vertical formats. Review the output and upload your own videos whenever your branding or messaging requires precise control.
Ignoring the product feed and landing pages
High-performing creative cannot compensate for an incomplete feed, inconsistent pricing, out-of-stock products, or a slow page. Data quality and the post-click experience are integral to campaign performance.
Optimizing too quickly with insufficient volume
Avoid deleting a group or asset after just a few days or a handful of conversions. Consider the conversion delay, the learning phase, volume, and business value. Decisions should be based on a representative time frame.
Performance Max or Demand Gen: what is the role of creative?
Performance Max uses assets to generate conversions across all Google channels based on a unified goal. Demand Gen places more emphasis on discovery, consideration, and visual environments like YouTube, Discover, Gmail, and the Google Display Network, with creative control and targeting tailored to demand generation.
The two levers can be complementary: Demand Gen creates or nurtures interest with highly visual formats, while Performance Max captures and scales conversion opportunities across multiple channels. The same creative platform can be used, but the messaging, metrics, and campaign structure must remain tailored to each objective.
To learn more about this complementarity, discover how Demand Gen campaigns work on Google Ads.
Conclusion
Asset groups are the creative and structural core of Performance Max campaigns. They allow Google to combine text, images, logos, and videos to create ads tailored to different channels. However, their effectiveness depends on the consistency between the offer, the assets, the landing page, the signals, and, for e-commerce, the products in the Merchant Center feed.
A sound strategy involves creating one group per relevant product category, providing as many truly distinct creative assets as possible, controlling URLs, and analyzing performance at multiple levels. Asset and conversion reports provide greater transparency, but they should be interpreted with caution and supplemented by structured testing.
For complex accounts, choosing the right structure, objectives, and controls requires a comprehensive vision. Also, discover how to choose a SEA agency specializing in Performance Max.
Would you like to audit the structure and creative assets of your Performance Max campaigns?
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FAQ – Everything you need to know about Performance Max asset groups
What is a Performance Max asset group?
It is a collection of text, images, logos, videos, URLs, and signals organized around a single theme. Google combines these components to automatically create ads across the various channels accessible to Performance Max.
How many asset groups should be created per campaign?
There is no ideal number that applies to every account. Create a group whenever an offer, landing page, creative theme, or product selection justifies a different message. Avoid creating multiple groups without a clear commercial distinction.
How many assets can be added to a group?
A group can contain up to 15 headlines, five long headlines, five descriptions, 20 images, five logos, and 15 videos. It also includes a final URL, business name, call to action, up to two URL paths, and up to 50 search themes.
Can you launch Performance Max without images or videos?
An e-commerce campaign linked to Merchant Center can be created in feed-only mode if no manual assets are added initially. For groups without a feed, minimum components are required. If no video is uploaded, Google can generate them automatically.
Do audience signals limit reach?
No. They serve as suggestions to guide the artificial intelligence. Performance Max can serve ads outside of the specified segments if other users appear likely to convert.
Can you use multiple URLs in the same group?
The group has one primary final URL. However, when final URL expansion is enabled, Google may send the user to another relevant page on the same domain. Exclusions and page feeds allow for better control over these destinations.
How do you measure asset performance?
Check the asset, group, and combination reports, then add the available conversion metrics. Keep in mind that a single conversion can be credited to all components present in the ad; therefore, the figures should not be added up or interpreted as individual attribution.
Should all assets rated as "low" be deleted?
No. First, check the volume, duration of delivery, combinations, and overall group performance. Gradually replace components that lack relevance or diversity, without removing all of the campaign's creative benchmarks at once.
