Maximize conversions and Maximize conversion value bidding

This guide is built from Google Ads Help: About Maximize conversions bidding, About Maximize conversion value bidding, About Smart Bidding, Changes to how Smart Bidding strategies are organized for Search campaigns, About Smart Bidding learning, About bid strategy statuses and Estimate your results with bid, budget, and target simulators. Checked on 10 November 2026. Where we add our own view, we say so.

How all the bid strategies compare is in our budgets and bidding guide, and the two target strategies have their own guides on Target CPA and Target ROAS. This page is about the two "Maximize" strategies with no target set: what they need, how they use the budget and what to watch after you switch.

What the two strategies do

Google's Maximize conversions page says the strategy uses Google's AI to set bids to help get the most conversions for your campaign while spending your budget. Maximize conversion value works the same way but for value: it helps you get the most conversion value from your budget, where value is whatever you send with each conversion, such as sales revenue or profit margins.

Both are Smart Bidding strategies, next to Target CPA and Target ROAS. Google's Smart Bidding page explains that they set a bid in every auction (auction-time bidding) using signals such as device, location, time of day, browser, operating system, remarketing lists and, on Search and Shopping, the actual search query. You do not set a bid or a cost goal. You set a budget, and the strategy decides how to spend it.

That is the main difference from the target strategies. Google's Maximize conversions page puts it plainly: If you have a specific ROI goal, use the Target CPA bid strategy. The Maximize conversion value page says the same about Target ROAS.

Conversions or conversion value

Google's own comparison: Maximize conversions will attempt to generate the most conversions for a given budget, regardless of the value of the conversions. Maximize conversion value may bid higher for auctions that would result in greater conversion value than auctions with lower conversion value.

A note on the Maximize conversion value page says it is only available for Search, Shopping and Demand Gen campaigns. For Demand Gen, the same page sets a minimum: at least 50 Demand Gen conversions with value in the past 35 days, including at least 10 in the past 7 days, or at least 100 conversions with value across all Demand Gen campaigns in the past 35 days. Google adds that the strategy is only available for selection if your campaign is eligible. Our Demand Gen guide covers the campaign type itself.

In a Smart Bidding table, Google pairs the two with business goals: Maximize conversions (and Target CPA) to increase sales or leads, Maximize conversion value (and Target ROAS) to increase profit.

Before you switch

• Conversion tracking has to work. Google says You must set up conversion tracking to use this strategy. Our conversion tracking guide covers the setup, and offline conversion import covers leads that close by phone or in person.
• Count only what you want more of. Google's learning article says Smart Bidding optimizes exclusively toward your primary conversion goal, and recommends optimizing to a single, consistent conversion goal. If a newsletter sign-up counts the same as a quote request, Maximize conversions will happily buy the cheaper one.
• For conversion value, check the values first. The strategy needs transaction-specific values. For Search and Shopping, if you recently started reporting value or changed how you report it, Google recommends including the new values in the "Conversions" column and waiting 1-2 conversion cycles before adopting the strategy. Conversion value rules can raise values for customer types, devices or locations.
• Look at the budget as a spend amount, not a ceiling you never reach. More on that in the next section.

You can apply either strategy when creating a campaign, from the campaign settings, or from the "Bid strategies" page in the shared library.

They are built to spend the budget

This is the point most people miss. Both Help pages warn that the strategy will try to fully spend your average daily budget. In Google's words: if you’re currently spending much less than your budget, Maximize conversions could increase spend significantly. For example, a campaign that has been spending 40 dollars a day against a 100 dollar budget on manual bids can move towards the full 100 once you switch. The daily and monthly limits in our budgets and bidding guide still apply.

So set the budget to the amount you are willing to spend, not a high number you expect the campaign to stay under. Budget changes do not reset anything: Google's learning article says adjusting daily budgets takes effect immediately and does not trigger a "Learning" status.

"Limited by budget" also means something different here. Google says these strategies are ”limited by budget” by design, and that it does not recommend the "Lost IS (budget)" impression share column with Maximize conversions, because that column uses a different definition and doesn't currently account for this. To see what more budget would bring, Google points to the budget simulator and impression share metrics instead. Its simulators article notes a few limits: the campaign simulator is not available for campaigns on a shared budget, and if a campaign has reached or nearly reached its average daily budget at least once in the last 7 days, the simulators may not be able to give estimates. Our auction insights guide explains the impression share metrics.

Shared budgets and the "Misconfigured" status

Because Maximize clicks, Maximize conversions and Maximize conversion value all spend the whole average daily budget, they do not mix well with other strategies on one shared budget. Google's bid strategy statuses article says that if one of them shares a budget with another bid strategy, the status may show as "Misconfigured (Maximize bid strategy with shared budget)".

