Performance Planner

Performance Planner is a Google Ads planning tool that uses machine learning to forecast how adjustments to campaign bids, budgets, and targeting will impact key metrics like clicks, conversions, and revenue. It models different spending scenarios to help advertisers allocate budgets across campaigns for maximum return.

Key Takeaways

• Forecasts campaign performance under different budget and bid scenarios
• Uses machine learning trained on billions of search queries and auction simulations
• Optimizes budget allocation across multiple campaigns simultaneously
• Generates downloadable plans that can be applied directly to campaigns
• Requires at least 72 hours of campaign history and active conversions to generate forecasts

What Is Performance Planner

Performance Planner is found under Tools > Planning > Performance Planner in the 2026 Google Ads interface. Unlike Keyword Planner, which helps you research keywords before launching campaigns, Performance Planner works with your existing campaign data to project future outcomes.

Input	What You Set	Purpose
Campaigns	Select which campaigns to include	Scope the forecast
Date range	Future period to forecast	Monthly or quarterly planning
Target metric	Conversions, conversion value, clicks	What to optimize for
Budget scenarios	Total spend or per-campaign budgets	Model different investment levels

How It Works

Performance Planner builds its forecasts through several steps:

1. Historical analysis — Examines your campaign’s past performance data including conversion rates, CPCs, and seasonal patterns
2. Auction simulation — Models billions of auction scenarios accounting for competitor behavior, query volume trends, and seasonality
3. Budget optimization — Distributes your planned spend across campaigns to maximize the target metric
4. Scenario generation — Produces multiple forecast curves showing performance at different spend levels

The tool presents an interactive chart showing the relationship between spend and conversions. You can drag the spend slider to see projected outcomes, or enter a specific budget to see optimal allocation.

Key outputs:

• Projected clicks, conversions, and conversion value for each campaign
• Recommended budget allocation across campaigns
• Marginal return curves showing diminishing returns at higher spend levels
• Downloadable plan with specific bid and budget settings

Practical Example

An agency plans Q3 budgets for a client with 5 Search campaigns. Current monthly spend: $20,000 generating 400 conversions.

Performance Planner models three scenarios:

Scenario	Monthly Spend	Projected Conversions	Cost/Conversion	ROAS
Conservative	$15,000	340	$44	380%
Current	$20,000	400	$50	350%
Growth	$30,000	520	$58	310%

The tool also reveals that Campaign 3 is underfunded (projected +80 conversions with $3,000 more budget) while Campaign 5 has diminishing returns (cutting $2,000 loses only 10 conversions). The optimal reallocation at $20,000 total: shift $2,000 from Campaign 5 to Campaign 3, gaining a net +70 conversions.

Why It Matters

Performance Planner replaces guesswork in budget allocation with data-driven forecasting. It identifies which campaigns have headroom for growth and which are hitting diminishing returns, enabling smarter budget distribution without increasing total spend. For agencies presenting quarterly plans to clients, it provides the data backing for budget recommendations and spend projections. The forecasts are not guarantees, but they are grounded in actual auction dynamics and historical conversion patterns.