As Google told us in April, in the next couple of weeks, the the old Target CPA or Target ROAS bid strategies for standard campaigns are going away. Google said instead you can use the updated bid strategies by setting optional targets.
Google said advertisers will now see the following choices when you create new bid strategies for Search campaigns:
- Maximize conversions will have an optional target CPA.
- Maximize conversion value will have an optional target ROAS.
This update only applies to campaign-level strategies; portfolio bid strategies will be updated next year at some point.
Google did clarify that there will be no impact to bidding behavior due to this update. Using Maximize conversions with a target CPA will have the same bidding behavior as Target CPA. Likewise, using Maximize conversion value with a target ROAS will have the same bidding behavior as Target ROAS.
Here is a chart that explains the old versus the new:
In the Google Ads console the "bid strategy type" column will now help you see if a target CPA or target ROAS has been set.
Google added that the existing campaigns using Target CPA or Target ROAS will continue to run as usual. Google said it will give advance notice before automatically switching these old bid strategies to the new format in 2022.
Forum discussion at Twitter.