Your Google Ads campaign is about to get more expensive (and you have six weeks to stop it)

A garage door repair company in Brownsburg set a Target CPA of $65 when they turned on their first Google Ads campaign two years ago. The owner hasn't touched that number since.

Last quarter, Google was landing them a lead for $34 on average, about half the price they told the system to aim for. No one at the shop noticed, because nothing about the campaign looked broken. Leads kept coming in, the calendar stayed full, and the bill matched the budget.

That gap closes on August 17.

What changes on August 17?

Google announced this on June 15, 2026. If a campaign is marked "limited by budget" and runs on Target CPA or Target ROAS, and it has historically beaten that stated number, Google will start steering it back toward the target you typed in. Google's own published example: a campaign with a $10 Target CPA that has been delivering $5 leads will start delivering closer to $10 after August 17.

Google will not touch your budget or your target for you. The company has said so directly. What changes is how hard the bidding system tries to hit the exact number sitting in that target field, whether or not it's the number you'd choose today.

The rule covers Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen, and Travel campaigns run through Google Ads or Search Ads 360. App campaigns and video campaigns keep their current behavior. If your Google Ads spend runs on Maximize Conversions with no target set, none of this touches you.

A bike shop in Carmel runs Shopping ads with a Target ROAS of 400 percent, set the day they turned the campaign on. Their actual return has been closer to 550 percent for months. That gap has been quiet money on the table. After August 17 it closes on its own, and unless they update the number, their cost per sale goes up to match the 400 percent they typed in three years ago.

The math on a $65 target

Run the Brownsburg numbers on a flat $2,000 monthly ad budget. At $34 a lead, that budget buys about 59 leads a month. At $65 a lead, the same $2,000 buys about 30. Same spend, same product, close to half the leads, because the target field never got touched after the campaign proved itself.

A shop owner would never sign up to lose half their leads on purpose. Most stop looking at the target the moment a campaign starts working, because a working campaign doesn't ask for attention.

What should you do before August 17?

Start by opening your Google Ads account and checking the Status column on each campaign. Any row that reads "Limited by budget" and uses Target CPA or Target ROAS is a candidate. Compare the target you set against your actual CPA or ROAS over the last 90 days.

Google is sending account notifications starting July 6, pointing budget-limited advertisers to a new Bid Target Adjustment Tool. It shows your real recent performance next to your old target and gives you three honest choices: leave the target where it is and accept the change, lower it to match your recent performance and lock in the efficiency you've been getting for free, or set a new number based on where your business needs to land this year.

Whichever you pick, give it 1 to 2 conversion cycles before judging the results. Smart Bidding needs time to relearn against a new number, and checking two days after a change tells you nothing.

If an agency or freelancer manages your account, this is worth a direct email this week: ask them what your current targets are set to, and whether those numbers still match what you're willing to pay for a customer.

A target you never update is not a strategy. It is a number Google will eventually take literally.

Most small accounts don't get looked at often. Five-person shops don't have someone on staff whose job is watching a target field. This is one of those rare moments where the platform hands you a specific date and a specific reason to open the account again. Take it.

---

Sources

#	Source	What it backed up
1	Changes to target based bid strategies (Google Ads Help)	The August 17, 2026 effective date, the "limited by budget" mechanism, the $10-to-$5 illustrative example, and the affected campaign types.
2	FAQ: changes to Target-based bid strategies (Google Ads Help)	Confirmation that Google will not auto-adjust targets or budgets, and the 1-2 conversion cycle guidance for evaluating changes.
3	Google Ads bidding changes: what PPC managers need to know (Search Engine Journal)	The June 15, 2026 announcement date and the July 6 account notification rollout.
4	About Smart Bidding (Google Ads Help)	Background on Target CPA and Target ROAS as automated Smart Bidding strategies.