Google Ads, as we covered earlier, made changes to Target CPA & Target ROAS. But now, Google sent out an email about even more changes starting on August 17, 2026 around bidding for campaigns limited by budget. It seems like this bidding update will end up costing advertisers even more money. Although, I think we covered some of this change over here there are now a lot more details on what is changing.
Google said, "Starting August 17, 2026, Google is updating its bidding systems to deliver more predictable campaign performance. This update applies to Search, Shopping, Performance Max, and Demand Gen campaigns that use a target-based bid strategy (e.g. Target CPA, Target ROAS)."
Specifically, "Campaigns that are limited by budget that use a target-based bid strategy will more consistently perform toward your target, including when you make budget adjustments." Previously, "when a campaign is limited by budget, it may perform better than the target you've set. When you increase your budget for these campaigns, it's hard to know exactly what performance to expect," Google explained.
Today, when your campaign has a "Limited by budget" status, if you use a Target-based bid strategy (for example, Target CPA or Target ROAS), some campaigns may be overperforming on bidding targets and see performance fluctuations when budgets are adjusted. After August 17, 2026, campaigns that are limited by budget that use a target-based bid strategy will more consistently perform toward your bid target, including when you make budget adjustments so you can grow your campaigns with more predictable performance.
Here is the example Google provided:
If your campaign's Target CPA is $10, but your recent actual CPA performance is $5, your campaign will deliver more closely to a $10 actual CPA starting August 17, 2026 if no changes are made. If you are satisfied with performance at your current target, no action is required. If you want to maintain your campaign's recent performance you can update your target to $5. You can also decide your target based on the performance you want and your business goals.
Google posted this all cheery video:
Google has a lot more detail on these changes over here.
Google updated its help documents for About Target CPA bidding and About Target ROAS bidding to document these changes.
Google posted a box that says:
Important: Starting August 17, 2026, Google is updating its bidding systems to deliver more consistent and predictable performance for campaigns that are limited by budget. If your campaigns use Target CPA or Target ROAS, these changes may cause temporary performance and traffic fluctuations. To learn how to prepare, review your settings, and use the new Bid Target Adjustment Tool (available starting on July 6, 2026).
I recommend comparing the About Target CPA bidding to the older version and the About Target ROAS bidding to the older version.
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.
To help you review your campaigns, you’ll receive a notification in your Google Ads account guiding you to a new tool starting July 6, 2026, where you can review historical campaign performance and quickly apply updates.
If you want to maintain current performance for campaigns that are performing better than your targets, select “Apply” to update your targets based on the performance shown in the tool. If you're happy with your current bidding targets, no action is needed.
Additionally, you always have the option to increase your budget to confidently scale your campaigns and capture more volume at your stated targets.
Google did email Arpan Banerjee and other Google Ads advertisers about this change, here is the email that Arpan posted on LinkedIn:
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.
Update: Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, posted a comment on LinkedIn about these changes saying:
Sharing a few clarifications that I hope can help explain this change a bit better.It’s true that budget-capped campaigns currently over-performing their targets are likely to see performance align with those targets as this update takes effect. Our advice is not to “let the system spend more money” – this change won't result in spend changes on a campaign already budget constrained. Our advice is to review campaigns to ensure targets align with their true performance goals – and that may mean setting it to the average target the campaign is currently achieving. And starting this week, we'll show notifications in accounts to help advertisers and agencies prepare.
Why the update? It’s also true that performance has often fluctuated unexpectedly in these cases, especially with budget changes. That’s not been a great experience for advertisers & made it challenging to scale campaigns with confidence.
What’s changing: In the backend, the bidding systems will be updated to more consistently find conversions at the average target your set when the campaign is limited by budget, & continue to aim for your target when you make budget adjustments. The system sets bids to find as many conversions as possible at the target you set – and keep your average CPA/ROAS equal to your target.
Again, for campaigns that are currently over-performing their target, we recommend reviewing whether it makes sense to adjust your targets to maintain current performance levels. And you’ll start to see notifications in accounts as early as today.
Bidding targets are designed to be the levers for efficiency and spend control. Maximize conversions and maximize conversion value are designed for when you have a fixed budget. Of course, you can still have capped budgets when using tCPA or tROAS, just ensure the targets set are aligned with your goals.
Hey Barry, To be clear, "this *won't* result in campaign spend changes" is what I said. In response to the post claiming our advice is "to let the system spend more money," I clarified that this is definitely not our advice. I want to re-emphasize that this change *will not* lead…
— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) July 7, 2026
And Ginny also added:
We’ve shared background on why we’re making this change in several places but in short we're making the controls clearer; the target will more precisely control your ROI. And we know performance has often fluctuated unexpectedly, especially in a budget-limited campaign as the budget is changed. This has been a frustrating experience for advertisers, making it difficult to scale campaigns with confidence. That’s what this change aims to address.The system sets bids to find as many conversions as possible at the ROAS/CPA target you set, & keep your average CPA/ROAS equal to your target. With this update, advertisers can also expect this same behavior in budget-constrained campaigns with targets.
I want to be sure to separate this update from a budget change. As I noted in my comment to Barry, this update doesn't have any impact on budget. You won't spend more unless you increase the budget of course. If you want to continue achieving the current avg target, we recommend changing the target.
