Targets and profit

Where do targets show?

On the Overview's Targets panel, for an account that has a campaign bidding to a target CPA or ROAS, or a monthly budget in business context; in the audit's nightly checks; and on the Accounts page's month line. All three read the same rules, so they never disagree.

How long does a new target get?

14 days, unless you change it under Profit and targets in business context. Google says its bidding takes one to two conversion cycles to settle on a new target, and advises judging a change over two weeks or two conversion cycles, whichever is longer. A new target's delivery is read only from the settle days after it was set, and only on days whose conversions have come in. Until then the campaign is read on the last target that did settle, if it was in force in the last 30 days, with the day the new one will be read from. With no such target, the panel reads Settling.

What do the states mean?

Delivery is the campaign's ROAS or cost per conversion over its settled days, against the target in force, needing at least 10 conversions:

• Near its target: within 15% of it.
• Closing on its target: short by more than 15%, but the later half of those days, on at least 5 conversions, is within 15% or has closed at least half the gap.
• Stuck below its target: short by more than 15%, and not closing.
• Beating its target: better than it by more than 15%. Google now holds campaigns limited by their budget closer to their target, so a campaign beating a loose target can slow when its budget changes.
• Too thin to say: fewer than 10 conversions to judge on.

What is a reversal?

A target moved the other way before the previous change had settled, or moved both ways within three days, in the last 30 days. Either sends the bidding two ways before the earlier change could be read, and Google advises against several target changes within one conversion cycle unless the business needs them. The panel flags it as moved back before the last one settled. A run of changes in one direction, easing a campaign a step at a time, is shown and never flagged.

How is my goal compared with my targets?

The goal from business context against the targets set, weighted by the last 30 days' spend, so a campaign on a sliver of spend barely moves the average. The panel says how far the average is looser or tighter than the goal, and the audit reports it once it is 10% or more away.

What is break-even?

The ROAS below which a sale does not cover what it cost to sell. You give it under Profit and targets, either directly or as a gross margin: a 25% margin breaks even at a ROAS of 400%. A campaign selling at a different margin can have its own. A campaign is named below break-even when its ROAS over the last 30 days whose conversions have come in is under it, once it has spent at least twice the account's cost per conversion over those days; a target set below break-even is marked set below break-even. With no break-even given, Adintel does not say which campaigns lose money.

How do I change a target from here?

Change target opens the campaign's own control with the box empty: the figure is yours to type. Your goal, the break-even and what the campaign delivered are shown under it, and the change goes through the usual confirm (changes you make from Adintel). A target set on a shared bid strategy is changed in Google Ads.

What is the month line?

Spend so far this month and where the month ends at the last 7 days' rate, against the monthly budget in business context. It turns amber only when the month will end more than 15% from the budget and most of the spend is on budget-led campaigns, the ones without a target. Where at least half the spend is on campaigns bidding to targets, it is never amber; when the month would end that far off, the line says the targets, not the budgets, set the pace.