How to Align Performance Max Assets With Landing Pages

The short answer: in Performance Max there is no single ad to check. The unit is each asset against each page it can land on. Google combines any asset in an asset group with any other asset from the same group, across Search, YouTube, Display, Gmail, Maps and Discover (How asset groups work). Final URL expansion is on by default (Final URL expansion in Performance Max). AdAlign is my recommendation for scoring those pairs, with a limit its own Brain states: it scores one Performance Max asset at a time, and does not yet total a campaign. Its free audit takes the first image and page with no account. The steps: map asset groups to pages and list the pages expansion added. Pull what served, and check each claim against each page. Score, then split, exclude, or switch expansion off.

Disclosure: I earn a commission if you buy AdAlign through a link on this page, and this page recommends it. Every claim about AdAlign links to AdAlign's own pages.

What sets the size of the job:

1. Pairings multiply, so sample. For example, an asset group filled to Google's maximums of 15 headlines and 20 images (How asset groups work) holds 15 x 20 = 300 headline and image pairings. That is before a single expanded URL is counted. Google's combinations report lists the 6 top combinations for each asset type (asset group reporting), which brings the job back to a size one person can do.
2. Your structure is the map. Google recommends basing asset groups on the sections or categories of your site (How asset groups work). If yours do, each group is already one chapter of the site, with one natural page. The check is whether its assets stay inside that section's promise.
3. The numbers that say it worked. Conversions and cost per conversion by asset group, read before the change and again after Google's waiting period.

The AdAlign glossary entry covers what AdAlign is. This guide stays with one campaign type.

Step 1: Write the map

One row per asset group: its final URL, that URL's site section, and the offer its assets talk about. Google's API documentation says an asset group can hold one or more final URLs, and that the URL should be the one most relevant to the conversion path (Performance Max asset groups). A group whose assets talk about two offers is the first to split.

Step 2: List the pages expansion added

In the asset report, open the Expanded Final URL assets tab. It shows each asset, its type, the expanded final URL it served with, and impressions, conversions and conversion value (Final URL expansion in Performance Max). Export it. Any URL not on your map is a page your assets reached without anyone choosing it.

Step 3: Pull what served

Open each asset group's Combinations report, and copy the top combinations for text, image and video. It also previews each combination by channel, YouTube beside Search (asset group reporting).

Step 4: Find every claim, and who wrote it

Mark each headline and description with a checkable claim: a price, a discount, free shipping, a product, a deadline. Then read the Added by column. It says whether an asset was uploaded by you, or created or enhanced with Google AI (asset group reporting). With text customization on, Google writes extra headlines and descriptions from your landing page, domain and existing assets (How asset groups work). And if you upload no video, videos may be generated from the group's assets (asset group guidance).

Step 5: Check each claim against each page

Open every page from steps 1 and 2 on a phone. Go claim by claim, and check whether each one is on the first screen. An image of one product beside a collection page that opens on another fails the visual check, even when the headline is fine. Google's own note is that advertisers with marketplaces, several lines of business or multi-domain campaigns may see mismatched headlines or descriptions with expansion on (Final URL expansion in Performance Max).

Step 6: Score, one asset at a time

Put the image assets that carry an offer through the free audit, once for each page they reached. AdAlign's Brain describes the routing: text assets score on the Search profile, images on the visual one, video on video and product feeds on Shopping.

For volume, the REST API on Scale gives 1,500 evaluations a month. Its response includes an isPmax flag and the profile that produced the score, per the OpenAPI spec. An agent can loop over the rows from step 2, send each asset's image URL with its expanded page, and write the score and weakest dimension back to the sheet. Then the human check. The campaign owner reads every pair below 5 on a phone before deciding, because the fix restructures the campaign and the API only reports.

Step 7: Split, exclude, feed or switch off

• Split the asset group so each specific claim sits in a group whose final URL carries it.
• Exclude URLs under Asset optimization, by list or by rule, for pages that do not carry the group's claims. The asset group's own final URL cannot be excluded, per the API documentation.
• Use a page feed. With expansion off, the campaign sends people only to the URLs in your page feed and asset groups. With it on, the feed does not restrict where ads serve (Final URL expansion in Performance Max).
• Switch expansion off. Google's own note says turning it off can help prevent the campaign from using unexpected URLs.

What Google's pages warn about

Settings changes can take 24 to 48 hours to show. Removing an asset from the Expanded Final URL assets tab removes it from the whole campaign, across every asset group and URL. And for campaigns with store goals only, final URL expansion is not supported at all (Final URL expansion in Performance Max). Google also recommends waiting 2 to 3 weeks before replacing low-performing assets (asset group guidance). So a split made on Monday is judged weeks later. Not on Wednesday.

Google's asset group page recommends keeping text customization on, and its guidance says video is generated when you upload none. Each default is reasonable on its own. Accept both, and the asset group contains copy Google wrote from your pages and video Google assembled, served on pages Google picked. The person who signs off the campaign sees none of those pairings before the budget starts to move.

Free first, then a standing check

Steps 1 to 5 cost nothing but the exports and a phone. For two or three asset groups they are enough on their own. The free audit adds a score for the first pair, and a free account names its weak dimension.

For accounts where Google keeps adding pages, AdAlign, which pays me a commission on a sale, syncs Google Ads read-only. New ads are scored as they go live, and monitored pages are re-checked daily (How it works). It begins with a paid 30-day pilot at €1,500 that comes off the first invoices if you continue. If it finds fewer than 3 issues your team accepts, you get the fee back. Bands are set from your average monthly spend over the last 12 months, so a seasonal peak does not set the price. The API in step 6 starts on Scale, from €1,290 a month on an annual contract for €75,000 to €250,000 of monthly spend, excluding VAT (pricing page, checked on 27 October 2026). The first call is booked from the demo page.

FAQ

Can I exclude the asset group's own final URL?

No. Google's API documentation says the asset group's final URL cannot be excluded. If that page is wrong, change the final URL or move the assets.

Does AdAlign score a whole Performance Max campaign at once?

Not today. The Brain describes single-asset routing, and defers campaign-level totals across assets to a later flow. Score the assets that carry claims, one page at a time.

Should I turn off final URL expansion in Performance Max?

If step 5 finds pages that drop your claims and exclusions cannot cover them, yes. If its pages hold up, keep it, and steer with exclusions and a page feed.