How does the Maximize Conversions bidding strategy work?

If you’re studying for the Google Ads Measurement Certification, one of the most common and critical questions you’ll face is about how bidding strategies work, especially the automated ones like Maximize Conversions.

This strategy is designed for advertisers who want to get the most actions (like purchases, leads, form submissions) without worrying about individual bid adjustments. It uses Google’s advanced AI and machine learning to optimize your campaign performance.

In this guide, we’ll break down what the strategy really does, why it works, what confuses test-takers, and how to apply it in real life.

Question and Correct Answer

How does the Maximize Conversions bidding strategy work?

• It automatically limits conversions that don’t align with a desired bidding strategy.
• It aims to achieve an average return on ad spend (ROAS) equal to a desired target.
• It uses machine learning to capture as many conversions as possible within a daily budget.
• It’s the safest bidding strategy for all business types to optimize their bidding.

Correct Answer:

✅ It uses machine learning to capture as many conversions as possible within a daily budget.

Why is this the right Answer?

“It uses machine learning to capture as many conversions as possible within a daily budget.”

This statement is correct because:

• Google Ads uses automation and machine learning to study your campaign data.
• The system predicts when and where a user is more likely to convert.
• Based on those predictions, it adjusts your bids in real time to get the most conversions within the daily budget you set.

This is not based on individual keyword bids or manual CPC settings—it’s fully automated.

Google uses data signals such as:

• Device type (mobile, desktop, tablet)
• Time of day
• Browser and OS
• Geographic location
• Historical behavior of the user
• Past campaign performance

The ultimate goal? Maximize the number of conversions you can get with the budget you’ve assigned, not the quality or the value of each conversion.

Why are the other options incorrect?

1. “It automatically limits conversions that don’t align with a desired bidding strategy.”

• Why wrong: Maximize Conversions doesn’t “limit” any conversions. In fact, it tries to increase them as much as possible. There’s no filtering or capping involved.
• Google Ads won’t ignore certain conversions based on quality or ROAS—it just focuses on getting more actions, period.
• Limiting conversions would be counterproductive to this strategy’s goal.

2. “It aims to achieve an average return on ad spend (ROAS) equal to a desired target.”

• Why wrong: This is describing a different strategy — Target ROAS, not Maximize Conversions.
• Target ROAS is about getting the most value out of your ad spend, not just the number of conversions.
• Maximize Conversions ignores the value of each conversion and focuses only on quantity.

3. “It’s the safest bidding strategy for all business types to optimize their bidding.”

• Why wrong: This is a vague and misleading statement.
• No bidding strategy is “safe” or suitable for all businesses.
• For example:
  • A business selling high-value products may prefer Target ROAS.
  • A startup with a tight cost per lead may prefer Target CPA.
• Maximize Conversions can be expensive if conversions are costly, and it doesn’t guarantee efficiency, just more actions.

Real-life example:

Let’s say you’re running a campaign for an online store that sells $10 phone cases.

• You set a daily budget of $50.
• You use the Maximize Conversions strategy.
• Google’s AI analyzes when and where your customers usually convert.
• It might show your ads:
  • More often in the evening, when people shop more.
  • On mobile devices, if more conversions happen there.
  • In urban areas, where past users are more likely to buy.

As a result, Google optimizes ad delivery in real time to get as many sales as it can for your $50.

Some days you may get 8 conversions, others you may get 5—but Google is always working to get more conversions, not better quality or higher-value ones.

Comparison table:

Resource links

• Google Ads Help page on Maximize Conversions
• Google Skillshop lesson on Smart Bidding
• WordStream article on Google Ads Bidding Strategies

Conclusion:

The Maximize Conversions strategy is best when:

• You want to focus on quantity (more leads, more sign-ups, more sales).
• You don’t want to manually adjust bids.
• You’re okay with the AI spending your full daily budget automatically.

It’s not ideal if you care about:

• The cost of each conversion.
• The value each customer brings.
• Having more control over individual bids.

This strategy is powerful, but it works best when you feed Google enough conversion data to train the AI properly.

Finally, I can say that if you are ready, you can take the exam on Skillshop – Google Ads Measurement Certification. If you want more real exam questions and answers like this one, which have already been covered, follow along. I’ll be breaking down more Google Ads Measurement Certification exam questions with full solutions in the next posts on Google Ads!

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Bhupati Barman( Co Founder of Mite Art )

Bhupati Barman is a Co-founder of Mite Art, as well as an Entrepreneur, SEO Optimizer, and Blog Writer, covering a variety of interesting topics.

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