Starting on August 17, 2026, Google Ads will be making changes to its bidding systems. This update helps you to get more consistent and predictable performance based on your targets, even when you adjust your budget. For more information on the Google Ads changes, visit the Google Ads help center:
- Changes to target based bid strategies
- Frequently asked questions about changes to Target-based bid strategies
Overview of changes
Currently, if your campaign has a "Limited by budget" status, and you use a Search Ads 360 target-based bid strategy like Target CPA or Target ROAS with Google Ads auction-time bidding, your campaigns might overperform on bidding targets. You might also experience performance fluctuations when you adjust budgets.
After August 17, 2026, budget-limited campaigns that use a target-based bid strategy perform more consistently toward your bid target. This includes times when you adjust your budget, so you can grow your campaigns with predictable performance.
What to expect from this update
If your campaign uses Google Ads auction-time bidding, faces budget limits, and historically overachieves its target, you might experience performance volatility. To avoid this, change your bid strategy or campaign before August 17.
Example
For multi-channel campaigns like Performance Max and Demand Gen, traffic distribution shifts across different channels.
The system optimizes consistently toward your target. Therefore, campaigns that currently run more efficiently than their targets will trend toward your set target.
Options to keep or adjust your targets
Choose one of these actions based on your goals.
Keep your current target as it is
If your current bid strategy targets reflect your business goals, you don't need to change your bid target. After August 17, campaigns that previously beat their targets adjust their performance to deliver closer to your stated target. You can review these bid strategies and adjust your targets manually in the Bid Target Adjustment Tool starting July 6, 2026.
Example
| Current target | Last 28-day performance | Action | After August 17, 2026 |
| $10 USD CPA | $5 USD CPA | Keep current $10 USD CPA target | Actual CPA performance will trend toward $10 USD |
Adjust your target in line with recent performance
If your bid strategy beats your stated target and you want to maintain your current performance, adjust your Search Ads 360 bid strategy target to reflect your recent performance.
Example
| Current target | Last 28-day performance | Action | After August 17, 2026 |
| $10 USD CPA | $5 USD CPA | Change to a $5 USD CPA target | Actual CPA performance will trend toward $5 USD |
Set granular targets with multi-target portfolios
If your bid strategies are partially limited by budget, use multi-target portfolios to control targets at a granular level. This approach works best when you need to set different targets for different segments within your portfolios.
This approach also helps if you have cross-channel and cross-publisher portfolios.
Learn more about Multi-Target ROAS and Multi-Target CPA bid strategies:
Adjust your target to a custom number
Enter a target that matches your business goals and focuses on profitable conversions. You can continue to change targets as your business needs shift.
Example
| Current target | Last 28-day performance | Action | After August 17, 2026 |
| $10 USD CPA | $5 USD CPA | Change to a $7 USD CPA target | Actual CPA performance will trend toward $7 USD |
Increase your budget
With this update, consider these actions:
- Give your budget room to scale: To capture profitable traffic without restrictions, maintain a daily budget comfortably higher than your average daily spend.
- Apply budget recommendations: Check your Recommendations page to forecast additional conversions at your target.
- Evaluate over time: After you increase your budget, wait 1 to 2 conversion cycles to evaluate campaign performance and ensure it meets your target.
Next steps
Review your budget-limited campaigns that use target-based bid strategies by August 17, 2026. Ensure your settings align with your business goals, especially for bid strategies that beat your targets. Google won't automatically adjust your bid targets or budgets.
To help you review your campaigns, you'll receive a notification in your Search Ads 360 account starting July 6, 2026. This notification directs you to a tool where you can review historical bid strategy performance and quickly apply updates.
You can also increase your budget to scale your campaigns confidently and capture more volume at your stated targets.