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SupportNovember 2025 PMax updates bring Waze inventory and detailed channel reporting. Master the new transparency tools and secure your budget with ClickSambo
Özgül Yavuz Kaddoura
PMax Updates Nov 2025: Waze Ads & Channel Reporting
The Waze Integration: PMax Goes Hyper-Local
On November 6, 2025, Google officially integrated Waze ads inventory into Performance Max for store goals campaigns. This is a massive shift for local advertising, unlocking access to over 150 million active drivers.
Your business can now appear as "Promoted Places in Navigation" pins directly on users' maps during their drives. Unlike traditional search ads where users are researching ("coffee shops near me"), Waze ads target users who are already in transit, making real-time decisions about where to stop.
Zero Setup Required: Performance Max automatically uses your existing assets to optimize for Store Visits, Store Sales, or Local Actions (Directions).
Strategic Timing: Google notes this is "especially helpful during last-minute trips or long journeys over the holidays," capturing high-intent traffic that was previously unreachable via standard Search.
*Note: Currently available in the U.S., with international expansion planned for 2026.
The Transparency Revolution: Channel Performance Reporting
The "Black Box" era is ending. One of the most requested features since 2021 is finally here: Channel Performance Reporting for all advertisers. You no longer have to guess where your budget is going.
The new reporting interface breaks down Clicks, Conversions, Conversion Value, and Cost by specific channels:
- Search
- Shopping
- YouTube
- Display
- Discover
- Gmail & Maps
Why this changes everything: Imagine your PMax campaign spends $5,000/month. Previously, you saw an aggregate CPA. Now, you might see that YouTube drives conversions at $27.94 CPA, while Search delivers them at $14.57. With this data, you can make informed decisions—like adjusting asset groups to favor search-specific creative over video content if efficiency is your goal.
Agency Bonus: Agencies managing multiple clients can now view this data at the Manager Account (MCC) level, streamlining portfolio management.
The Negative Keyword & Security Protocol
Building on the January 2025 update, advertisers can now add up to 10,000 negative keywords per campaign. This is critical for blocking unprofitable traffic (e.g., "free," "jobs," "manual").
However, even with better reporting and negative keywords, PMax remains vulnerable to sophisticated invalid traffic.
The 2025 Defense Strategy
PMax's automated nature necessitates a transition from passive monitoring to active defense. Standard settings typically focus on spending, not budget protection. Here are the expert-level protection protocols for 2025:
Step 1: Audit Waze Traffic (Mobile Security)
Waze ads are powerful for local businesses, but they inherently generate 100% mobile traffic. This makes them vulnerable to "GPS Spoofing" bots.
- The Risk: Bot farms can use emulators to simulate GPS signals, making it appear as though they are driving near your store to trigger local ads.
- The Solution: Use ClickSambo to verify the source of these clicks. Our system analyzes IP and device data to distinguish between a real driver and a stationary bot, blocking the fake traffic instantly.
Step 2: Sanitize Display Placements
Thanks to the new "Channel Reporting," you can now see exactly how much of your budget is going to the Display Network.
- Analysis: Cross-reference your Display spend in Google's Channel Report with ClickSambo's Fraud Data by Placement report.
- Critical Action: Identify placements with a Fraud Rate > 10% and add them to your Account-Level Negative Placement List.
- The Result: This forces the PMax algorithm to exit "dirty" Display inventory and shifts your budget towards cleaner, higher-converting channels like Search.
Step 3: Data-Driven Placement Sanitation (The Account-Level Mandate)
Instead of blindly trusting Google's "optimized" placements, use ClickSambo’s Fraud Data by Placement report to identify toxic inventory.
The Problem: PMax often dumps budget into high-traffic news sites or mobile apps that generate accidental clicks or bot views.
The Protocol: Identify placements with a Fraud Rate > 10% in your ClickSambo dashboard.
The Critical Action: Add these specific domains to your Account-Level Negative Placement List.
Technical Constraint: As confirmed in Google Ads API developer discussions , Performance Max does not support campaign-level placement exclusions. If you try to block a site only within the PMax campaign settings, the algorithm ignores it. You must apply the block at the Account Level for it to take effect.
The Impact: This forces PMax to respect the exclusion, moving your budget away from toxic publishers and towards high-quality inventory like Search and Shopping.
Step 4: Real Time Device & IP Analysis
Manual exclusions are reactive and often too slow. Sophisticated fraud uses residential proxies that rotate IP addresses within seconds.
Protocol: Integrate ClickSambo's tracking code on all landing pages.
Action: Our system analyzes over 100 data points (device fingerprinting, mouse movements, network anomalies) in milliseconds. We automatically push IPs detected as invalid to your Google Ads exclusion list via API.
Impact: This method serves as a proactive shield, preventing fraudulent sources from draining your daily budget before they act.
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