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What is Target CPA (tCPA)?

Paying for results, not just clicks.

Target CPA is an automated bidding strategy where you set a specific goal for how much you want to pay for a sale or lead.

CPC (Cost Per Click): "I will pay $2.00 for a click."

CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): "I will pay $50.00 for a customer."

The Commission Analogy: Think of Manual CPC like paying a salesperson an hourly wage (you pay them whether they sell or not). Think of Target CPA like paying a salesperson a commission. You tell Google: "Go get me sales, and try to keep the cost around $50 each."

How It Works (The Average Game)

Why some leads cost more than others.

If you set your Target CPA to $50, it does not mean every single conversion will cost exactly $50. 

Google's AI looks for cheap conversions and expensive conversions to balance the math.

Conversion A: Costs $10 (Easy win).

Conversion B: Costs $90 (Hard win).

Average: $50 (Target met).

The Benefit: Google automatically lowers your bid for people unlikely to buy and raises your bid for people ready to buy. It adjusts your bids thousands of times per second.

The "Learning Phase" Requirement

Don't turn this on too early.

Target CPA sounds amazing, but you cannot use it on a brand new account. Why? The AI needs history. It needs to know what a "customer" looks like before it can find more of them. 

The Rule of Thumb: You should have at least 30 conversions (sales/leads) in the last 30 days before switching to Target CPA.

If you turn it on with zero data, the AI is guessing blind. Your costs will likely explode, or your traffic will stop completely because Google doesn't know who to bid on.

The Fraud Risk: "Fake" Acquisitions

When the AI optimizes for spam.

Target CPA has a weakness: It loves "easy" conversions. If a bot farm fills out your contact form 10 times, Google's AI thinks: "Wow! I found 10 leads very cheaply! I will find more of this traffic!"

The Cycle of Waste:

Bots fill out your forms (Spam leads).

Target CPA thinks these are real customers.

Target CPA bids higher on bot traffic because it converts easily.

You pay for spam.

The Fix: Connect ClickSambo to block the bots. When you block fake traffic, you force Google's AI to work harder to find real humans, improving the quality of your leads.