Does Performance Max Still Automatically Outrank Standard Shopping Ads?

No. Google ended Performance Max's automatic auction priority over Standard Shopping campaigns in October 2024, and that rule is still the one governing Google's Shopping auction in 2026: when a Performance Max campaign and a Standard Shopping campaign in the same account target the same product, Ad Rank alone decides which one serves — not campaign type.

What Changed in October 2024

Before this change, Performance Max was built to win automatically over a Standard Shopping campaign bidding on the same product in the same account, regardless of which one had the stronger bid or quality signals. Google announced in October 2024 that it was removing that automatic preference and rolling the update out gradually across accounts. Once rolled out, the two campaign types compete on equal footing, and whichever one has the higher Ad Rank for that auction serves the ad.

How the Auction Decides Now

Ad Rank — the same mechanism Google uses across Search and Shopping generally — now governs which campaign wins when Performance Max and Standard Shopping overlap on a product. Google has said the shift should have a "neutral or positive impact on performance at the account level," since it's no longer possible for a weaker Performance Max bid to automatically beat a stronger Standard Shopping one simply because of campaign type. Standard Shopping's own internal priority setting (High, Medium, or Low) still governs competition among multiple Standard Shopping campaigns, but it doesn't override Performance Max in this cross-type auction.

Microsoft Advertising Made the Same Change

Microsoft Advertising rolled out an equivalent update for its own Performance Max and Shopping campaigns, ending automatic Performance Max priority there as well. If you run parallel campaigns on both Google and Microsoft, the auction logic between Performance Max and standard Shopping campaigns is now consistent across both platforms.

What This Means for Your Account

If you're running both campaign types against overlapping products, the practical effect is that your bids and Quality Score-driven signals in Standard Shopping now matter again in a way they didn't before 2024 — a well-optimized Standard Shopping campaign can out-serve a Performance Max campaign on a given product if its Ad Rank is higher for that auction. Several 2026 Performance Max guides note that advertisers who assumed Performance Max still gets automatic priority are working from outdated advice; current guidance treats the two as auction-equal.

What to Check Before Assuming Either Side Wins

Pull impression share and auction-overlap reports for any product shared between a Performance Max and a Standard Shopping campaign in your account. If Standard Shopping is serving less often than you'd expect given its bid and Quality Score, that's a sign to review your Performance Max budget and asset signals rather than assume the campaign type itself explains the gap — campaign type hasn't explained the outcome since the 2024 change.

Bottom Line

Performance Max has not automatically outranked Standard Shopping since October 2024, and the Ad Rank-based parity between them is still the operative rule in 2026 — audit your overlapping-product auctions on bid and Quality Score signals, not on which campaign type you assumed would win.

Sources: Search Engine Land, "Google shakes up ad auction dynamics for holiday shopping"; Martech, "Google shakes up ad auction dynamics for holiday shopping"; PPC Land, "Performance Max vs. Standard Shopping: Google revamps ad auction for holidays."