Google Ads explains ‘limited by bid strategy’ status amid manual bidding concerns

Google Ads has clarified its new “limited by bid strategy” indicator.

Digital marketing expert Anthony Higman first noticed the pop-up on an enhanced manual CPC campaign.

He shared a screenshot of the notification on X (formerly known as Twitter) and claimed there no further explanation had been provided:

After the screenshot raised concerns in the PPC community, Google explained that the indicator simply highlights when a campaign can achieve better conversion value while maintaining a similar ROAS or conversions at the target CPA with a value-based bidding strategy.

The platform reassured that despite the notification, no action is actually required by advertisers – it currently just serves as a potential recommendation.

Why we care. Advertisers are concerned that this could be a signal that Google Ads is taking another step towards manual CPC deprecation, which may prove problematic for industries that aren’t suited to enhanced conversion data or conversion values.

However, as pointed out by digital marketing expert Greg Finn, this feature could be beneficial for Smart Campaigns. He explained on X:

• “It would however be very useful for diagnosis purposes if it did help with Smart Campaigns that are actually limited by to aggressive of a target. That would be very nice in fact!”

What has Google said? Google Ads Product Liaison officer Ginny Marvin said:

• “This is a relatively new indicator that may appear when the system determines the campaign can get more conv value at a similar ROAS or convs at the target CPA with a value-based bidding strategy. You can review the recommendation, but no action is required.”
• “Separately, last month, we notified advertisers using eCPC for Shopping campaigns that those campaigns will begin behaving as if they’re using Manual CPC bidding starting in early October.”
• “There are also status indicators that may show when a bid strategy is limited by inventory, bid status or budget constraint.”

Deep dive. Read Google’s Bid Strategy Status guidelines for more information.