Starting August 17, 2026, Google will be making changes to its bidding systems, making it easier for you to get more consistent and predictable performance based on the targets you set, even when you make budget adjustments.
Frequently asked questions
Review common questions below to prepare for the upcoming Changes to target-based bidding in Google Ads.
Google recommends that you review your campaigns that are "Limited by budget" and are using target-based bid strategies by August 17, 2026. Ensure your settings align with your business goals, especially for campaigns that are performing better than your targets. Google will not automatically adjust your bidding targets or budgets.
- Understanding the changes and system impact
- What to expect: Performance, spend, and volume
- Recommended actions and optimization
Before you begin
To help you review your campaigns, and update your bid targets, you can access the Target adjustment tool through two different areas in your Google Ads account:
Your account notifications
Use the following steps to access the Target Adjustment Tool from the notification in your account:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- At the top of your account dashboard, find the notification banner with the headline that reads “Review your campaign targets.” You can also find the alert by clicking the Notifications icon
.
- Click Review campaigns. This will launch the standalone Bid Target Adjustment Tool.
The “Campaigns” page
Access the Target adjustment tool from the “Campaigns” page:
- Sign in to your Google Ads account.
- In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon
.
- Click the Campaigns drop-down in the section menu.
- Click Campaigns.
- Next to the campaign whose target you’d like to update, click the Settings icon
.
- Select Bidding, and then click Review campaigns to open the Target Adjustment tool.
.Within Search Ads 360
If your campaigns are managed via Search Ads 360, the tool will not appear in your Google Ads account. Instead, follow these steps:
- Log in to your Search Ads 360 account.
- Look for the account notifications banner and click Review bid strategies to open the target adjustment view.
Understanding the changes and system impact
Why is this change being made?
The current bidding behavior, where budget-constrained campaigns may overperform their stated targets, can be confusing and create unpredictable results when budgets are adjusted. By ensuring campaigns optimize consistently toward your set target regardless of budget, Google Ads aims to provide more reliable control, predictable scaling, and simplified management for your campaigns.
What can I expect from the new behavior?
With this update, your bids are optimized more consistently to your target when your campaign has a limited budget. This change can help deliver more predictable and scalable results when you adjust your budget.
Will this change how the Google Ads auction works?
No. This is specifically a bidding change. Google Ads auction mechanisms will not change. For more information on how our auctions work, visit the About the Google Ads auction.
Will this change impact target-based bid strategy campaigns that are not limited by budget?
No. Target CPA and Target ROAS campaigns that are not budget-constrained will not change their behavior. Campaigns with unconstrained budgets scale performance inline with the stated target and will continue to do so after this update.
Does this update impact Target Impression Share, Target CPC, Target CPM, or manual CPC strategies?
This change applies to Target CPA and Target ROAS across most campaign types (see the eligibility section on this page for details), and specifically Target CPC for Demand Gen campaigns. It does not impact manual CPC or Target Impression Share bid strategies.
Does this impact campaigns using Smart Bidding Exploration?
Generally, no. Smart Bidding Exploration works best with unconstrained budgets, whereas this update specifically impacts target-based bid strategy campaigns that are limited by budget.
Will this change impact bidding for all conversion types and sources?
Yes. This update will impact bidding for all of your conversion types (from both online and offline sources) within affected campaign types. This includes click-through conversions, view-through conversions, and engaged-view conversions where applicable.
What to expect: Performance, spend, and volume
Will this change reduce my performance?
After August 17, campaigns will optimize more consistently toward their set target. This may impact campaigns that are overperforming on bidding targets if you take no action. To maintain current performance, you should update targets to match recent performance before August 17. You can also set a different bid target of your choosing, or switch to Maximize conversions or Maximize conversion value to maximize your ROI within a set budget.
Will this change result in increased spend?
No. This change will not directly result in increased spend for you. Your daily and monthly budget limits will always be respected. The purpose of this change is to ensure that you can consistently scale your campaigns at a predictable target, regardless of the budget you have set.
For multi-channel campaign types, like Performance Max and Demand Gen, how will this change differ from single channel campaigns?
The overall effect of this bidding system update will be the same regardless of the campaign type. However, you may see changes in spend allocation across channels compared to before the update. If you’d like to adjust your targets to account for these changes, review the provided options to keep or adjust your targets.
How are campaigns using portfolio-level bidding or shared budgets impacted?
This change applies to portfolio bidding and shared budget setups, but any actions to adjust targets must be taken at the portfolio bidding or shared budget level. In portfolio strategies with non-shared budgets, only budget-constrained campaigns are impacted. For constrained shared budgets, the impact is distributed uniformly across all campaigns in that group.
How does this change impact campaigns using campaign total budgets?
Behavior for campaigns using campaign total budgets will not change. This feature will maximize budget utilization over the defined date range, unless the campaign is target constrained.
Will I be able to scale my budget indefinitely at a given ROI?
