On 17 August 2026, Google changed how target-based bidding works for campaigns that are limited by budget.
Ecommerce stores should monitor the results closely, as this can impact the campaign performances significantly.
Especially if you have a high number of campaigns that are “limited by budget” and they are performing better than the ROAS or CPA targets you entered in the campaign settings, you may be hit hard by this update.
What Is Changing?
When you set a target ROAS in campaign settings, the Google Ads algorithm was targeting the high-value shoppers first to achieve this ROAS target with a limited budget.
A lower ROAS target also gave the algorithm more flexibility to reach a broader pool of shoppers, potentially generating more traffic at a lower average CPC.
Since this could increase campaign efficiency, campaigns that were limited by budget could perform better than their targets under the previous bidding behavior.
For example, you may set a Target ROAS of 200%, and the campaign may be delivering around 400%.
After August 17, Google Ads changed this mechanism. Now, Google optimizes these budget-limited campaigns toward the target you entered.
This means that if your Target ROAS is 200%, the Google Ads algorithm now does not focus on creating initial better results as passionately as before to secure this ROAS target.
This is crucial for ecommerce stores as it can directly impact campaign efficiency and profitability.
How Will This Affect Ecommerce Stores?
Profitability should be one of the main priorities of Google Ads campaigns for ecommerce stores.
Using campaigns with limited budget was providing effective results. You were not spending an excessive budget but were still achieving strong results.
This does not seem to be possible after the update.
Ecommerce stores may observe decreases in campaign performance and may need to spend more to generate additional sales.
If they simply raise the Target ROAS setting, they may experience higher CPC rates, resulting a decrease in visitors. If they cannot compensate this with an increase in conversion rates, this can lead to poor performance.
Which KPIs Should You Monitor?
It is wise to monitor the following metrics closely especially during the first weeks.
ROAS: This is the primary metric to follow. You need to compare the ROAS performance to earlier periods to understand the magnitude of the effect.
CPC: You may experience a rise in CPC levels, especially if you increase the target ROAS significantly.
Budget Consumption: You should track how quickly the campaign spends its daily budget. If you increase the ROAS too much, your reach may drop and the campaign may not use its budget fully. On the other hand, if CPC increases too much, it can quickly spend the daily budget in a short period of time.
What Ecommerce Stores Should Do Now?
Follow This 7-Step Action Plan.
The changes in target-based bidding may significantly impact the performance of Google Ads accounts. However, you should avoid making random changes simply because Google changed the bidding system. This can worsen the performance.
The following 7-step action plan can give you an idea about how to proceed and help you manage this transition.
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