Google, Microsoft and OpenAI narrow advertiser bid controls in the same week

August 26, 2026 · ppc.land

Three of the largest ad platforms narrowed how advertisers set a bid ceiling within six weeks of each other. Microsoft Advertising will stop accepting a maximum cost per click on new non-portfolio campaigns using Max Conversions, Max Conversion Value or Max Clicks starting October 1, 2026, though campaigns already running, portfolio bid strategies, Target Impression Share and Enhanced Cost Per Click all keep the field; Microsoft described the change as a way to simplify bidding, and said further updates to the field would follow. Google began a gradual rollout on August 17, 2026 that moves budget-capped Search, Shopping, Performance Max, Demand Gen and Travel campaigns toward their stated target CPA or ROAS, so a campaign that had been spending to its budget at a lower actual cost now climbs toward the number entered as an aspiration; Google says it will not adjust targets or budgets automatically. OpenAI made Maximize results, an automated strategy that sets and adjusts bids on its own, the default for new ad groups in ChatGPT Ads Manager Beta around August 12; Manual: Max bid remains selectable at each ad group, and OpenAI's documentation notes the automated strategy "does not guarantee delivery against a specific CPA, CPC, ROAS" or comparable target.

Campaigns that banked a lower cost per acquisition under Google's old budget-capped behavior lose that cushion as the stated target becomes the active lever, and the earliest defensible read on the change arrives no sooner than mid-September, after fourth-quarter budgets are typically locked. Microsoft's exemptions leave every campaign built before October 1 with its ceiling intact, so the practical effect lands on new non-portfolio builds first. Skipping the Manual: Max bid option on a new ChatGPT ad group hands bid-setting to a strategy with no guaranteed cost ceiling, a choice that has to be made again at every ad group because no account-level default exists. Hard bid ceilings across all three platforms now require an active, recurring choice at setup.