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Google Ads bidding strategies: which one to use, and when to switch

By Abhishek Thakral · abhi.performs, Dubai · Updated November 2026 · 9 min read

Most of the Google Ads bidding strategies guides I read in today's top results were written before Google removed Enhanced CPC, and none of them covers what changed in 2026. They list every option with equal weight, which is not much help when you run lead generation on one budget. Below are the strategies that still exist, the two that matter for leads, and the order I move an account through.

The Google Ads bidding strategies you can choose today

Enhanced CPC is no longer available for Search and Display campaigns: Google retired it the week of 31 March 2025, according to its Enhanced CPC page, and campaigns that were not moved to another strategy now effectively run on Manual CPC.

Here is what is left for a Search campaign, and what each strategy needs before it works:

The first four are Smart Bidding, which sets a bid for each auction using signals such as device, location, time of day and the actual search. One naming change: from June 2026, Search campaigns show "Maximize conversions with a Target CPA" simply as "Target CPA", and the same for Target ROAS. Google says the behaviour is unchanged, and Google Ads Editor and the API may show the old names for a while.

Maximize conversions or target CPA?

Maximize conversions tries to spend your whole average daily budget on the most conversions it can find, according to Google's Maximize conversions page. So it suits a campaign whose full budget you are happy to spend. If you currently spend well under your budget, switching can raise spend sharply.

One detail catches people out. Maximize conversions ignores your existing bid adjustments, except a device adjustment of -100%. So if you raised bids for one emirate with a location adjustment, that adjustment stops counting the day you switch.

Target CPA works differently. You set the average cost per conversion you want, and Google bids to get as many conversions as possible at that average, as its Target CPA page explains. Some leads will cost more than the target and some less. A few points from that page matter in practice:

• The recommended target is your recent average. Google suggests the average CPA from the last 30 days, adjusted for conversion delay.
• A target that is too low costs you leads. Google warns it can make you miss clicks that would have converted, so you get fewer conversions in total.
• Daily spend can run high. Google asks you to be comfortable with up to 2 times your average daily budget on a given day, within the monthly charging limit.
• Device adjustments change the target, not the bid. A +40% mobile adjustment on a target of AED 100 makes the mobile target AED 140.

The simple rule: use Maximize conversions while you are still finding out what a lead costs, and target CPA once you know the cost per lead your sales team can live with. Google's own advice points the same way: if you have a specific return goal, use target CPA.

What the August 2026 change means for your targets

Since 17 August 2026, campaigns on target CPA or target ROAS that are limited by budget deliver closer to the target you set, even when they had been beating it, according to Google's page on changes to target-based bid strategies.

An illustrative example: say your target CPA is AED 200 but the campaign has been getting leads at AED 120. After the change, it delivers closer to AED 200, unless you lower the target. Google says it won't adjust your targets or budgets for you.

The change covers Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen and Travel. App campaigns and video reach and video view campaigns keep the old behaviour, and Display and Hotel already worked this way.

Google gives five options: keep the target, match it to recent performance, set a new one from your business goals, switch to Maximize conversions, or raise the budget. After a budget increase, it suggests waiting 1 to 2 conversion cycles (the time a click usually takes to become a conversion) before you judge the result.

This matters if you set a loose target CPA "to give the algorithm room". In a campaign limited by budget, the gap between target and actual cost used to show up as cheaper leads. Now the campaign delivers closer to the target, so your cost per lead can rise towards it. If you have not compared your targets with your actual CPA since August, do it this week.

When value-based bidding makes sense for leads

Target ROAS and Maximize conversion value bid on the value of each conversion, so they need real values, and Google's Target ROAS page requires at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days for Search and Shopping campaigns.

That works for e-commerce, where each order has a value. A lead form does not. Giving every form fill the same made-up value tells the bidding nothing, because all leads look equal.

Value bidding starts to make sense for lead gen when your CRM sends outcomes back to Google Ads, for example a qualified lead, a booked viewing or a closed deal, each with a different value. That is what offline conversion import does. Google also recommends waiting 1 to 2 conversion cycles after you start reporting new values before you switch the strategy.

If your CRM does not send lead stages back yet, start there. Bidding on qualified leads with target CPA is a bigger step forward than value bidding on form fills.

What happens when you switch strategies

Switching to a new bid strategy shows a "Learning" status for up to 7 days, but your ads keep running and the strategy does not start from scratch if the account has past conversion data, according to Google's page About Smart Bidding learning.

Google lists three causes of that status: a new or reactivated strategy, adding or removing campaigns, ad groups or keywords from the strategy, and a significant change to the conversion goals. Changing a budget, a target, your ads or your targeting does not trigger it. My guide to the Google Ads learning period goes into what that means day to day.

The status is not the same as the results settling. Google says performance usually converges over 1 to 2 conversion cycles, and suggests judging a change over 2 conversion cycles or 2 weeks, whichever is longer. In off-plan real estate, where qualifying a lead can take weeks, that is longer than most owners expect. If you are unsure about a switch, the target CPA settings offer "Save as experiment", which tests the new setting against your current campaign.

The order I move a lead-gen account through

This is the sequence I use on UAE lead-gen accounts. Each step waits for the one before it to settle.

1. Fix what counts. One primary action, usually the form lead counted once per click. Calls and WhatsApp clicks stay secondary.
2. Start on Maximize conversions with a daily budget you are happy to spend in full. Google suggests Maximize clicks for new campaigns without enough conversion data, but I would rather fix tracking first.
3. Move to target CPA at your actual CPA, not a wishful one, once the campaign has around 30 conversions in 30 days and a steady cost per lead. Thirty is my working threshold, taken from Google's advice to judge target CPA over periods with at least 30 conversions.
4. Change one thing per conversion cycle. Leave 2 cycles or 2 weeks, whichever is longer, before you judge it.
5. Import qualified leads from your CRM and, once they reach the same 30-a-month bar, make the qualified lead the primary goal and reset the target to a cost per qualified lead.
6. Consider value bidding last, when lead stages carry different values and the campaign has at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days, which Google requires for target ROAS on Search.

Bid strategy choice also shapes how far you can open up keywords; broad match needs Smart Bidding, as covered in my broad match vs exact match guide. If you would rather have the bidding set up and watched for you, that is part of my Google Ads management.

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