Google Ads recently changed how target-based bidding behaves on budget-limited campaigns. The algorithm now bids more aggressively to track closer to whatever target ROAS or CPA you’ve set, regardless of historical performance. Google flagged the change in advance and was transparent about the expected outcome: a campaign with a $10 target CPA that has been delivering at $5 will move closer to $10, unless the advertiser changes the target first.
The industry’s first reaction was to debate whether this is a cash grab. The more consequential question is why the buy side remains so smitten with the idea of handing maximum control to autonomous buying systems owned by companies whose economic interests are not its own.
The efficiency was never yours
For years, advertisers could set a target that gave the algorithm room to operate and still benefit when the system found conversions more efficiently. That overperformance created value for the advertiser. The change makes clear that the entered target is not a ceiling that the platform will try to beat. Rather, it is a price the advertiser has said it is willing to pay.
That distinction matters. A system with permission to spend $10 has less incentive to preserve the $5 outcome. The available efficiency becomes room to buy more volume, shift traffic or absorb higher costs while remaining technically on target.
