Google just rolled out three bidding and budgeting changes in Google Ads, and one of them is going to affect your campaign performance whether you opt in or not. Two of these are features you choose to turn on when they make sense for your account. The third is an automatic change coming on August 17 that you need to prepare for now. Here is what changed, what it means for your campaigns, and exactly what to do before the deadline.
Watch my full breakdown of the new Google Ads bidding changes above.
The Three Changes at a Glance
Ginny Marvin, Ads Product Liaison at Google, announced all three updates on LinkedIn and on the Accelerate with Google blog. Two of them are options you can opt into. The third is a change to how the platform works that applies to your account automatically.
- Smart Bidding Exploration. An expansion of an existing feature that lets your campaigns reach converting users from search queries outside your current targeting, without changing your core setup. You opt into this one.
- Promotion mode. A new beta that lets you temporarily loosen your bidding and add extra daily budget during seasonal events and sales. You opt into this one too.
- Bidding target optimization. A backend change starting August 17 that pushes budget-limited campaigns closer to the targets you actually set. This one is not optional. It applies on its own.
Smart Bidding Exploration Is Expanding
Smart Bidding Exploration lets you reach additional users and converting searches outside your current targeting without changing your overall campaign setup. It is now available globally for Search campaigns and Performance Max campaigns without a product feed. It is also in beta for Shopping ads and Performance Max campaigns that use a feed, so if you run Shopping you can test it now.
The way you control it is with a ROAS tolerance, which tells Google how much it is allowed to lower your target ROAS while it explores. Google says campaigns using the feature see, on average, an 18% increase in unique converting query categories and a 19% increase in conversions. Keep in mind those are Google's own numbers, not independently verified ones.
To me, this sounds a lot like how broad match keywords promise the world. The pitch is that you flip it on and find more conversions without expanding your targeting much. Sometimes you do. Other times you look at the data later and it did not work exactly like you expected. If you have strong conversion data, I can see this being a great feature. If your conversion data is thin, I can see it becoming a budget waster, so test it carefully.
Promotion Mode Is Built for Seasonal Spikes
Promotion mode is a new beta for Search and Performance Max campaigns, and it is a genuinely useful update if you run seasonal promotions or sales. It lets you schedule temporary changes to your ROAS tolerance and add extra daily budget during peak periods. It is not on by default, so you have to turn it on.
Here is the problem it solves. When your target ROAS is set too high, it can become really difficult to actually spend your budget. Promotion mode lets you loosen that target during periods of higher conversion rates, then tighten it back up when your slow season returns.
If you sell pool equipment, for example, most of your sales come in during spring and summer. That is the window where you might say you are willing to give up some ROAS to capture more volume. Once your slower months hit, you would rather protect your target because the volume is not there anyway. This is great for ecommerce when demand picks up and great for seasonal businesses during their busy stretch.
Bidding Target Optimization Is the One to Watch
This is the big one because it is not something you opt into. Starting August 17 and rolling out over the following few weeks, Google is updating how bidding target optimization works for campaigns that are limited by budget. The goal is more predictable performance that lines up with the CPA and ROAS targets you set.
Here is why that matters. I always tell people that if you are limited by budget, one of the best things you can do is drop your target CPA or raise your target ROAS to pull your costs down. Say you only want to spend $100 a day and you are getting conversions at $30. You can set your target CPA there or even slightly lower to try to get more conversions inside the same budget.
The catch is what happens when your campaign has been beating its target. A lot of advertisers set a target CPA of $500, watch conversions come in at $200, and never go back to update the target. After August 17, that campaign is going to drift closer to the target you actually set. For some accounts, that means a higher cost per conversion. So this is the moment to make sure your targets reflect what you actually want to pay.
What to Do Before August 17
You have a few weeks to get ahead of this. The work is simple, and it is the same audit you should be doing anyway.
Your Pre-August 17 Checklist
- Check every campaign that is limited by budget.
- For any campaign beating its target, decide whether to lower the target CPA, raise the target ROAS, or simply increase the budget.
- If a $5 target CPA is working for you, leave it alone. You do not need to change targets that are already correct.
- Watch for notifications in Google Ads starting July 6. They will show your historical campaign performance so you can review the gap and apply updates quickly.
These changes give you, the advertiser, more to work with and more ways to manage your campaigns, which I like. Just make sure the automatic change does not catch you off guard on the campaigns where you have been quietly beating your targets.
Question to Answer:
Are any of your campaigns beating their target right now, and by how much?
In Summary
Two of these updates are optional levers and one is an automatic change. Smart Bidding Exploration and promotion mode are tools you turn on when they fit your account, and they reward advertisers with strong conversion data. The August 17 bidding target optimization change rewards advertisers who keep their targets honest.
Run the audit now. Find your budget-limited campaigns, look at the ones beating their targets, and decide whether to tighten the target or raise the budget before August 17 makes that decision for you.
If you would rather have someone handle the audit and the bid adjustments for you, that is exactly what our Google Ads management is built for.
Ginny Marvin, Ads Product Liaison at Google, announced the updates on LinkedIn and on the Accelerate with Google blog.
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