Changes To Google Ads Target-Based Bid Strategies

Come August 17th, 2026, Google will implement a significant system change that will impact campaigns limited by budget using target-based bidding strategies. This includes both target CPA (tCPA) and target ROAS (tROAS). The change is designed to make performance more accurate and consistently match the target settings throughout its duration, including after budget changes are made. 

Campaigns Impacted

NOTE: This change will impact Search, Shopping, PMax, Demand Gen, Display, Hotel, and Travel campaigns. 

Why This Change Matters

This is important for target-based campaigns with budget constraints because this change can negatively impact results. These types of campaigns are often capable of “overperforming” their goals due to Google’s flexibility; this change will result in Google adjusting performance based on the constrained budget and target settings. Thus, a performance decline can happen in campaigns that are yielding better results than their goals. It will be more controlled and less free to latch onto higher performance levels. Call it “controlled consistency.” 

Example of the Impact

For example, if a tCPA campaign is set to $25 and it’s been getting a $14 CPA, this change will work to get that number closer to a $25 tCPA, despite a history of performing to a $14 CPA. 

Brand Campaigns Will Be Hit the Hardest

This scenario is particularly prominent with brand campaigns, which are typically high-converting at higher CPAs. One can often count on brand campaigns to outperform their goals. Even with budget constraints and target goals, they still achieve good results due to consistent high-converting traffic. As long as that traffic keeps coming in and converting, Google allows that wiggle room to overperform. A drop in brand performance can greatly impact overall ad lead cost and ROAS, especially for businesses that rely heavily on brand traffic to drive results.

Review Existing Campaigns

Understandably, it’s easy to be hesitant to adjust successful campaigns. The idea of a campaign needing to “relearn” is always nerve-racking. However, in this case, it’s important to review all campaigns limited by budget with target-based bid strategies. Here’s what you can do to prepare:

1. Update Target Settings 

One of the first things to do is compare historical performance vs. target settings. Now is the opportune time to update those target settings to match the actual performance, so Google can learn and optimize towards the same level it’s been performing at. If the tROAS is at 500% and the campaign has historically generated a 9.0 ROAS, consider changing the tROAS to 900%.

2. Consider Alternative Bid Strategies

If one desires more freedom with performance, rather than a set goal, then it would be wise to change bid strategies altogether if a campaign has a target set. Either get more clamped down with settings, or let the campaign just fly with no specific cost-per-lead or ROAS targets, and let historical data help guide it. This could include taking the target ROAS off a Max Conversion Value bid strategy or removing a target CPA on a Max Conversions strategy.

3. Increase Budgets Where Appropriate

The other option is to increase budgets. Since this scenario will greatly impact those “limited by budget,” giving those campaigns more money to scale appropriately is an option if the funds are available. Even so, scaling all at once could be risky and should be done incrementally over a few weeks, while observing the performance between budget increases.  

Don’t Wait, Update Your Campaign Settings Now

This change should be taken seriously. It might require a small setting adjustment, but it can definitely help prevent a dip in performance on budget-limited campaigns. Having this done sooner rather than later is important, too, before that August 17 implementation date hits.