If you adopt demand-led budgeting, you are free to set higher daily budgets, but you should not expect those daily budgets to be spent in full. The key is to input an accurate target that reflects your business goals. After this update, campaign performance will deliver inline with your targets, even when budgets are adjusted. Daily spend may fluctuate to capture all additional profitable scale from new innovations, increased demand, and overall system improvements.
What if I don’t bid toward a purchase, or have a long conversion delay?
If you don’t bid toward a purchase or have long conversion delays, you should follow the same core guidance. In particular, if you have longer conversion delays, make sure to wait 1–2 conversion cycles to evaluate your campaign performance.
Will forecasts in budget and bid-related recommendations remain accurate?
Google Ads planning tools, like Performance Planner, will be updated to reflect the new bidding behavior. However, there will be a short transition period where forecasts may have some inaccuracies. Please use caution when using forecasts from August 17 to August 31.
Recommended actions and optimization
What can I do to prepare for this change?
Prepare by reviewing limited by budget campaigns that use a target-based bid strategy, particularly those that are performing better than your current targets.
To help you achieve more consistent performance, Google Ads is updating how the system optimizes campaigns that are in a "Limited by budget" status and using the following Target-based bid strategies:
- Target CPA
- Target ROAS
- Target CPC (Demand Gen only)
These changes will go into effect starting August 17, 2026. This update applies to Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Travel campaigns managed in Google Ads or Search Ads 360, as well as Demand Gen campaigns managed in Display & Video 360.
Note: Google won't automatically adjust your daily budgets or your campaign bid targets.
Why am I not seeing the Bid Target Adjustment Tool in my account?
If the tool is not currently visible in your account, it will become available automatically in the relevant campaign settings page as the deployment continues.
Why did I receive a mandatory service announcement about this update, but there are no recommendations in my account?
The mandatory service announcement looks at a longer historical period than the recommendations. The announcement notifies any advertiser who might face an impact, but we only generate recommendations for campaigns that recent data shows will likely be affected. Even if you don’t find a recommendation, we encourage you to review your target-based bid campaigns and ensure their settings align with your goals.
Why are some of my campaigns missing a recommended target?
To ensure recommendation quality, we don’t calculate a recommended target for campaigns with fewer than 7 conversions because performance for these campaigns can be unpredictable. However, we still encourage you to review these campaigns and manually adjust their targets to align with your business goals.
How long will it take performance to stabilize after I adjust my targets?
You can continue to adjust your targets as your business needs dictate, both before and after the bidding system update. Smart Bidding reacts to target changes in real time, whether they are large or small, and can perform well with rapid adjustments. Whichever approach you choose, it’s recommended to wait 1–2 conversion cycles before evaluating actual performance in your bid strategy report.
Once the changes are rolled out, can targets still be adjusted to match the CPA/ROAS performance they had before the change?
Yes. You should continue to adjust your targets to align with your business goals. Bid strategies with a target will consistently optimize toward your stated target regardless of the budget in the system, resulting in more predictable and scalable performance as budgets are adjusted.
Can I set a more efficient target than my campaign's current performance?
Yes. You can set a more efficient target than your current performance at any time to reflect your business goals. If you set a more efficient target, keep in mind that your daily spend will likely be impacted. You can model these potential changes using the bid simulator tool.
Should I apply smaller or phased target adjustments to mitigate volatility?
If you choose to align your target with your actual performance before August 17, you should not experience noticeable volatility or changes to your existing performance. That said, you can make both large and small target changes, and Smart Bidding will react in real time. Whichever approach you choose, it’s recommended to wait 1–2 conversion cycles before evaluating actual performance in your bid strategy report.
What should I do if I want the most efficiency within a fixed budget?
To maximize scale at your set target, we recommend providing a budget buffer while setting a target that reflects your desired efficiency. If your budget is strictly inflexible and you are comfortable with ROI fluctuations when budgets are adjusted, you can switch your campaign to a Maximize conversions or Maximize conversion value bid strategy.
What should I do if I’m happy with my current targets but cannot raise my budget at this time?
If your current bid targets reflect your business goals, you should try to provide as much budget buffer as possible during periods when your campaigns are limited by budget, and scale your campaign budgets when you can. You can also adjust your bid targets to manage campaign spend. If the opportunity is available, you can consolidate your campaigns under Portfolio Bidding or Shared Budgets to make better use of your limited budgets.
Should I take other actions (like applying data exclusions or new bid limits) in response to this update?
No. Taking actions like applying data exclusions or new bid limits solely in response to this update is not recommended, as it can cause performance fluctuations. You should continue making changes to your targets and budgets based on your business needs.
Should I refrain from making any campaign transitions (such as adopting value-based bidding) ahead of this bidding change?
Between now and August, we encourage you to make any standard improvements to your account. To fully take advantage of this update, it is important to follow best practices and ensure your campaigns are not budget-constrained. Once the changes are rolled out, we recommend waiting 1-2 conversion cycles to ensure bidding performance stabilizes before making any account transitions.
