The status Limited means your bid strategy is active, but one of four factors stops it from fully optimizing your bids. Hover over the status in the Status column and your account shows which factor. One of them, Bidding strategy, appears in Google’s help as “Limited by bidding strategy”. It applies to campaigns only. For it, Google suggests a fully automated strategy, which per the help can bring more conversions at a similar cost per conversion.
The bigger picture of strategies, and when to pick which, is in my guide to Google Ads bid strategies. This piece is only about the Limited status: where you see it and what to do about each cause.
Where to see the status and the cause
- Go to Bid strategies within the Tools menu.
- The Status column shows the status of your portfolio bid strategy. Hover over the text and an explanation appears.
- The Bid strategy type column shows the strategy of each campaign, even if it is not a portfolio strategy. If you do not see it, select the columns icon above the table, then Modify columns, and choose Bid strategy type under Attributes.
- For a single campaign, the help points to the Status column of your Campaigns table, where Google Ads shows a custom recommendation. A similar signal is the campaign status Eligible (limited): the campaign is active but shows ads only occasionally because of budget constraints or a limited bid strategy.
Cause and what to do
| Cause (hover over the status) | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Inventory | Available search volume limits the strategy: your ads are eligible to show on a limited number of searches | Expand your targeting: add relevant keywords, Dynamic Search Ads, broad match keywords |
| Bid limits | A maximum and/or minimum bid limit stops your bids from being fully optimized. Google’s example: 95% of spend is limited by the max bid limit | If the strategy underperforms, raise the maximum bid limit and/or lower the minimum |
| Budget constrained | Many keywords using the strategy are limited by budget, so Google Ads may not raise bids enough to meet your goals | Increase the budgets tied to the strategy |
| Bidding strategy (“Limited by bidding strategy”, campaigns only) | The strategy is limited; per the help, a fully automated strategy can set bids more efficiently | Move to a fully automated bid strategy and check the recommendation in the campaign’s Status column |
Before you turn on a fully automated, conversion-based strategy, check your conversion tracking, because that kind of strategy learns from it. For Target ROAS on Search and Shopping campaigns, the help requires at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days. For Target CPA, it recommends judging performance over 30 days that include at least 30 conversions.
Mistakes that keep the status from clearing
- Raising the budget when the cause is bid limits or inventory. The help recommends a bigger budget only for the Budget constrained cause.
- Setting a target that is too tight. A target CPA set too low may cost you clicks that could have converted. A target ROAS set too high may limit your traffic.
- Mixing up Limited with Learning. For Learning, the help says to keep using the account as usual and hold off measuring performance until the period ends. More in my piece on the Learning status.
On August 17, 2026, bidding changed for campaigns that are Limited by budget and use Target CPA or Target ROAS. They now hold to your target more consistently even when the budget is tight. The global rollout finished on August 27, 2026. This may affect campaigns that were previously beating their target. Google does not change your targets or budgets for you, and spend does not go up because of it: your daily and monthly budget limits are still respected.
To keep your current performance, set the target to match recent averages, or switch to Maximize conversions or Maximize conversion value. For campaigns with fewer than 7 conversions Google does not calculate a recommended target, so adjust it by hand. After a change, wait 1-2 conversion cycles. Do not add data exclusions or new bid limits only because of this update. The details are in Google’s FAQ on target-based bid strategy changes. The campaign status itself is covered in my piece on a campaign limited by budget.
When this does not apply
The help explains the statuses of automated bid strategies and points anyone not using one to its article on automated bidding. Bid strategy statuses are not available for Hotel campaigns.
The Bidding strategy cause applies to campaigns only, not to a portfolio strategy. The August changes do not affect Target Impression Share or manual CPC.
Questions and answers
Is Limited an error I must fix right away?
No. The status shows what is holding the strategy back. The separate Misconfigured status points to a settings problem: shared budgets or conversion tracking.
Should I raise the budget?
Only if the cause is Budget constrained. For the other causes the help recommends different actions, as in the table above.
How long should I wait after a change?
The help recommends waiting 1-2 conversion cycles before you judge performance in your bid strategy report.
If the status will not clear and the ads are already spending, the step-by-step version is in my book on Google Ads for business owners.
My e-book “19 Google Ads Secrets”: how to get the most out of Google Ads without draining your budget, drawn from real campaigns and tests.
See the book →My e-book “19 Google Ads Secrets”: how to get the most out of Google Ads without draining your budget, drawn from real campaigns and tests.
See the book →