Google's fix: all campaigns in the same shared budget should be utilizing the same portfolio bid strategy. For a standard (campaign-level) strategy, either remove the shared budget from the campaign or add all campaigns in the shared budget to a single portfolio strategy.

What happens to your bid adjustments

Location, ad schedule, audience and most device bid adjustments stop working. Google says that because the strategy optimizes bids on real-time data, your existing bid adjustments aren't used, with one exception: you can still set a device bid adjustment of -100% to stop showing on a device. You do not need to delete the old adjustments when you switch; they are simply ignored. Our device targeting guide covers the -100% option.

Targeting settings, such as the locations and the ad schedule, still decide where and when ads can show. Only the bid changes on top of them go. Bid adjustments do still work with Manual CPC and Maximize clicks.

Adding a target turns them into Target CPA or Target ROAS

Both strategies have an optional target field. Fill it in and the strategy changes character: Google says Maximize conversion value with a set target ROAS will behave like a Target ROAS strategy, and the same holds for Maximize conversions with a target CPA.

Google is also changing the labels. Its article on the change says that starting in June 2026, Target CPA and Target ROAS will show as standalone bidding strategy options, separate from the Maximize strategies, and that There are no changes planned for the naming or behavior of "Maximize conversions" or "Maximize conversion value" when used without a target. During the transition you may see either name, and the Google Ads API, Editor and mobile app will not show the new names straight away. Google calls it purely a visual change.

Once a target is set, the target guides apply: choosing the number, ad group targets, bid limits and the August 2026 change for budget-limited campaigns are in our Target CPA guide, and conversion values and minimum data by campaign type in our Target ROAS guide.

Learning and how long to wait

After you switch, the bid strategy status can show "Learning". Google lists three causes: a new strategy (created or reactivated), a composition change (campaigns, ad groups or keywords added or removed) or a significant change to the conversion goals. It also says the status never lasts more than 7 days and that ads keep serving as normal.

The status ending is not the same as the results settling. Google says performance typically converges within 1 to 2 conversion cycles, and recommends evaluating after that over 2 conversion cycles or a 2 week window, whichever is longer, allowing for conversion delay. Its Smart Bidding page suggests measuring over periods with at least 30 conversions, such as a month or longer (50 for Target ROAS).

Switching does not wipe the history. Google's answer to whether a campaign starts from scratch is No. If you have past conversion data in your account, Smart Bidding never starts from scratch. Our Target CPA guide goes further into conversion cycles. If you want to compare against your current bidding before committing, run the switch as an experiment.

When we use them

This section is our own practice, not Google's guidance.

• Maximize conversions for lead generation when the budget is the real limit. If a business has a set monthly amount and wants as many enquiries as it can buy, a target adds little. We use Maximize conversions and judge it by the cost per lead it actually reaches.
• Maximize conversion value only when the values are real. For a shop sending order totals, it is the natural choice. For a service business sending the same made-up value for every form, it adds nothing over Maximize conversions.
• Budget set to what the client will actually spend. We agree the daily budget before switching, because the strategy will use it.
• A target only once the cost or return has a track record. When a campaign has a stable cost per lead or ROAS and the business needs to hold it, we add a target based on what the campaign achieves, then follow the target guides.
• No judging in the first week. We wait out the learning period and at least two conversion cycles before changing anything other than the budget.

Frequently asked questions

Does Maximize conversions always spend the full budget?

It tries to. Google says Maximize conversions will try to fully spend your average daily budget, so if a campaign currently spends much less than its budget, spend could increase significantly. Set the budget to the amount you are prepared to spend.

What is the difference between Maximize conversions and Maximize conversion value?

Maximize conversions tries to get the most conversions for the budget regardless of what each one is worth. Maximize conversion value tries to get the most total conversion value, and may bid higher on auctions likely to bring higher-value conversions. It needs conversion tracking with transaction-specific values.

Do bid adjustments work with Maximize conversions?

No. Google says existing bid adjustments aren't used by Maximize conversions or Maximize conversion value. The one exception is a device bid adjustment of -100%, which still excludes that device.

Why does my Maximize conversions campaign say "Limited by budget"?

Google says Maximize conversions and Maximize conversion value are "limited by budget" by design, because they are built to spend the full daily budget. It recommends the budget simulator and impression share metrics, not the "Lost IS (budget)" column, to judge whether more budget would help.

Can I use Maximize conversions on a shared budget?

Only if every campaign on that shared budget uses the same portfolio bid strategy. Otherwise Google may show the status "Misconfigured (Maximize bid strategy with shared budget)". Fix it by removing the shared budget or moving all the campaigns into one portfolio strategy.

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