Target CPA vs Maximize Conversions: which to use

Use Maximize Conversions with no target when you’re happy to spend your whole budget and want as many conversions as it buys. Add a Target CPA when you know what a conversion is worth to you and would rather spend less than pay more than that.

They’re the same strategy with one setting different. Since June 2026 Google shows “Maximize conversions with a Target CPA” simply as Target CPA, and says the bidding hasn’t changed. So the real question is: target or no target?

What changes when you add a target

Without a target, Google tries to get the most conversions while spending your average daily budget in full. If you spend well under your budget today, spend can go up a lot.

With a target, Google aims to keep your average cost per conversion near the number you set, rather than spend the whole budget. Some conversions will cost more than the target and some less. It may spend less than your budget on days when conversions at that price aren’t available.

An example

Say a cleaning company spends $50 a day and gets about 2 leads, so $25 a lead. A lead is worth about $30 to them.

• Maximize Conversions spends the $50 every day. While leads cost $25 that’s fine. If competition picks up and leads drift to $40, it still spends $50 and now buys about 1.25 leads a day, each costing more than it’s worth.
• Target CPA at $30 holds bids back instead. It spends less on those expensive days and tries to keep the average near $30, so the company gets fewer leads but doesn’t lose money on each one.

The numbers are made up, but the shape is the point: without a target, the budget is your only limit. With a target, the price is.

Which to choose

Stay on Maximize Conversions (no target) if:

• the campaign is new or gets only a handful of conversions a month, so there’s no reliable average yet;
• the budget is what really limits you, and every conversion at today’s price is worth having;
• you’re still checking that conversion tracking counts real leads.

Add a Target CPA if:

• you know what a conversion is worth and roughly what it costs today;
• you have enough history to judge it. Google suggests judging over the last 30 days with at least 30 conversions;
• you’d rather spend less in a slow week than pay too much per lead.

Picking the number

Start at your current average cost per conversion, not your dream number. Google’s own suggested target is your last 30 days’ average, adjusted for conversions that arrive late, and you’ll see it when you set the strategy.

Setting it far below today’s cost is the most common mistake. Google warns that a target that’s too low may make you miss clicks that would have converted, so you get fewer conversions, not cheaper ones. If the campaign barely spends after you set a target, the target is the likely cause.

Google says you can change a target as often and by as much as you like: it doesn’t restart learning or reset what was learned, and bids react straight away. A big jump can move you into different auctions, though, and bring a cycle or two of ups and downs, so we’d move in steps. Judge the result after one or two conversion cycles (the usual time from a click to a lead for your business), not after a day.

Three things that trip people up

• Bad conversion tracking breaks both. Each strategy chases whatever you count as a conversion. If you count page views or count one lead three times, Google will happily buy more of those. See conversion tracking not working and one vs every before trusting either number.
• “Limited by budget” on Maximize Conversions isn’t a problem. Google designed it to spend the full budget, and advises against reading the Lost IS (budget) column for it.
• Targets on budget-limited campaigns changed in August 2026. Since 17 August, a campaign that’s limited by budget aims at its target instead of beating it, so cost per lead can rise towards the target. See Target CPA limited by budget.

How to switch

Open the campaign, go to Settings, and open Bidding. Choose to focus on conversions, then add or remove the target cost per action. Labels may differ in your account. To try a target without risking the whole campaign, Google lets you test the change as an experiment first.

If you’re choosing between clicks and conversions in the first place, start with Maximize Clicks vs Maximize Conversions.

Sources

• Google Ads Help: About Target CPA bidding, About Maximize conversions bidding, Setting smarter Search bids.
• The cleaning-company example is illustrative, not a real account.