Bidding Strategies

Maximize Conversion Value vs Target ROAS: Where the Target Fits

In short: Same relationship as the conversion-count pair, one level up in value terms. Maximize Conversion Value spends the budget chasing the largest total conversion value; target ROAS is the optional field inside it that names a minimum efficiency to hold. Both are only as good as the values you actually send with conversions.

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

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

Target ROAS

Bids automatically toward a chosen ratio of conversion value to ad spend, entered as a percentage in Google Ads.

It is the target field inside Maximize Conversion Value, and it only functions when your conversion values are accurate and varied. Google predicts value per auction and bids up where it expects payback. Raising the target reduces volume, and that trade is the mechanism rather than a defect. The common error is picking an aspirational number the account has never reached, which starves delivery outright.

Full definition

Side by side.

The differences that actually change what happens in your account.

 Maximize Conversion ValueTarget ROAS
What it isThe value-based bid strategy itself.An optional efficiency target inside that strategy.
GoalHighest total conversion value the budget can buy.Highest value that still clears your return ratio.
Spend behaviorDesigned to spend the full budget.Will leave budget unspent when the target cannot be met.
PrerequisiteAccurate, genuinely varied values on conversion actions.The above plus a return the account has actually produced.
Effect of tighteningNo target to tighten - budget is the lever.Higher target means less volume; that trade is the mechanism.
Failure modeStatic value per conversion turns it into Maximize Conversions.Target above anything achieved, which starves delivery outright.

What actually separates them.

01

Target ROAS is a field inside Maximize Conversion Value, not a competing strategy you switch to.

02

Without a target the bidder maximizes total value with no efficiency floor; with one it declines auctions predicted to return below the ratio.

03

Both depend entirely on transmitted values - a hardcoded value produces precise-looking ROAS reporting that means nothing.

04

A target ROAS reduces volume by design, because high-value buyers are rarer than average ones.

05

Removing the target typically raises total conversion value and lowers ROAS at the same time, which is a trade rather than a regression.

Which one should you use?

Use Maximize Conversion Value when

  • You have real value variation but no defensible target figure yet.
  • The goal is total revenue inside a fixed budget rather than a margin ratio.
  • You are seeding a new value-based campaign and want data before constraining it.
  • Profitability is managed outside the platform, on blended metrics like MER or contribution margin.

Use Target ROAS when

  • You can compute break-even return from margin and need a floor above it.
  • Revenue is growing but unprofitably, and unconstrained value maximization is the reason.
  • Product margins are similar enough that one ratio is a fair rule across the campaign.
  • Historic ROAS gives you a starting number the account has demonstrably reached.

Common questions.

My conversion values are all the same number. Should I use value bidding?

Not yet. With a single flat value, Maximize Conversion Value ranks auctions the same way Maximize Conversions does, and a target ROAS becomes an awkward way of expressing a CPA. Fix value transmission first - pass real order totals, or score leads into meaningfully different tiers - then move to value bidding.

Should I set target ROAS to my break-even number?

Break-even is a floor, not a target. Bidding exactly at break-even designs the campaign to earn nothing after ad cost, so most advertisers set the target above break-even by their required contribution margin and adjust from the volume they get. Whatever you pick has to be a ratio the account has produced.

Why did volume drop when I added a target ROAS?

That is the constraint working. The target tells Google to skip auctions predicted to return below your ratio, so the eligible pool shrinks. If the drop is severe, the target sits above what the account has ever produced; lower it toward recent actual return and step it up gradually.

Or stop choosing between them.

AdFlint picks the setting, writes the ads, and keeps optimizing inside the Google and Meta accounts you already own.

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