What is Target CPA (tCPA)?
Target CPA is a Smart Bidding strategy where you set the average cost you're willing to pay per conversion, and Google automatically sets bids in each auction to hit that target across the campaign. It optimizes toward your CPA goal using signals like device, location, time, and audience that manual bidding can't process in real time.
What to know in practice
- It needs conversion volume to learn, Google recommends 30+ conversions in the prior 30 days before tCPA optimizes reliably.
- Set the target near your recent actual CPA, then adjust by ~10-15% per week. A target far below reality causes Smart Bidding to under-spend protectively.
- tCPA optimizes to the average, individual conversions will come in above and below the target; that's expected, not a malfunction.
- Clean conversion tracking is non-negotiable: tCPA is only as good as the conversion data it learns from.
Common misconception
Lowering your Target CPA does not force cheaper conversions, it usually just throttles volume as Google bids only on the safest auctions. Move the target gradually and watch volume, not just CPA.
Related terms
- Smart Bidding → Paid Media
- CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) → Analytics
- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) → Analytics