# Maximize conversions without a target CPA: the bid strategy that spends what it can, not what it should > One of the most common causes of runaway CPCs in Google Ads, and the order of steps that prevents it. Source: https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/blog/maximize-conversions-without-target-cpa Author: Nash Marketing Labs, a paid media agency (Google Ads, Meta Ads, TikTok Ads, LinkedIn Ads). Date: 2026-10-21 --- **Maximize conversions without a target CPA tells Google Ads to get as many conversions as it can while spending your full average daily budget. Nothing in that instruction caps what each conversion costs. With a tight budget it behaves; with a generous one it keeps bidding into more expensive auctions and your CPA drifts up. Use it as a launch phase on a deliberately contained budget, then set a target CPA close to the CPA you are actually getting and tighten it step by step.** "Maximize conversions" sounds harmless: who does not want the most conversions? The small print is the real instruction. In Google's own words, Maximize conversions "will try to fully spend your average daily budget" ([Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7381968)). Without a target, efficiency is not part of the job. Spending is. A naming note before going on, because it trips people up in 2026: since June 2026 Google has labelled "Maximize conversions with a Target CPA" simply as **Target CPA**, and "Maximize conversion value with a Target ROAS" as **Target ROAS** ([Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7381968)). The bidding behaviour is unchanged; only the label moved. The versions without a target keep their old names. So if your campaign says "Maximize conversions" and nothing else, it has no ceiling. ## How the overspend happens On a tight budget, Maximize conversions works reasonably well: the spending limit forces it to choose its auctions. The problem appears when the budget is generous, and it builds up gradually: - The system uses up the cheap auctions first, then keeps raising bids to place the rest of the budget. - CPCs climb into more expensive, more marginal auctions. In accounts we audit, it is not unusual to see CPC jump within a few days without anyone touching the account. - CPA rises quietly. Total conversions may even grow a little, so the dashboard does not look alarming. Your margin at the end of the month does. The value-based version has the same pattern in ecommerce: Maximize conversion value without a target ROAS buys expensive revenue just as happily. The floor it should respect is your [minimum profitable ROAS](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/blog/minimum-profitable-roas). ## How to tell if it is happening in your account - **List the campaigns on Maximize conversions or Maximize conversion value with no target.** It is visible in the bid strategy column. Remember the 2026 labels: anything showing "Target CPA" or "Target ROAS" already has a ceiling. - **Compare two lines for those campaigns: average CPC and cost against budget.** CPC rising while the campaign spends its full budget every day is the whole picture. Do not lean on "Search lost IS (budget)" here: Google says that column is incompatible with Maximize conversions ([Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7381968)). Our reading: the strategy is meant to be limited by budget, so "lost to budget" is the expected state, not a signal. - **Check CPA for the last 30 days against the previous 90.** If it rose with no structural change and no clear seasonality, you have found your suspect. ## The right process, and why the order matters Running Maximize conversions without a target is not always a mistake: it is a **phase**. It is useful in the first weeks of a new campaign, when there is no data to set a realistic target. The mistake is staying there. The sequence we use (the thresholds and step sizes are our practice, not Google rules): - **Launch** on Maximize conversions without a target CPA, with a budget kept small on purpose. The budget limit acts as a temporary ceiling. - **After 30 to 50 conversions** (or two to four weeks), read the real CPA the campaign is achieving. Google's own recommended target follows the same logic: the average CPA of the last 30 days, adjusted for conversion delay ([Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6268632)). - **Switch on a target CPA** slightly above that real CPA (10% to 20%), never at your dream CPA. An impossible target chokes delivery overnight. - **Tighten gradually**: cut the target by 10% to 15% every two weeks towards your business CPA, the one that comes from your margin, not from what you would like to pay. - **Only then open up the budget.** With a ceiling in place, extra budget buys scale instead of inflated CPCs. A worked example, with illustrative numbers, makes the gap obvious. A campaign on €100 a day without a target gets 20 conversions a week at €35 each. You double the budget, and the following weeks it gets 26 at about €54: six more conversions at roughly €117 each. With a Target CPA of €38 the system would have stopped bidding into the auctions that cost €117 per conversion: it would have spent less of the extra money and kept the average where your margin can carry it. If you want to test the switch rather than flip it, run it as a campaign experiment. ## Two caveats that prevent nasty surprises - **A target CPA is only as good as your measurement.** If you count duplicate conversions (for example, every conversion instead of one per click on a lead form), your target is calibrated against a false number and the ceiling is decorative. In lead generation, count one per click and check the primary conversion actions before setting any target. - **Do not change the target and the budget on the same day.** Every large change triggers a new learning period, and if you move two levers at once you will not know which one caused what. One lever, one week, one reading. And one 2026-specific point: Google announced ([Google Ads Help](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6268632)) that from 17 August 2026 it would update its bidding systems for budget-limited Target CPA and Target ROAS campaigns, warning of possible temporary swings in performance and traffic. If your numbers moved around those dates, read them against that change before blaming the target. Google also released a Bid Target Adjustment Tool on 6 July 2026 to help review targets ahead of that update. ## Our rule In the accounts we manage, no mature campaign runs on pure maximisation: **Maximize conversions is a learning phase on a contained budget, and every campaign in production carries a target CPA or target ROAS worked out from margin**. It is one of the bid strategy checks in our [Google Ads audit](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/google-ads-audit), and one of the checks that recovers the most money for the least work. If you want to run it yourself, the full checklist is in [how to audit a Google Ads account](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/blog/how-to-audit-google-ads-account). ## Frequently asked questions ### Does Maximize conversions spend the whole budget? Yes, that is its design. Google says Maximize conversions will try to fully spend your average daily budget. On a tight budget that is fine; on a generous one, the last part of the budget goes into the most expensive auctions and pushes your average CPA up. ### Is Maximize conversions with a target CPA the same as Target CPA? Yes. Since June 2026 Google has labelled "Maximize conversions with a Target CPA" as "Target CPA", and says the bidding behaviour is exactly the same. Maximize conversions without a target keeps its name and has no ceiling on cost per conversion. ### When should I add a target CPA to Maximize conversions? When the campaign has enough data to show you its real CPA: as a rule of thumb, 30 to 50 conversions or two to four weeks. Set the target 10% to 20% above that real CPA and lower it gradually, rather than starting from the CPA you would like to have. ### Why did my CPC go up after switching to Maximize conversions? Because the strategy bids whatever it needs to place the budget. With room to spend, it goes beyond the cheap auctions into more expensive ones. If the campaign has no target and spends its full budget every day while CPC rises, that is the cause; adding a target CPA or lowering the budget brings it back. ### Can a target CPA be too low? Yes. A target well below what the campaign is achieving restricts delivery sharply: impressions and conversions fall, and the campaign can stall. Start close to the real CPA and move in steps of 10% to 15%, one change at a time. ## More resources - [Your account scores 94% on optimisation. What about sales?](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/google-ads-audit) - [Your Google Ads agency says ROAS 6. What about your margin?](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/google-ads-agency) - [How to audit a Google Ads account yourself](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/blog/how-to-audit-google-ads-account) - [What is the minimum profitable ROAS (and how to calculate yours)](https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/blog/minimum-profitable-roas) --- Contact: https://www.nashmarketinglabs.com/en/request-audit - Your performance plan: concrete actions to improve your account, no commitment.