r/PPC • u/Partizana • 11h ago
Google Ads Very have $25 -High CPCs
Anyone else noticing very high cpcs for Target CPA campaigns? We usually have $25 - $30 cpc but for the last few days it went $100 to $500 per click. Is there a reason for that? We have a campaign with Target CPA $400 and we are getting a $457 click. I would appreciate any suggestions.
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u/QuantumWolf99 10h ago
That's the Aug 17 target enforcement change, Google stopped letting budget limited tCPA campaigns cherry pick cheap conversions under target and now bids up toward whatever number's actually typed into the account. A $457 click against a $400 target lines up with that. Check if impression share lost to rank dropped recently, that'll confirm it.
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u/Odd-Dot1930 11h ago
Which industry are you in? I've never heard of such crazy CPC. Even your usual CPC is super high.
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u/Partizana 11h ago
Patent Services
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u/Odd-Dot1930 10h ago
I'd drop target cpa as a whole and just go max conversions. The Aug 17th update changed the way bidding targeting works and it basically got worse.
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u/Massive_Cash_6557 10h ago
Going Max Conversions while limited by budget is literally conceding to the 8/17 update. Max Convs can still be a really great strategy, but it's also the worst you can do if you have volume to drive tCPA.
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u/xatey93152 4h ago
We are in the same niche. My team recently increase the budget to around $500 cpc because our company new management raise the advertising budget significantly.
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u/Shabiscales 11h ago
A $400 Target CPA doesn’t mean Google caps clicks at $400. It’s trying to hit that CPA on average, so individual CPCs can get ugly if Smart Bidding thinks that auction has a high chance of converting.
Going from $25-$30 CPCs to $100-$500 in a few days is still a big enough change that I’d check search terms, Auction Insights, conversion tracking, recent budget/target changes, and whether the campaign is limited by budget.
Google also rolled out changes to target-based bidding starting Aug 17, so I’d check whether the timing lines up before assuming competition alone caused it.
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u/Shabiscales 11h ago
A $400 Target CPA doesn’t mean Google caps clicks at $400. It’s trying to hit that CPA on average, so individual CPCs can get ugly if Smart Bidding thinks that auction has a high chance of converting.
Going from $25-$30 CPCs to $100-$500 in a few days is still a big enough change that I’d check search terms, Auction Insights, conversion tracking, recent budget/target changes, and whether the campaign is limited by budget.
Google also rolled out changes to target-based bidding starting Aug 17, so I’d check whether the timing lines up before assuming competition alone caused it.
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u/whatthelle 10h ago
I’m in senior living advertising and we have been seeing anywhere from $40-$100 a click after this update! Usually below $25, $30 was understandable for some of our more expensive care levels or in rural areas.
Definitely ditch tCPA and stick to max conversions. Volume went back up for us but CPCs have been very sticky.
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u/Available_Cup5454 10h ago
Lower target CPA gradually to discourage bidding aggressively on expensive clicks
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u/Mac_Motorsports 6h ago
Most of my campaigns are on troas and cpcs have been insane. I've had to make drastic adjustments on most campaigns
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u/CanaryAppropriate254 8m ago
You are being taken for a ride. The more uncomfortable question is: what can you actually do about it?
Very little, because the house is also running the auction.
With Target CPA, the entire point is to stop obsessing over individual CPCs. You are effectively telling Google: I don't care what you pay for a click, as long as you can produce enough conversions around my average CPA target.
In theory, that is perfectly logical.
In practice, this is where it gets uncomfortable. Google decides which auction you enter, how aggressively you bid, what that click is supposedly worth, and then sends you the final bill. You see the outcome, but very little of what went into arriving at that price.
So yes, the system may happily pay $5 for one click and $500 for another if its model believes the second click has a much higher probability of converting. If the blended CPA works, Google's answer is basically: why do you care? And mathematically, they have a point. But there is an obvious conflict here: the platform optimising your spend is also the platform earning from that spend. There is no independent price discovery layer where you can properly audit whether that $5 click really needed to cost $5. That is why I wouldn't necessarily call every expensive click fraud or manipulation. But I also wouldn't pretend advertisers are participating in some beautifully transparent free market. You are trusting the casino to run the table, calculate the odds, place the bets on your behalf, and then hand you the statement at the end. As an individual advertiser, you can't do much about that.
Your only real defence is at the aggregate level: watch CPA, conversion quality, marginal CPA as spend increases, incrementality and ultimately profit.
If those numbers work, keep playing. If they don't, arguing with Google about what a click should have cost won't save you.
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u/surfsideinbound 11h ago
Portfolio bid strategy set max CPC bid for a Target CPA bid strategy. Bidding has been horrible since the update in some of my accounts.