When Google clarified the change last week it settled the argument, but left an important concern wide open. So we built a free tool that answers it for your account in five minutes.

What did Google actually clarify about the incoming update?

From August 17, budget limited campaigns using Target CPA or Target ROAS stop overachieving and begin performing at the exact target set.

Initial coverage prompted claims that ad costs would instantly double or that Google was forcing higher spend. Google Ads’ Ginny Marvin addressed those takes directly, stating that the update will not lead to spend increases and that daily budget limits remain respected. She pushed back on the claim that the update forces lower quality traffic, explaining the system still bids to find as many conversions as possible at the target you set.

In summary, your daily and monthly budget caps still hold, and a budget limited campaign does not suddenly spend more on August 17th.

So how is the Google update dropping efficiency?

The official clarification guarantees spend control, but if we look at efficiency it tells a different story.

When a campaign with a £20 Target CPA delivers leads and sales at £12, the tight budget cap forces the algorithm to pick only the cheapest available conversions. Nothing about your spend changes this August. However, the campaign will now bid up to that £20 target, so the same budget buys fewer, more expensive conversions. You were getting a discount that the budget cap was quietly creating, and that discount goes away unless you reset the target to the efficiency you are actually achieving.

So the honest summary is that you will not spend more, but will get less for the same money on any campaign that has been overperforming. Unless you act now.

Which campaigns are exposed by the Google update?

A campaign meets the risk criteria only when all three variables align:

• Bidding Strategy: Uses Target CPA or Target ROAS.
• Budget Status: Displays a Limited by budget indicator.
• Performance Gap: Delivers actual metrics better than the stated target.

How can you find your campaigns meeting these criteria?

We built a read only Google Ads script that audits your portfolio and answers this exact question for you.

It scans every campaign, finds the budget limited target based ones that are overperforming, ranks them by how much efficiency is genuinely at risk, and tells you the exact change to make.

It takes about five minutes and gives you a table with one line per flagged campaign, plus a full Google Sheet for the details.

Note: The script compares its findings against Google’s Limited by budget classification, flagging discrepancies for manual review. It is a diagnostic tool that highlights what’s working, and shouldn’t be seen as a full fix.

What to do with what it finds?

For each flagged campaign you have three honest choices, and the script tells you which fits.

• You want to keep the efficiency you have: Lower the Target CPA, or raise the Target ROAS, to your recent actual before the 17th of August. Google’s own Bid Target Adjustment Tool will do this for you, but sense check the number against a normal trading period first.
• You want to grow: Hold the target and add budget on purpose. This is the demand led route Google is nudging everyone toward, and it is a fine choice when it is a choice.
• Maintain Strict Budget Controls: Cap budgets for cash flow or capacity constraints, resetting targets immediately to stop efficiency drift.

The one thing not to do is nothing, as otherwise, your best performing campaigns will quietly get more expensive.