Bidding Strategies

Maximize Conversion Value vs Maximize Clicks: Revenue or Volume

In short: Maximize Clicks buys the cheapest clicks the budget can find and reads no data about what happens next. Maximize Conversion Value prices each auction by predicted revenue and needs real transaction values to function. They sit at opposite ends of the same budget: one buys sessions, the other buys orders.

By the AdFlint research team · Fact-checked against current Google and Meta platform behavior · Last reviewed July 2026

Maximize Clicks

Automated Google strategy that spends the available budget to buy as many clicks as possible, optionally bounded by a maximum CPC limit.

Google buys the cheapest clicks it can find within your budget, which is why it drifts toward wide, low-intent queries when match types are loose. It is genuinely useful on new campaigns with no conversion history, for traffic goals, and as a temporary way to gather data. Always set the max CPC limit; without one, the strategy will pay whatever a single expensive term happens to cost.

Full definition

Maximize Conversion Value

Automated Google strategy that pursues the highest total conversion value within the budget, with an optional target ROAS to constrain efficiency.

It needs genuinely different values passed with your conversions, otherwise every conversion looks identical and it degenerates into Maximize Conversions. Ecommerce accounts and lead-gen accounts with scored leads use it to push toward high-value orders rather than cheap ones. The usual failure is a hard-coded value on the conversion action, which makes the value model meaningless while reports still display a confident ROAS figure.

Full definition

Side by side.

The differences that actually change what happens in your account.

	Maximize Clicks	Maximize Conversion Value
Optimizes for	Click count.	Total conversion value.
Data required	None.	Accurate, varied conversion values on every conversion.
Bid ceiling	An optional max CPC limit, which should always be set.	None on a standard campaign; the target and budget constrain instead.
CPC behavior	Pushed down; the strategy seeks cheap inventory.	Free to rise sharply on auctions predicted to be lucrative.
Efficiency lever	The CPC limit and your negatives.	An optional target ROAS field.
Failure mode	No CPC limit set, so one expensive term eats the budget.	A hard-coded conversion value, which makes reported ROAS meaningless.

What actually separates them.

Maximize Clicks has no view past the click, so it will buy a great many bounces provided they are cheap.

Value bidding deliberately pays more for some clicks than others on the same keyword, which is the exact behavior Maximize Clicks suppresses.

Switching from clicks to value normally raises CPC and cuts click volume sharply, and that is the intended effect rather than a fault.

Maximize Conversion Value is inert without a value stream in conversion tracking, whereas Maximize Clicks runs on a brand new account with nothing configured.

Cheap clicks and high value clicks are almost never the same set, which is why accounts rarely see a smooth transition between these two.

Which one should you use?

Use Maximize Clicks when

A brand new campaign with no conversion data at all, where traffic has to come first.
The objective is genuinely visits: a content launch, a comparison page, a top of funnel test.
Conversion values are not being passed and nobody is building that soon.
You need search term volume quickly to construct negatives and expansions.

Use Maximize Conversion Value when

Real transaction values arrive with each purchase and vary meaningfully.
Order sizes differ enough that counting sessions or even conversions hides the result.
You are accountable for revenue and return rather than traffic.
You intend to add a target ROAS later, which requires this strategy first.

Common questions.

Can I use Maximize Clicks to warm up a campaign before value bidding?

It builds traffic and search term data, which helps you set negatives and validate landing pages, but click history is not value history. A later value bidding campaign still has to learn which auctions produce revenue. Treat it as keyword and page validation rather than as a shortcut through the learning period.

Why did my traffic collapse when I switched to Maximize Conversion Value?

The bidder is now declining auctions it predicts will not return value, and Maximize Clicks was buying exactly those. Volume falling while conversion value holds or rises is the strategy working. If value fell as well, check that transaction amounts are arriving correctly and that any target ROAS is anchored to achieved performance.

Should I set a max CPC limit on Maximize Clicks?

Always. Without one the strategy will pay whatever an auction demands to keep buying clicks, and a single expensive term can absorb the budget. Set the limit near what you would have bid manually on mid-value keywords, and review the search terms report often, because this strategy finds the widest queries fastest.

Or stop choosing between them.

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