Google is changing how target-based bid strategies behave in budget-limited campaigns, with enforcement from 17 August. A Bid Target Adjustment Tool starts appearing in accounts from 6 July so advertisers can align stale CPA and ROAS targets with reality. Google will not adjust anything automatically.
Google will not touch your targets automatically. The stale number in your account is now your problem, on a deadline.
Google Ads is changing how it treats your CPA and ROAS targets in campaigns that are limited by budget, and the transition tool lands in accounts from today. From 17 August, target-based bid strategies will hold to the targets advertisers have set rather than flexing around them, and campaigns still carrying fantasy targets will feel it.
The change affects Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen, Travel, Hotel and Display campaigns using Target CPA or Target ROAS while flagged as Limited by budget. For years the practical behaviour in those campaigns has drifted, with the system spending toward the budget and treating the target as a loose suggestion. Google is now tightening the relationship between the number you set and the performance you get.
The Bid Target Adjustment Tool starts appearing in accounts from 6 July via an in-account notification. It surfaces historical campaign performance and offers three moves. Apply Google's suggested target, which aligns the number with what the campaign has actually been delivering. Set a custom target. Or leave the target unchanged and accept that delivery will shift toward the number as written.
Campaign types affected by the bidding change: Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen, Travel, Hotel and Display
Why it matters
Most accounts carry at least one target that was set in a planning meeting and never revisited. A $40 CPA target from 2024 sitting on a campaign that has been quietly delivering $70 leads. While the system treated targets loosely, that gap cost you nothing but honesty. Once bidding starts honouring the target, a campaign told to hit an unrealistic number responds the only way it can, by pulling back delivery until spend and volume drop.
For Australian advertisers the timing is sharper than it looks. Enforcement lands 17 August, seven weeks into FY27, right as new budgets settle in. Agencies managing dozens of budget-limited campaigns have a genuine housekeeping job between now and then, and in-house teams running set-and-forget Smart Bidding have a bigger one.
This also continues a pattern worth reading. Google keeps shifting Smart Bidding toward doing exactly what advertisers say, which quietly moves accountability onto the advertiser to say something sensible.
What to do about it
Pull every campaign flagged Limited by budget this week and check whether its target matches its trailing 30-day actuals. The gap is your risk register.
Use the tool when it appears, but do not blindly accept suggestions. Google's proposed target reflects what the campaign has been doing, which is a fact, not a strategy. Check it against your actual cost tolerance before applying.
Fix budgets where the budget is the real problem. A strong campaign capped by spend may deserve more money rather than a looser target.
Diarise a target review for early August. Waiting for the enforcement date means diagnosing performance drops after they happen instead of preventing them.
The machine is about to believe every number you gave it. Make sure the numbers are true.