Performance Max Just Got Its First Network Controls in Almost Five Years

Since Performance Max launched, there has been no way to control where it actually spends your money. That just changed for the first time in almost five years.

Google is alpha testing a new Partners setting inside PMax. Two checkboxes.

One for the Search Partner Network, one for the Google Display Network. Until now, both of those were baked in automatically. No opt out, no visibility, just trust the algorithm.

What’s Actually New: Two Checkboxes

The setting is labeled “Partners (Alfa)” in the test interface and sits in a campaign’s Other settings area, below Locations and Languages.

It exposes two independent checkboxes, one to opt in or out of the Search Partner Network and one for the Google Display Network, according to Digital Applied’s coverage of the alpha.

Both checkboxes are enabled by default, which means current PMax behavior is completely unchanged unless an advertiser actively goes in and opts out of one or both networks.

That default matters.

Google has given no timeline for a wider rollout beyond the current limited alpha, and nothing about your account changes on its own. If you want this control, you have to go find it.

Why This Is a Big Deal

Performance Max launched in November 2021 as a fully automated campaign type.

Google’s systems choose which networks to run ads on, which creative assets to use, and how to allocate budget across Search, YouTube, Display, Discover, Gmail, and Maps.

Standard Search campaigns have offered an opt out for Google Search Partners for years. PMax never has, until this alpha, according to Prooflytics’ breakdown of the feature.

Previously, if a PMax advertiser wanted to exclude partner placements entirely, the only option was to exit Performance Max and rebuild campaigns in individual campaign types where network exclusions are available, a tradeoff that was often not viable for accounts where PMax was the primary campaign structure.

Media buyers have been asking for this exact control since day one, and until this test, the honest answer was always the same: there isn’t one.

The Timeline That Got Us Here

This did not appear out of nowhere. Google has been expanding PMax transparency incrementally for over a year, without actually handing advertisers a control lever, according to TechWyse’s timeline of the buildup.

Full search terms reporting, richer asset metrics, and channel-level performance reporting arrived first.

In January 2026, Google activated account-level placement exclusions that apply simultaneously across PMax, Demand Gen, YouTube, and Display, and rolled out channel reporting with Search Partner Network segmentation to every account.

In February 2026, Google permanently removed parked domains, a widely criticized inventory category, from the Search Partner Network, and extended placement visibility into PMax’s “when and where ads showed” reports, according to ALM Corp’s analysis of that update.

Each step gave advertisers better diagnostic power. None of them gave advertisers the ability to actually turn a network off. This alpha is the first one that does.

Two Separate Sightings, Same Direction

The feature was first spotted in a live account and reported on April 30, 2026, credited to a practitioner named Dekker, according to PPC Land’s original coverage.

It resurfaced in a different account in mid-July, this time credited to PPC growth strategist Saquib Syed and reported by Search Engine Land on July 15, 2026.

Two separate sightings, months apart, in different accounts, both showing the same “Partners (Alfa)” setting. That pattern reads less like a one-off glitch and more like a slow, deliberate expansion of a limited test, still without any public commitment to when or whether it reaches general availability.

Why Search Partners and GDN Specifically Draw Scrutiny

Both networks have a documented quality problem.

Search Partners are a collection of third-party search engines, apps, and websites that syndicate Google’s search ads, and traffic quality varies significantly across them.

A January 2026 investigation found that Google Ads was purchasing X inventory programmatically through Search Partners and Video Partners, exposing brands to a placement many had explicit policies against, an issue that touched Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Display alike, since automated optimization in those campaign types tends to gravitate toward cheap inventory.

Display placements carry their own long-running concerns around invalid traffic, spammy clicks, and inflated conversion counts that do not hold up under closer inspection.

AdBeacon has covered the broader pattern behind this kind of platform-controlled traffic in why platforms shouldn’t grade their own homework.

PMax is the sharpest version of that problem in the entire Google Ads product line. When the algorithm decides where to spend, reports the results, and controls whether you can even see the breakdown, there has never been an independent check on whether that spend was worth it. This alpha is the first crack in that setup, not a fix for it.

What To Actually Do

Go check your account for this setting before you assume it’s not there yet.

Look inside every active PMax campaign’s Other settings, below Locations and Languages, for a “Partners (Alfa)” option. Alpha tests roll out to a narrow, Google-selected set of accounts, so you may have it without having asked for it.

If you have it, do not flip both checkboxes off reflexively. Pull your existing channel-level and Search Partner Network reporting first and see what those networks have actually been contributing before you cut them.

If you don’t have it yet, you still have tools. Account-level placement exclusions under Tools and Settings, Shared Library, Placement Exclusions already apply across PMax, Demand Gen, Display, and YouTube, and can catch the worst offenders while you wait for direct network controls.

Revisit this in a few weeks. Given the gap between the April and July sightings, this alpha appears to be expanding gradually, not appearing everywhere at once.

None of this means Search Partners or Display are automatically bad for your account. It means you have never actually been able to test that assumption at the network level inside PMax, and for the first time, a small number of advertisers now can.

If you want to see how much of your PMax budget is actually converting versus quietly leaking into lower-quality inventory, independent of what Google’s own dashboard chooses to surface, book a live AdBeacon demo and look at the real numbers.

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FAQ

What is the new Partners setting in Performance Max?

It is an alpha test Google is running inside PMax that adds two independent checkboxes, one for the Search Partner Network and one for the Google Display Network, letting advertisers opt out of either network for the first time since PMax launched in November 2021.

Is the Performance Max Partners setting available to everyone?

No. It is a limited alpha test visible only in a narrow, Google-selected set of accounts. Google has not announced a timeline for a wider beta or general availability.

Will my PMax campaigns change automatically because of this update?

No. Both the Search Partner Network and Google Display Network checkboxes are enabled by default in the alpha, which means existing campaign behavior stays exactly the same unless you actively find the setting and opt out.

Why has Google never let advertisers exclude networks from Performance Max before?

PMax was built as a fully automated campaign type where Google’s systems choose placements, creative, and budget allocation. Google added reporting and visibility features incrementally starting in 2025, but this alpha is the first update that gives advertisers an actual control lever rather than just more data to look at.

What can I do if I don’t have this setting yet?

Account-level placement exclusions, available under Tools and Settings, already apply across Performance Max, Demand Gen, Display, and YouTube campaigns simultaneously, and can be used to block known low-quality placements while the network-level alpha remains limited.