Google Shopping Bidding Update Gives Me More Control

I’m seeing an important shift for Standard Shopping campaigns: Google is bringing Maximize Conversion Value bidding to these campaigns without requiring a Target ROAS. That gives advertisers more room to pursue value-based optimization without immediately being locked into a specific return target.

What’s happening. Google is rolling out Maximize Conversion Value bidding for Standard Shopping campaigns, and advertisers no longer have to set a Target ROAS to use it.

Before this update, if I wanted to optimize around conversion value in Standard Shopping, I generally had to use a Target ROAS bidding strategy. Now, this new option lets campaigns focus on maximizing conversion value while giving Google’s bidding system more flexibility to find the highest-value opportunities.

Why I care. This matters because I can now use Google’s value-based bidding in Standard Shopping without being constrained by a Target ROAS goal. That gives me more flexibility while preserving the control and transparency that many advertisers still prefer in Standard Shopping campaigns.

It may also reduce the need to run feed-only Performance Max campaigns just to access Maximize Conversion Value bidding. For advertisers who prefer tighter campaign control, that is a meaningful change.

Between the lines. I know many advertisers have continued to favour Standard Shopping because it offers more visibility and control than Performance Max. But when they wanted flexible value-based bidding, they often created feed-only Performance Max campaigns as a workaround.

With this update, that workaround may no longer be necessary for some accounts.

Why advertisers should care. I can now combine the structure and transparency of Standard Shopping with a more flexible automated bidding strategy. In practical terms, this could simplify campaign setups, reduce unnecessary Performance Max usage, and make account management cleaner.

The bottom line. Google is narrowing one of the biggest feature gaps between Standard Shopping and Performance Max. For me, this gives advertisers another reason to keep using Standard Shopping while still benefiting from automated value-based bidding.

First spotted. Performance marketer Yash Mandlesha spotted the update and shared the option on LinkedIn.

Inspired by this post on Search Engine Land.