Google Ads Device Targeting and Bid Adjustments

This guide uses Google Ads Help: About device targeting, About bid adjustments and Add or remove a bid adjustment, plus the pages linked in each section. Checked on 8 November 2026.

The device types Google Ads uses

Google's device targeting page lists four device types you can target:

• Computers: "desktop or laptop devices with screens larger than 7" in diagonal."
• Mobile: "hand-held devices that include a phone."
• Tablet: "mobile devices that don't necessarily include a phone."
• TV screens: devices that stream TV content, such as smart TVs, gaming consoles and devices like Chromecast. The same page says this option "is only available for Display and Video campaigns." Google's Performance Max setup page also lists TV screens for Performance Max.

You may also see a row called Other in your device report. Google explains that some devices, such as feature phones or low or mid-range phones, do not fit any of the four groups, so some activity can show up under Other "even if you're targeting computers only."

Which campaign types let you target devices

There are two different tools, and campaign types support them differently.

Device bid adjustments

Google's bid adjustment eligibility table (for manual bid strategies) shows device bid adjustments for Search, Display, Shopping, Display Video, YouTube, Demand Gen, Hotel and Travel campaigns. App, Smart and Performance Max campaigns have none. For Smart and App campaigns Google says its AI "adjusts bids seamlessly." The Performance Max feature compatibility page also answers "No" for device bid adjustments.

Device targeting in Performance Max

Performance Max still lets you choose devices, just without a percentage. In 2025 Google announced that "device and age targeting controls are now fully available in Performance Max campaigns," and its Performance Max campaign settings page says you can target computers, mobile phones, tablets and TV screens. It is on or off per device, not a bid change. Our Performance Max guide covers the rest of that campaign type.

Advanced device targeting

Demand Gen, Display and Video campaigns go further. Google says they can target specific device types, operating systems, device models, ad inventory, and carriers and wireless networks, and that "targeting specific devices narrows your reach to those devices." Google's example is a seller of phone cases showing an ad only to owners of one phone model. These options are not available for other campaign types.

Setting a device bid adjustment

The steps from Google's add or remove a bid adjustment page, for a Search campaign:

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon.
2. Open the Insights and reports drop-down in the section menu and click When and where ads showed.
3. Click the Devices tab.
4. Select the device row and click the pencil icon in the "Bid adj." column. For devices you can also choose an ad group.
5. Choose Increase or Decrease and enter a percentage. To remove an adjustment, delete the value.
6. Click Save.

Google's own example: a campaign with a $1 max CPC that does well on phones gets a +20% mobile adjustment, so the bid for searches on mobile devices becomes $1.20.

Device adjustments sit next to the ones for locations and times of day. How several adjustments multiply together, and the 900% cap on the combined increase, are covered in our ad scheduling guide, so we do not repeat them here.

The range, and excluding a device

Google gives device bid adjustments a range of -100% to +900%. That is wider than location and ad schedule adjustments, which stop at -90%. Google adds: "Only Device bid adjustments support a -100% adjustment."

• Excluding a device: decrease the bid by 100%, "not 0%". Google calls this the way "to completely exclude your ad from a certain device."
• Campaign or ad group: you can set device adjustments at both levels. When both exist for the same device, Google says "the ad group bid adjustment will be used."
• The exception: if the campaign has -100% for a device, the ad group adjustment for that device is not used. A campaign-level exclusion cannot be undone by an ad group.

So a campaign that should show only on phones gets -100% for computers and tablets at campaign level. Leave TV screens alone in a Search campaign: Google lists that option for Display and Video only.

Device adjustments with Smart Bidding

Most accounts now use automated bidding, and here device adjustments behave differently from other adjustments. Google's About bid adjustments page says Smart Bidding strategies set bids on their own, and "if you make a manual bid adjustment to your automated Smart Bidding strategy, it won't be supported." Device is the partial exception. Google's table for automated strategies shows:

• Maximize clicks: device adjustments work over the full range, like the other adjustment types.
• Target CPA: device adjustments are supported but "treated as a target adjustment."
• Target ROAS, Maximize conversions, Maximize conversion value and Target impression share: "-100% only." You can exclude a device; you cannot raise or lower it by a percentage.

