Google’s New “Investment Strategy” Tool

Google is simplifying short-term budget scaling with a new “Investment Strategy” feature. This tool is a fast, tactical method for modelling incremental budget increases for campaigns currently limited by budget. 

What is the Investment Strategy feature? 

Google has rolled out a new modelling tool directly within the Ads interface. Its primary goal is to quantify the immediate, efficient impact of increasing budget on campaigns that are currently limited by budget. 

How it Works: 

When a campaign is hitting its daily budget cap, Google may now present you with an “Investment Strategy” recommendation. This feature models potential budget increases to project the resulting additional clicks, conversions or conversion value 

Key notes: 

• Budget constraint only: The feature is exclusively for campaigns labelled “Limited by Budget.” 

• Efficiency focus: The tool aims to keep performance within your currently set CPA or ROAS targets, mitigating the risk of inefficient spend. 

• Short-term modelling: Performance estimates are based on a seven-day period. 

• Access: You’ll find it within the Recommendations tab, or you may be presented with the option directly when a campaign is limited. 

What are the benefits? 

This feature addresses two major pain points advertisers face: justifying budget increases and fearing inefficient spending when scaling. 

The key improvement here is its ability to factor in diminishing returns; it’s not simply volume driven. 

It allows us to be proactive in our budget justification with a data-backed forecast. 

Additionally, constantly starving Smart Bidding campaigns of budget can lead to poor quality data & reduced performance. 

Investment Strategy vs Performance Planner: What’s the difference? 

It’s important to remember the new tool is not an alternative to Performance Planner, which you may have used before. Each serves a different purpose. 

While Performance Planner is useful for more comprehensive planning and scaling across the whole account, Investment Strategy is better for tactical scaling on a limited number of campaigns as it only looks at short-term estimates. 

Your action plan 

Make it a weekly task: Review suggestions regularly to stay on top of opportunities, especially across key campaigns. 

Vetting is non-negotiable: DO NOT apply the suggestions blindly. Always cross reference against budget & performance actual trends. 

Use it to inform budget shifts: If the tool suggests a compelling ROI, use this data to justify strategic reallocation from underperforming campaigns 

Think beyond budget: If it suggests a massive efficient scale opportunity, it’s a signal that demand is strong. Test other areas such as creatives, copy or landing pages to further capitalise on the intent.