Google Ads is changing your bidding on August 17: what Belgian SMEs must check

Google Ads has announced a change to how it optimizes bidding for budget-limited campaigns: starting August 17, 2026, these campaigns will converge more closely toward the actual CPA or ROAS target you have set, even if they had been outperforming it so far. Notifications are already appearing in some accounts since July 6. At the same time, Google is expanding access to Promotion Mode, an option built for demand spikes. Here is what is changing and what a Belgian SME should check before the switch.

1. What changes on August 17

Google is changing how it optimizes budget-limited campaigns that have historically overachieved their performance target. Google's own example is telling: if your target CPA is set at €10, but your actual CPA over recent weeks has been running around €5, the campaign will gradually deliver results closer to €10 starting August 17, instead of continuing to overachieve. For multi-channel campaigns such as Performance Max or Demand Gen, traffic distribution across channels may also shift. Google warns that without adjusting your target before the switch, you may see what looks like a performance drop, when it is really a recalibration toward the goal you defined yourself.

2. Why a Belgian SME can be more exposed than a large brand

A large brand often has a team that recalibrates bidding targets every quarter. A Belgian SME that manages its own Google Ads account, or set it up once and hasn't touched it since, likely has an outdated CPA or ROAS target, set cautiously months ago. If the account has been overachieving that target without anyone tightening it since, August 17 could mean a cost per acquisition that doubles overnight, on an already tight ad budget. That is exactly the scenario Google describes in its own example.

3. Promotion Mode: a welcome option for demand spikes

At the same time, Google is expanding access to Promotion Mode, available in beta for Search and Performance Max campaigns. This feature lets you schedule, over a period set in advance, a temporary loosening of your ROAS tolerance and extra daily budget, to better capture demand during a one-off event: a sale, a product launch, a seasonal peak. The end date is built into the setup, so the campaign automatically reverts to its usual settings afterwards, with nothing to remember to roll back manually.

4. What to check before August 17

• Recalculate the actual CPA or ROAS of your Search, Performance Max and Demand Gen campaigns over the past 30 to 60 days.
• Compare that actual figure to your configured target: if the gap is large, adjust the target to reflect your current business goal, not a setting nobody revisited.
• Check for notifications in your Google Ads dashboard, active since July 6 for affected accounts.
• If you have a demand spike planned this summer or at back-to-school, assess whether the Promotion Mode beta fits that window better than a lasting change to your targets.

The AI lens, people first

AI can continuously recalculate the actual CPA and ROAS of each campaign, compare that figure to the configured target, and flag gaps before a platform change turns them into an unpleasant surprise. It can also simulate the effect of a target adjustment before it's confirmed. But deciding what target level to set, based on the real margin of your product and the company's growth goals, stays a human call. Our stance: AI executes, expertise decides and watches.