Google's Aug 17 tCPA crackdown landed. Campaigns still beat targets by 25%
Google's Aug 17 Smart Bidding change was supposed to end the free lunch: budget-limited tCPA and tROAS campaigns would stop overdelivering and hug their stated targets. But weeks in, advertisers across r/PPC report actuals still landing roughly 25% below target CPA, with no visible shift in spend behavior. The catch, as Google's own docs admit: nothing changes unless you lower the target yourself. The algorithm only optimizes toward the number you type in.