Target CPA

Target CPA is a Smart Bidding approach where you name the average cost per conversion you are willing to pay, and Google bids to hit that average across the campaign.

You use it when you already know your numbers. If a booked call is worth a known amount to you and you can pay up to a set figure to win one, you set that figure and Google raises or lowers each bid to land your cost per conversion near it. Some conversions come in cheaper, some cost more; the target is the middle you are steering toward, not a price tag stapled to each one.

You may have set this in the past as an optional target tucked inside Maximize Conversions. In mid 2026 Google split it back out into its own strategy called Target CPA, though the way it bids under the hood did not change. Whichever menu you find it in, the job is the same: hit an average cost over time, not a ceiling on any one sale.

Set it too low and you strangle your own campaign. If your target sits under what the auction actually costs, Google throttles delivery to protect the number, and your impressions and conversions dry up while you wonder why nothing is spending. Root the target in real past data, then move it in small steps, because every change sends the system back into a learning stretch.

A target that is too pretty to hit just quietly shuts you off.