Max Conversion Value vs Target ROAS. The full breakdown 🎯

This question comes up every week. So let's clear it up once.

Most people still treat these like the same thing with a setting switched on. They're not. Not anymore.

🧠 TWO SEPARATE BID STRATEGIES

Target ROAS is its own bid strategy now. Not a checkbox inside Max Conversion Value. Treat it like a different tool, because it behaves like one.

- Max Conversion Value = spend the budget, get the most sales value you can. No bar.

- Target ROAS = get sales at the ROAS I set. The target is the bar.

⚡ HOW TARGET ROAS WORKS SINCE THE LAST UPDATE

Google now sticks to your target. With some wiggle room but still more strict than before. There are only two outcomes:

1. It CAN'T reach your target → it underspends. It won't buy auctions it thinks miss the number. Your budget just sits there. With little data it won't work reliably and messes up your algortihm.

2. It CAN reach your target → it spends and holds right at the target. Over the long run it will never beat it. Any extra room should go into more volume, not a higher ROAS.

That's the change. The old days of "target 250%, got 320%" are over. What you type is what you get.

🔥 WHAT THAT MEANS IN PRACTICE

- Set the target around or above the ROAS you actually want. Set it at your goal and you get your goal. Zero headroom.

- Never set it to what the campaign does today. Google will hold you right there.

- Beating the target is no longer a signal to scale. Compare your real ROAS to your profit goal. Not to the Google target.

- Underspending on a target = the target is too high for the auctions out there. Lower it a bit, in a small step.

- Target changes hit faster now. Flip-flopping hurts more than before.

🎚️ THE TWO LEVERS

- Budget = volume. How much you buy.

- Target = quality. What return Google has to deliver.

Want more or less spend? Move the budget.

Want a different ROAS? Move the target.

Never swap them.

📍 WHEN TO USE WHAT

Max Conversion Value:

- New store. Always.

- Campaign has spent under €100. A target makes zero sense on that little data.

- €100 to €300 spend. Still no target normally.

- Tracking is broken or you have a real conversion delay.

- You just scaled back and the campaign is settling.

- Your low performer campaign (the wasters). Never Target ROAS there. Ever. Budget typically too small.

Target ROAS:

- Campaign is past ~€300 spend. That's the normal trigger.

- Tracking is clean and you have enough and reliable data to work with.

- You know your numbers from the profit sheet.

🔢 HOW TO PICK THE NUMBER

Three checks. Take the highest.

1. What does your profit need? Our floor is 15-20% net profit. Break-even ROAS = 1 / gross margin. So a 40% margin = 2.5 break-even. And that's before team, software and returns. Break-even is working for free.

2. What is the campaign already doing? The target never sits below that.

3. How mature is the store? Newer store, lower target or no target like explained. Mature store, higher.

Then put it ABOVE that number. Two reasons:

- Google now delivers the target, not more.

- The target reads conv. value / cost, which runs lower than your ROAS by time. A target set right at your goal is really a target below it.

The old trick of setting the target 20 points below your real ROAS is dead. Above, never below.

The target is a demand. Not a mirror.

💚 MAX CONVERSION VALUE: SWOT

Strengths: full freedom to learn. Spends the budget. Fast data. Perfect for new stores and small campaigns.

Weaknesses: no quality control. Your budget is the only brake.

Opportunities: finds products and search terms you'd never guess. Builds the data you need for a target later.

Threats: push the budget too hard and it buys worse traffic to spend it. Broken tracking = it chases junk and you don't notice.

🎯 TARGET ROAS: SWOT

Strengths: delivers right at the return you ask for. Protects profit on a proven campaign. Scaling the budget is more predictable now.

Weaknesses: needs data. No bonus above the target anymore.

Opportunities: push quality up on a mature account while the budget does the scaling. Different targets per campaign give each one its own job.

Threats: too high = it underspends. Set to today's number = today becomes your ceiling. Changed every other day = chaos, and faster now.

⚠️ THE EXCEPTIONS

- Boosters can get a target from day one. You already know what those products do. No waiting for €300.

- A new products booster can run a lower target than the rest. You want it pushing fresh products harder.

- Never the same target on a booster and your main PMax. They trip over each other and you can't read the results.

- Account really struggling at €100-300 with zero momentum? You can put a target on early to pull ROAS up. Exception, not the plan. And not beginner-friendly to navigate.

- Target choking spend? Lower it a bit first. Only go back to Max Conversion Value if the campaign is under ~€300 spend.

❌ THE MISTAKES I SEE EVERY WEEK

1. Below break-even and not spending, so they drop the target to "let it spend". Wrong lever. Cut the budget. Keep the target.

2. Target set to what the account already does. Google will now hold you there forever.

3. "ROAS is way above target, let's scale." Over the long run that doesn't happen anymore. Check real ROAS against your profit goal.

4. Target up Monday, down Wednesday, up Friday. One move. Leave it 3-4 days.

5. Budget and target changed on the same day. Something moves and you have no clue which one did it. One lever per move. Scaling back is the one combo that works together.

6. Not spending? They blame the target first. Check Merchant Center, the feed label on the campaign and product approvals first. Then budget. Then target.

7. Judging it all on the ad account. Google's ROAS is a starting point. The profit sheet is the verdict.

✅ CHEAT SHEET

- New store or under €300 spend → Max Conversion Value

- Low performer campaign → Max Conversion Value, never a target

- Tracking broken → Max Conversion Value until it's fixed

- Past €300, clean tracking, margin known → Target ROAS, set above your profit goal

- Target ROAS underspending → target too high, lower it a small step

- Target ROAS hitting target → it won't beat it long term, so set it where you actually want to land

- Booster → Target ROAS from day one, different from main PMax

- Want more volume → budget

- Want better ROAS → target

Still not sure which one fits your store? Drop your setup in the comments 👇