Performance Max now gives you a choice about where local traffic lands from paid search. Here's what changed and why it matters for your conversion funnel.
Google Ads shipped a change to Performance Max that hands back control to advertisers. Starting September 15, 2026, you can now choose whether clicks from your PMax campaign land on your website or on your Google Business Profile instead of letting Google route the traffic for you.
Performance Max is built to chase conversions at scale, but it didn't care where the conversion happened. A local plumber or a retail shop owner might have seen half their PMax clicks go to the website and half to their Business Profile, even if one destination converts way better than the other. Now you get to pick which one gets the traffic.
This is important because the two destinations serve different customer intents. Your Business Profile is optimized for immediacy: a customer sees your hours, address, phone number, and recent reviews in a single glance. Your website is optimized for browsing: product pages, filters, comparison, shopping cart. For a local business pulling traffic from paid search, one of those destinations will almost always crush the other. Now you can choose.
This change is live now for most advertisers. If you're running Performance Max campaigns, check your campaign settings when you next edit a PMax ad group. The landing destination option will appear in the same place you'd normally choose your website URL.
For most local and small business owners, the biggest win here is control: you no longer have to accept Google's choice of where your paid traffic lands. You know your customers better than the algorithm does. Now you can prove it with conversion data.
How WebKing runs this
We set up Performance Max campaigns that send local clicks to your Business Profile when foot traffic or phone calls matter more than web sales, and to your website when you need them in your shopping cart or form. Testing both tells us which one converts your customers.
Your website shows your full product catalog and checkout flow, best for online sales. Your Business Profile shows hours, location, phone, photos, and reviews, best for driving store visits or calls. Google now lets you choose which one matters more for each campaign instead of deciding it for you.
If your business makes money from foot traffic, phone calls, or local customers leaving reviews, the Business Profile is a faster path to conversion than clicking through your full website. It gets local shoppers to your address, hours, and call button in one step.
Yes. You can run Performance Max campaigns that send traffic to your website and separate ones that send to your Business Profile, then compare which destination drives more of the conversions you actually care about (sales, calls, store visits).
The new option appears in Performance Max campaign creation. You choose your landing destination (website or Business Profile) before you launch. If you're not seeing it yet, the feature is rolling out to all advertisers as of September 2026.
Sources
The Lab is original analysis by WebKing. We summarize and interpret developments from the sources above for industrial, commercial, and small business owners. Figures are reported as published by their sources.
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