Change Search Ads 360 bid strategies and conversion goals (campaign-level optimization)

This article explains how to change your Search Ads 360 bid strategies and conversion goals at the campaign level. You’ll learn how to switch between Target CPA and Target ROAS or modify your existing conversion actions. While the structural process is virtually identical for both directions, transitioning from CPA to ROAS requires a larger data window of at least 4 weeks or 2-3 conversion cycles.

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Recommended steps

Identify the new or existing conversion goal you will be setting as your campaign-level goal.

• If you’re adding new conversion actions to an existing goal, start by creating them.
• Don’t mark them as primary or account default yet.
• Ensure that the conversion action is correctly reporting values before moving to the next step.
• Evaluate the ROAS or CPA of the new goal before switching your bid strategy.

Don't add the new conversion actions to any Custom Goals before completing the warm-up step below.

• Identify the new or existing conversion goal you want to optimize towards.
• If you’re adding new conversion actions to an existing goal, start by creating them.
• Don’t mark them as primary or account default yet.
• Ensure that the conversion goal is correctly set, and that reporting values show correctly before moving to the next step.
• Evaluate conversion rate / ROAS.

Depending on the ROAS or CPA of the new goal, determine your preferred workflow before making the goal change:

Workflow A: Moving from Target CPA to Target ROAS

1. Target ROAS performs best with at least 4 weeks of warm-up data before switching.
2. Compare your ROAS for the previous 4 weeks.
   1. Scenario 1: New goal and old goal have similar ROAS
      1. Make the goal switch and wait 2-3 conversion cycles on Target CPA and then switch to the new ROAS bid strategy.
   2. Scenario 2: Previous ROAS is very different, or you were not previously recording values. If your previous ROAS is very different, or you were not recording values, you have a few options to build up data before switching:
      1. Option 1: Stay on Target CPA and change goals, while building up 4 weeks of data in the Conv. Value column.
      2. Option 2: Set a static value in your old conversion goal to build up ROAS data for 4 weeks. Remain on Target CPA until you're ready to switch.

Workflow B: Moving from Target ROAS to Target CPA

1. Evaluate the conversion rate of the new goal vs the old goal, then make the goal switch.
2. Change to Target CPA, and adjust targets based on the new conversion rate. If there’s a large conversion rate change. between the old vs new goal, gradually change targets in smaller increments towards the new desired CPA target.

After you’ve determined the CPA or ROAS of your new goal, and selected your preferred workflow, make the goal change at campaign level:

• Change to the new conversion goal (set at campaign level).
• Change composition of conversion goal (add or remove conversion actions as primary in select campaigns).
• If you change an action used for custom goals, remember that every campaign using that action is affected.

Consider switching your campaigns in batches. Start with medium-sized campaigns with reasonable spend and conversion volume, and scale up over time. If you’re switching from campaign-level to account-default level bidding, we recommend doing this in batches rather than all at once. Be sure to closely monitor performance and make target adjustments as needed to maintain stability.

Switch to Target ROAS or CPA. Use the previous 30 days historical performance (excluding conversion delay) to determine your target.

• If your new ROAS or CPA target is very different to the previous data, consider making a gradual change towards your new ROAS target over several weeks. For example, if your historical data has a CPA target of $10 USD, and your new CPA target is $100 USD, gradually increase target over several weeks to avoid performance fluctuations:
  • Week 1: Target CPA - $25 USD
  • Week 2: Target CPA - $50 USD
  • Week 3: Target CPA - $75 USD
  • Week 4: Target CPA - $100 USD

Search Ads 360 will adjust to the new target over the next 2-3 conversion cycles. You can adjust ROAS targets or budgets to manage performance.

• Monitor closely for spend fluctuations, and adjust your ROAS or CPA target as needed to maintain your desired spend level.
• Ensure budgets are set at your desired spend level during the transition.
• Consider setting Min and Max bid limits (Search and Shopping campaigns only) if you experience spend fluctuations.

Learn how to Change conversion goals and actions used for Search Ads 360.