What's changing
Today, a campaign that's limited by budget often performs better than its target. You might set a $10 Target CPA but actually pay closer to $5, because the budget caps delivery.
From August 17, Google will make these campaigns deliver closer to the target you set, rather than beating it. So if your target still says $10, your cost can drift back up toward $10. The same applies to Target ROAS, in the opposite direction.
Google won't update your targets for you. To keep your current efficiency, you need to bring your targets in line with the performance you've actually been getting.
What the strategy does
Target Efficiency Protection is a pre-built Rule Engine strategy that does this for you. It:
Looks only at budget-limited campaigns using Target CPA or Target ROAS.
Finds the ones that have consistently beaten their target across the last 7, 30, and 90 days, so it isn't reacting to a single good week.
Gradually moves the target toward your actual performance, a portion at a time, so your campaigns aren't disrupted.
Leaves everything else untouched.
How to use it
Open the strategy and run the preview. You'll see the campaigns that qualified and the suggested new targets. Nothing is applied until you approve it.
If you're happy with the suggestions, apply them. If you'd rather not do this manually each time, automate the strategy to run on a schedule (we recommend weekly). See Automation in Rule Engine.
When you automate it, you can let it apply changes for you, or run it in a safe mode where it only notifies you (by email or Optmyzr alert) and changes nothing.
Because this is a pre-built strategy, you don't have to build any of the logic yourself.
Customize it for your account
The strategy's thresholds are set up as custom variables, so you can adjust them without editing the rules directly:
Meaningful gap – how far past target a campaign must perform before the strategy acts.
Min conversions – the fewest conversions a campaign needs before it's considered.
Budget-lost IS floor – how much impression share lost to budget counts as "budget-limited."
Gap divisor – how gradually the target moves toward actual performance. Set it to 1 to match your last 30 days of performance in a single step.
You can change these in two ways. Adjust them live in the preview to test different thresholds, which affects that preview only. Or update them for the whole strategy by going to the strategy logic editor and then Settings > Variables, which changes the default the strategy uses every time it runs.