August 17 Bidding Update Script

From August 17, 2026 campaigns that are limited by budget and use a target-based bid strategy (Target ROAS / Target CPA) no longer overachieve their target. Google uses the headroom to buy extra volume until the campaign lands on the target you configured. A campaign that ran at 800% ROAS on a 500% target will drift back towards 500%.

This script counters that on campaigns where the budget is fixed. Every day it measures the Budget Utilization Rate (BUR) per campaign. When a campaign runs into its budget it ratchets the target up in small steps, so Google keeps buying the good auctions only. When the campaign is no longer budget limited it walks the target back down, step by step, until it reaches the base target you actually want. The base target is a hard floor - the script never goes below it.

The base target per campaign lives in the "Targets" tab. On the first run it is seeded from whatever target the campaign has right now. Edit that column if you want a different floor. Lowering a target by hand in the Google Ads interface also moves the floor, so a deliberate change is never undone by the script.

The first run only seeds and reports. From then on the target steps at most once per day.

Note: this script never touches budgets. If you also run "Autoscale with Budgets", do not point both scripts at the same campaigns.