For years, some advertisers noticed the same odd thing. A Google Ads campaign with a tight daily budget would deliver a better cost per lead than the target they’d set. It looked like a win. Then in August 2026, Google changed how Smart Bidding treats those campaigns, and the “better than target” results started moving toward the target.
Search Engine Land reported that this update appears to have ended what the industry calls bid suppression. Here’s what Google’s own documentation says changed, what it doesn’t say, and what to check on your own account now.
Quick summary, if you’re short on time:
- Google says that with this update “your bids are optimized more consistently to your target when your campaign has a limited budget.”
- It applies to Target CPA and Target ROAS across Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen and Travel, plus Target CPC for Demand Gen.
- The rollout began on August 17, 2026 and finished by August 27, 2026.
- Google states “your daily and monthly budget limits will always be respected” and that the change “will not directly result in increased spend.”
- Campaigns that were limited by budget and beat their target for a long time are the ones most likely to see results shift.
Jump to a section:
- What actually changed
- What “bid suppression” means, and what Google doesn’t say
- Which campaigns are most likely to notice
- What to check on your account
- A prompt to review a bid strategy change
- Questions worth answering directly
What actually changed
Google’s Google Ads Help page on target-based bid strategies is direct about the change: “With this update, your bids are optimized more consistently to your target when your campaign has a limited budget.” It applies to Target CPA and Target ROAS on Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen and Travel campaigns, and to Target CPC on Demand Gen campaigns. The changes rolled out globally starting August 17, 2026, with completion by August 27, 2026.
In plain terms: before, a campaign held back by its budget could end up doing better than its target. Now the system aims for the target you set, whether or not the budget is tight.
What “bid suppression” means, and what Google doesn’t say
“Bid suppression” is the term advertisers and agencies use, not Google’s. It describes a budget-limited campaign bidding lower than it otherwise would, to make the budget last. Search Engine Land’s report says the update appears to have ended that behaviour. That’s an outside reading of what Google changed, so treat it as a reasonable interpretation, not Google’s own wording.
That report, by Anu Adegbola, also covers an analysis from Smarter Ecommerce. It found median click costs for budget-limited Target ROAS campaigns rose 15.8% after August 17, while median impression share for those campaigns fell from 40% to 31%. That’s one dataset, and the report doesn’t say how many campaigns it covered, so treat it as an early signal. Google’s own page gives no click-cost figure, and the report itself says it’s too early to know where ROAS will settle. Check your own data.
Which campaigns are most likely to notice
Google says its budgets still hold: “Your daily and monthly budget limits will always be respected” and “This change will not directly result in increased spend for you.” So the change isn’t a way for Google to spend more of your money.
The campaigns most likely to notice are the ones Google itself warned about. Google said that a budget-limited campaign that has historically overachieved its target may see volatility if nothing is changed. Its example: if the Target CPA is $10 but recent actual CPA is $5, the campaign will deliver closer to a $10 CPA from August 17 onwards. That’s the target you set, doing what you asked, but it may not be what your business expected. This is reported by Search Engine Roundtable from Google’s announcement.
What to check on your account
- Find your budget-limited campaigns. Look for Target CPA or Target ROAS campaigns marked as limited by budget.
- Compare target to actual. For the last 30 days, put the target next to your real CPA or ROAS. A big gap in your favour means the target was probably loose.
- Check impression share lost to budget. The Smarter Ecommerce analysis found budget-limited campaigns now lose more impression share to budget, so you may reach fewer searches for the same spend.
- Reset targets to what you can afford. Set the target at a cost per lead the business is happy with, since the system now aims at it more directly.
- Change one thing at a time. Bidding needs a few weeks to settle, so adjusting the target, budget and ads together makes the result impossible to read.
- Check your conversion data. Smart Bidding is only as good as the conversions it learns from, which is why we cover conversion tracking before you spend first.
If you run Performance Max, the same update applies, and how it fits alongside Search is covered in our post on Search versus Performance Max.
A prompt to review a bid strategy change
Bid strategies fail when the targets do not fit the data. The prompt below helps you think through a change before you make it. Fill in your numbers, and check the answer against your own account.
Act as a Google Ads analyst. Help me review a bid strategy before I change targets.
My campaign:
– Bid strategy now: [for example target CPA or target ROAS]
– Target: [number]
– Last 30 days: clicks [number], conversions [number], cost [amount], value [amount or none]
– What changed recently: [budget, tracking, landing page]Please do the following:
1. Say whether I have enough conversions to trust this strategy.
2. List reasons the campaign might be losing impressions.
3. Suggest one small change to test, and how long to wait.Rules:
– Only use my numbers. Do not invent benchmarks.
– Do not promise better results.
– Tell me what to check in the account to confirm.
Change one thing at a time, note the date, and give it enough time to gather data before you judge it.
Questions worth answering directly
What is bid suppression in Google Ads?
It’s the industry’s name for a budget-limited campaign bidding lower to make its budget last. It isn’t a Google term. Google describes the August 2026 change as bids being “optimized more consistently to your target when your campaign has a limited budget.”
Will this change make Google spend more of my budget?
No, according to Google. Its help page says daily and monthly budget limits will always be respected and that the change will not directly result in increased spend.
Which bid strategies and campaign types are affected?
Target CPA and Target ROAS on Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen and Travel campaigns, plus Target CPC on Demand Gen campaigns, per Google’s help page. Check the page for the full, current list.
Should I change my targets?
If a budget-limited campaign has been beating its target for a long time, yes, review it. Google’s example shows a $10 target and a $5 actual CPA moving closer to $10. Set the target to a cost the business is comfortable paying.
What if my campaign isn’t limited by budget?
The update is about campaigns with a limited budget, so a campaign that isn’t budget-limited is less likely to notice a change. Keep watching it, and compare recent results with the weeks before August 17.
Will my cost per click go up?
Google’s help page doesn’t give a click-cost figure. One analysis reported by Search Engine Land, from Smarter Ecommerce, found median click costs on budget-limited Target ROAS campaigns up 15.8%. It’s one dataset, so compare your own click costs and conversions from before and after the change.
Where this actually matters
A target isn’t just a suggestion any more when the budget is tight. It’s the number the campaign will try to hit, so it needs to be a number the business is happy with. Checking it now is much cheaper than finding out from a month of results.
Not sure whether your own targets still make sense? We review this as part of every Google Ads engagement we run.
