Maximize Conversions

Maximize Conversions is a Google Ads Smart Bidding strategy that automatically sets bids to generate the maximum number of conversions within your daily budget. It uses machine learning to evaluate each auction and determine the optimal bid, without targeting a specific CPA — it simply aims to convert as many users as possible with available budget.

Key Takeaways

• Google sets all bids automatically to maximize total conversion volume
• Will spend your full daily budget (unlike other strategies that may underspend)
• No CPA target by default — add one optionally to create a Target CPA strategy
• Requires active conversion tracking with consistent data
• Best when your priority is volume over efficiency and your budget is the primary constraint

What Is Maximize Conversions

Maximize Conversions is the volume-maximizing counterpart to Target CPA. Where Target CPA balances volume against a cost target, Maximize Conversions removes the cost constraint and focuses purely on getting the most conversions your budget can buy.

Strategy	Goal	CPA Control	Budget Behavior
Maximize Conversions	Most conversions possible	None (CPA may rise)	Spends full budget
Maximize Conversions + Target CPA	Most conversions at target cost	Target CPA set	May underspend if target is tight

The critical distinction: Maximize Conversions will spend your entire daily budget. If your budget is $100/day, it will find a way to spend $100. This is different from Manual CPC or Target CPA, which may underspend if conditions do not meet criteria.

How It Works

Maximize Conversions operates through Google’s Smart Bidding machine learning:

1. You set a daily budget — this is the algorithm’s primary constraint
2. For each auction, Google predicts conversion probability using real-time signals
3. Bids are set to capture the most conversions for the available budget
4. Budget pacing ensures spend is distributed throughout the day (not exhausted in the morning)
5. The algorithm balances bidding high enough to win converting auctions while not overpaying to the point that budget runs out too quickly

Because there is no CPA target, the algorithm has more freedom. It may bid $15 for a click when it predicts a high conversion probability and $0.50 when probability is low. The average CPA is an output, not an input.

In the 2026 Google Ads interface, Maximize Conversions is selected at the campaign level under “Bidding.” You can optionally add a target CPA, which transforms it into the Target CPA strategy. Most bid adjustments (device, audience, location) are ignored except for -100% device exclusions.

Practical Example

A lead generation company tests Maximize Conversions against its existing Target CPA strategy:

Target CPA at $40 (current strategy):

Month	Budget	Spend	Conversions	CPA
March	$10,000	$8,200	205	$40

Note: only $8,200 of the $10,000 budget was spent because the algorithm could not find enough conversions at the $40 CPA target.

Maximize Conversions (no CPA target):

Month	Budget	Spend	Conversions	CPA
April	$10,000	$10,000	260	$38.46

Results:

• Full $10,000 budget spent (vs. $8,200 under Target CPA)
• 55 additional conversions (27% increase)
• CPA actually improved to $38.46 — the algorithm found additional converting auctions that were being skipped under the $40 CPA target

However, in Month 2:

Month	Budget	Spend	Conversions	CPA
May	$10,000	$10,000	210	$47.62

CPA rose to $47.62 as the algorithm exhausted efficient auctions and began bidding more aggressively to spend the full budget. This illustrates the risk: Maximize Conversions always spends, even when the marginal conversion rate declines.

Why It Matters

Maximize Conversions is the right strategy in specific scenarios:

• Budget-constrained growth — when you know your budget is the bottleneck and any conversion within budget is valuable, this strategy ensures no budget goes unspent
• New campaign launch — Maximize Conversions can build conversion data quickly during the first few weeks of a campaign, providing the data needed to switch to Target CPA later
• Simple conversion goals — when all conversions are roughly equal value and you want volume above all else (e.g., newsletter signups, app installs)
• Seasonal surges — during peak periods (Black Friday, back-to-school), switching to Maximize Conversions captures maximum volume when demand is temporarily elevated

The primary risk is CPA inflation. Because the algorithm has no efficiency constraint, it may bid more aggressively than your unit economics support. Always monitor CPA trends when using Maximize Conversions, and switch to Target CPA or Target ROAS once you have established a sustainable CPA baseline. Setting a budget equal to your acceptable daily CPA x target conversion volume provides a rough safeguard against runaway costs.