Do you ever feel like your Google Ads money just disappears? It might be because you’re using the wrong bidding setting without even knowing it.
Many people settle for the wrong bidding strategy, confusing “Maximize Conversions” and “Maximize Conversion Value.” Although they sound similar, they work in very different ways.
Let me break down the difference, so you can stop wasting money and start getting better results.
Table of Contents
Prerequisites for Using Bidding Strategies
1. Conversion Tracking
Ensure your conversion tracking is configured. Whether it’s phone calls, purchases, or form submissions, your conversions need to be tracked in Google Ads for optimization.
2. Enough Conversion Data
You must achieve at least 15 conversions within the last 15 days, as recommended by Google.
It will provide your bidding strategy with data to learn and optimize bidding, allowing it to identify which users are likely to convert.
3. Offline Conversion Tracking
If some of your conversions happen offline (via phone or in-store), you can import them back into Google Ads by recording the values in a spreadsheet.
Note that offline conversion tracking is optional, but it’s also powerful. It helps the algorithm understand which ads prove valuable in driving real revenue.
Maximize Conversions vs Maximize Conversion Value
Let’s now understand the difference between these two bidding strategies:
1. Maximize Conversions
This setting tries to get you as many conversions as possible within your budget. It doesn’t care how much each conversion is worth, just that you get more of them.
Use this when:
- Your products or services are all priced about the same
- Customers usually buy just one thing per order
- You want more sign-ups, leads, or purchases (and you want them fast)
2. Maximize Conversion Value
This setting focuses on getting you the highest total value from all your conversions, not just more of them.
It aims to bring in more revenue, even if that means fewer purchases.
Use this when:
- Your product prices vary a lot (i.e., 10% or more)
- Customers often buy multiple items at once
- You want to make more money, not just more sales
Take More Control With Advanced Bidding Settings
Once you’ve picked a bidding strategy, you can add these advanced options to have more control over how Google spends your money:
1. Target Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)
This works with “Maximize Conversions.” You can tell Google how much you’re willing to pay for one lead or sale. Then, Google will try to get you conversions without going over the specified cost.
For example, if you set a target CPA of $10, Google will aim to bring you new customers for $10 or less each.
2. Target Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
This one works with “Maximize Conversion Value.” You tell Google how much revenue you want to earn for every dollar you spend on ads.
Google then tries to find customers who are more likely to spend enough to meet that goal. As an example, if you set a target ROAS of 400%, you’re asking Google to bring you $4 in sales for every $1 spent.
Determining Which Bidding Strategy to Use
If you have a new account with low conversions and are just starting, I recommend using the “Maximize Conversion” bidding strategy until you have sufficient data to assign values to your conversions.
Once you have acquired enough tracked conversions and are ready to optimize for revenue, you can switch to “Maximize Conversion Value.”
But no matter which strategy you choose, keep the following in mind:
- Both strategies will use your full budget, so make sure your campaign budget matches your business goals.
- Be careful with “Maximize Conversions” in search campaigns. If you don’t fully understand how it works, it can spend your budget too quickly without giving you the results you want.
For more quick and helpful guides like this, check out the Launchpresso blog.