Running Google Ads campaigns on Target CPA or Target ROAS? Since August 17, 2026, Google has quietly changed how that bidding strategy behaves.
Google announced the change on June 15, 2026, through Ads Product Liaison Ginny Marvin, on LinkedIn and the Accelerate with Google blog. Advertisers got over two months to prepare, with a dedicated Bid Target Adjustment Tool available since July 6. As of August 17, the change is live for Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen and Travel campaigns.
What actually changes
This applies to budget-limited campaigns running a target-based bid strategy, so Target CPA or Target ROAS. If a campaign was previously outperforming its target, say a Target CPA of 10 euros while the actual cost per action sat at 5 euros, Google now gradually shifts that campaign toward the full target. In practice, the cost per action can rise close to that 10 euro mark, even though nothing about the campaign itself changed.
Campaigns that used to beat their target now deliver more consistently right up against it.
Why this matters for local advertisers
Plenty of Belgian small businesses leave their Google Ads account on autopilot for years, running the same targets set at launch. Those are exactly the accounts most exposed now. If a campaign quietly outperformed its target for months, that was rarely a deliberate choice, just a favourable algorithm. From August 17 that margin disappears, and cost per lead or per sale climbs toward the set ceiling. Anyone who never revisited their targets may soon pay more for the exact same number of conversions.
We discuss platform changes like this with clients every week, and share them on our LinkedIn page too. It is exactly the kind of update that slips under the radar until the invoice lands.
What to do now
Log into your Google Ads account and check the actual cost per action or return on ad spend for the past three months against your set target. If there is a large gap, adjust the target deliberately through the Bid Target Adjustment Tool instead of letting Google do it for you. Anyone tracking their marketing budget closely would rather see a change like this coming than find out after the fact.
Conclusion
This change does not touch your campaign structure, only what you pay for it. Not sure whether your Google Ads targets still hold up after August 17, see what we can do for you.
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