How do I set a target CPA or target ROAS in Google Ads?

Target CPA is the average you want to pay for a conversion. Google sets a bid in each auction, from the chance that the click converts, to get as many conversions as it can within your budget at that average. Some conversions cost more than the target and some less. Target ROAS does the same for conversion value: the value you want back for each dollar you spend.

Without a target, Maximize conversions and Maximize conversion value aim to spend the whole budget on the most conversions or value it will buy. Nothing you set decides what a conversion costs: the budget does, and a bigger one buys dearer conversions to spend it. With a target, Google aims for the average instead, and may leave budget unspent.

From June 2026 Google Ads labels the strategies with a target Target CPA and Target ROAS, where they were Maximize conversions with a Target CPA and Maximize conversion value with a Target ROAS. The bidding is the same. Either can be a campaign’s own, or a portfolio strategy shared by several campaigns, which then bid to one target together.

• Conversion tracking, counting what you’d pay for. Smart Bidding bids for every action in the Conversions column, so an action there that isn’t a sale or a lead is one it pays for too.
• Enough conversions to judge it by. Google recommends judging a strategy over a period with at least 30 conversions, such as a month or longer, and 50 for Target ROAS. For Target ROAS on a Search or Shopping campaign, Google asks for at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days.
• A price you know. A target says what a conversion is worth to you. Until you know, bidding without one shows you what conversions cost at the budget you set.

Smart Bidding sets its own bids by device, location and time of day, so the bid adjustments you set for manual bidding aren’t used, except a device at −100%. Under Target CPA a device adjustment moves the target instead: Google’s example is a $10 target with +40% on mobile, which bids to $14 a conversion on phones.

1. 01Go to Campaigns › Campaigns.
2. 02Next to the campaign, select the settings icon, then Bidding.
3. 03Choose Target CPA or Target ROAS and enter the target. Google suggests one from the campaign’s own results: for a CPA, its average over the last 30 days allowing for conversions still to come; for a ROAS, its return over the last few weeks, leaving out the last few days.
4. 04Select Save, or Save as experiment to run the new target beside the campaign as it is before you commit to it.

To put several campaigns on one target, tick them in the Campaigns table, select Edit on the bar above it, then Change bid strategy, and create a portfolio strategy or pick an existing one. After a new strategy or target the status reads Learning for a while, typically one or two conversion cycles, the time from a click to its conversion; the learning period guide says what resets it.

1. 01In Campaigns › Campaigns, add Avg. target CPA or Avg. Target ROAS from the Performance columns, beside Cost / conv. or Conv. value / cost.
2. 02Set a date range with at least 30 conversions in it: the last 30 days, or longer for a smaller campaign.
3. 03Hover over the Status of any campaign whose bid strategy reads Limited to see why: its bid limits, its budget, too few searches to bid on, or its strategy.

Compare what the campaign achieved with the average target, not the target you typed: Google’s average target weighs each target by the traffic it bid on, so it takes in device adjustments and any change to the target during the period.

Segment the table by Time, then Week, to see it week by week. A target no week reached is one the campaign can’t meet as it stands.

• Too tight. Google says a target CPA set too low may forgo clicks that would have converted, and a target ROAS set too high may limit the traffic your ads get. The campaign bids low: it leaves budget unspent and loses searches on ad rank, and still doesn’t reach the target. Set it to what the campaign achieves, then tighten it a step at a time if you want a better price.
• Too few conversions. On a handful of conversions a month, a target moves with every one of them. Bidding without a target until the campaign converts more often, or joining it to a portfolio with campaigns that share its goal, gives the bidding more to learn from.
• No target on a campaign with plenty of conversions. The budget is deciding what each conversion costs. A target at what it paid over the last 30 days keeps that price, and stops it buying dearer conversions just to spend the budget.
• A bid limit in the way. A portfolio strategy can carry a maximum and minimum bid, used in Search auctions only. Google doesn’t recommend them, since they stop it bidding what meets the target, and a strategy whose status reads Limited by its bid limits is one to raise the maximum on.
• One ad group far below the rest. A campaign can meet its target on average while one ad group converts at half the rate of the others. Google advises against a target of its own on each ad group, since it can restrict Smart Bidding, so keep one for the ad group the campaign’s average hides.

A target it beats has changed meaning too. Since 17 August 2026 a campaign limited by budget on Target CPA or Target ROAS delivers toward its target, where it often beat it before: a $10 target that was getting conversions at $5 drifts toward $10. To keep what it achieves, set the target there; the Bid Target Adjustment Tool, under Bidding in the campaign’s settings, proposes it. The limited by budget guide says when a raise pays.

Every day Goldbeater reads each enabled campaign’s bid strategy and target, its 30 days, and its last 13 whole weeks, and raises:

• A target the campaign hasn’t reached in 13 weeks: no week with at least 5 conversions reached it, and the campaign is held back, spending under 80% of its budget or losing a fifth of its searches to rank. It drafts the target at what the campaign achieved, which you can move to just short of today’s, with Google’s own simulator estimate where there is one.
• A target set on too few conversions: a campaign bidding to a target CPA or ROAS that Google reports limited by data, or that converted under 15 times in 30 days.
• No target on a campaign with the conversions for one: Maximize conversions with 30 conversions in 30 days, or Maximize conversion value with 50. It offers a target at what the campaign paid, from half to double it, without recommending it, since whether the dearer conversions are worth having is yours to decide.
• A bid limit holding the bidding back: where Google reports the strategy limited by its bid limit.
• An ad group far below its campaign’s target: week by week over 13 weeks, under half the conversions its spend would buy at the other ad groups’ rate, too far under to be chance. It drafts a target of its own for the ad group.

The finding is the table’s first row, read week by week. The audit checklist has every bidding line with where to find it in Google Ads.

What’s the difference between Maximize conversions and Target CPA?

Maximize conversions aims to spend the whole budget on as many conversions as it will buy, so the budget decides what each costs. Target CPA aims for the average cost per conversion you set, and may leave budget unspent to hold it.

How do I choose a target CPA?

Start from what the campaign pays now: Google suggests its average over the last 30 days, allowing for conversions still to come. Then move it toward what a conversion is worth to you, a step at a time.

How is a target ROAS written in Google Ads?

As a percentage: conversion value divided by cost, times 100%. $5 of sales for each $1 of ads is a target ROAS of 500%. The Conv. value / cost column writes the same return as 5.00.

How many conversions does Target ROAS need?

Google asks for at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days for Target ROAS on a Search or Shopping campaign, and recommends judging it over a period with at least 50.

How long does a new target take to settle?

Google says one or two conversion cycles typically, the time it takes a click to become a conversion, and less where the campaign has plenty of conversion data. The status reads Learning meanwhile.

Should I set bid limits on Target CPA or Target ROAS?

Google doesn’t recommend it, since a limit stops the bidding from setting the bid that meets the target. Bid limits are only on portfolio strategies, and only used in Search auctions.