Google's Target CPA page explains what a target adjustment means: device adjustments "modify the value of your CPA target, rather than the bids themselves." Its example: with a $10 target CPA, +40% for mobile raises the target to $14 on mobile devices, and -100% stops ads on mobile. The same page says "non-device bid adjustments are ignored" and suggests you "may want to remove your manual CPC bid adjustments when switching to Target CPA."

Why so little room? Google lists device among the real-time signals Target CPA already uses to set each bid, along with browser, location and time of day. Our budgets and bidding guide explains the strategies themselves.

Reading the device report

The Devices tab under When and where ads showed is where you both set adjustments and read results by device. You can also segment most reports by Device. A few notes from Google's All conversions page on how the numbers are split:

• Conversions are counted under the device where the ad click happened. Someone who clicks on a phone and later buys on a computer counts as mobile.
• Search Network call conversions from desktop and tablet are both in the Computer row; "call conversions from tablets can't be reported separately." Mobile calls are in the mobile row.
• Desktop and tablet call conversions are not available at keyword level.
• Cross-device data for call conversions is only available for Search Network campaigns.

The first point matters most. A phone may show a weak conversion rate and still start journeys that end on a computer, so check cross-device conversions before you cut it.

Cross-device conversions

Google's conversion data page defines them: cross-device conversions "start with a click on an ad from one device and end with a conversion on another device or in a different web browser on the same device." The "Cross-device conv." column shows the total across all your conversion actions.

• They are partly modeled. Google says it uses models based on data from users who have signed into Google services to "predict cross-device conversions that can't be directly observed," so the reports combine observed and modeled conversions. Google's conversion modeling page lists cross-device journeys as one of the places it models.
• Smart Bidding sees them. The Target CPA page says cross-device conversions from Display Network, Video, Search and Shopping campaigns are "included by default." That does not apply to Hotel campaigns.

Cross-device numbers only exist if conversion tracking works. Our Google Ads conversion tracking guide covers that setup.

A checklist for a small account

The facts above are Google's; this order of work is our suggestion:

1. Check your bid strategy first. On Target ROAS, Maximize conversions or Maximize conversion value, the only device choice is excluding one.
2. Look at the Devices tab over a period with enough conversions to compare, including the Cross-device conv. column.
3. Test the page on a phone before lowering mobile. A weak mobile rate is often a slow or awkward mobile page, which a bid cannot fix.
4. Change one device at a time, in moderate steps, and note the date so you can compare before and after.
5. Use -100% only when the business cannot serve that device at all, for example software that only runs on computers.
6. Keep device settings at campaign level unless an ad group really needs its own. Ad group values replace campaign values and are easy to forget.

Frequently asked questions

How do I stop my Google Ads showing on mobile?

Set a -100% device bid adjustment for mobile on the Devices tab. Google says to decrease the bid by 100%, not 0%, to exclude a device. In Performance Max, untick mobile in the campaign's device settings instead.

What is the range for device bid adjustments?

Google gives -100% to +900% at campaign and ad group level. Device is the only adjustment type that allows -100%.

Do device bid adjustments work with Smart Bidding?

Partly. With Target CPA they change the CPA target for that device. With Target ROAS, Maximize conversions, Maximize conversion value and Target impression share, Google allows -100% only. Maximize clicks supports the full range.

Can I target devices in Performance Max?

Yes. Google made device targeting fully available in Performance Max, covering computers, mobile phones, tablets and TV screens. Device bid adjustments are not available there.

Where does a cross-device conversion get reported?

Under the device where the ad click happened. A click on a phone followed by a purchase on a computer counts as mobile.

Device settings work best when the page behind the ad works on every screen. See our Google Ads basics guide, our website development service and all our services, or email [email protected].