Microsoft Advertising announced a significant update to its bidding strategy lineup, retiring the standalone Target CPA (TCPA) and Target ROAS (TROAS) bid strategies for new campaigns starting August 4th, 2025.
Advertisers will now use the streamlined Maximise Conversions and Maximise Conversion Value bidding strategies, which still allow the setting of target values similar to the legacy strategies.
Existing campaigns using TCPA and TROAS will continue uninterrupted.
What’s Changing?
Here are the new updates announced by Microsoft Advertising:
- Retirement of TCPA and TROAS for new campaigns: Starting August 4th, advertisers will no longer be able to create new campaigns using Target CPA or Target ROAS bid strategies.
- Shift to Maximise Conversions and Maximise Conversion Value: These bidding options will replace the legacy strategies as the default for managing cost per acquisition and return on ad spend goals.
- Existing campaigns remain unaffected: Campaigns already running with TCPA and TROAS will keep operating without any changes.
- Removal of TCPA and TROAS options in non-legacy campaigns: Campaigns that don’t currently use these bidding strategies will no longer see them as options.
Why Microsoft Is Making This Change
Google Ads made a similar change in 2021, consolidating bid strategies to streamline campaign management. Microsoft’s update brings their platform closer to Google’s approach, making cross-platform campaign management simpler.
By reducing the number of standalone bid strategies, Microsoft aims to create a more straightforward and less confusing bidding experience for advertisers.
Maximise Conversions and Maximise Conversion Value strategies focus on automation, helping advertisers optimise performance without manually adjusting bids for CPA or ROAS targets.
What Advertisers Need to Know
Here’s what advertisers need to know:
No Immediate Action Required for Existing Campaigns
Campaigns already using TCPA or TROAS will continue running smoothly. Advertisers don’t need to change or pause these campaigns.
Changes to New Campaign Creation
New campaigns will default to Maximise Conversions or Maximise Conversion Value.
Advertisers can still input target CPA or ROAS values as parameters within these new bidding strategies to maintain control over spend and performance.
Portfolio Bid Strategies Remain Unchanged
Portfolio strategies that manage multiple campaigns collectively are unaffected by this update.
Impact on APIs and Tools
Updates made via API, Microsoft Advertising Editor, or bulk actions specifying TCPA or TROAS will now map automatically to Maximise Conversions or Maximise Conversion Value.
How to Use the New Bidding Strategies
Maximise Conversions with optional target CPA
Applicable for Audience campaigns, Performance Max, Shopping, and Search campaigns (starting after August 4th).
Maximise Conversion Value with optional target ROAS
Used for Performance Max, Search, and Shopping campaigns.
Advertisers still retain the ability to set cost or return targets within these consolidated strategies, preserving the core functionality of the older TCPA and TROAS methods.
What Microsoft’s Team Says
Navah Hopkin, Microsoft Advertising Liaison, emphasised that there is no functional change in bidding mechanics: “There is no functional change in the bidding strategies. The update simplifies campaign setup and is especially beneficial for advertisers importing from Google Ads.”
This change is primarily a rebranding and consolidation effort to enhance usability.
The Bottom Line
Microsoft Advertising’s decision to retire Target CPA and Target ROAS bid strategies in favor of Maximise Conversions and Maximise Conversion Value simplifies the bidding landscape for advertisers. While the names and setup methods are changing, the underlying bidding mechanics remain intact. Understanding this shift will help advertisers optimise their future campaigns with confidence, particularly those managing cross-platform efforts between Microsoft and Google Ads.
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