If you’re managing Google Ads campaigns, you know how important it is to hit your ROAS targets and maximize conversions. But sometimes, focusing too narrowly on past performance and obvious keywords means you might be missing out on valuable new leads.

Google’s latest update — Smart Bidding Exploration — aims to fix that by helping advertisers discover untapped conversion opportunities through smarter bidding strategies.

What is Smart Bidding Exploration?

Smart Bidding Exploration is Google’s biggest upgrade to bidding in over a decade. It uses flexible ROAS targets to allow your campaigns to bid more aggressively on a wider range of search queries — including those that are less obvious but potentially very valuable.

For example, if you’re a mortgage lender, you probably already target high-performing keywords like “mortgage” or “home loan.” But what about searches like “how to buy a home”? These queries may not have converted as often in the past, so you might be missing leads. Smart Bidding Exploration opens the door to bidding on these kinds of searches more often, letting Google’s AI find qualified leads you wouldn’t otherwise capture.

How does it work?

This new bidding tool builds on Google’s existing AI Max for Search campaigns, which already help ensure ads show for relevant, intent-driven searches. But Smart Bidding Exploration goes further — it actively pursues conversions across a broader set of unique query categories within your campaign.

By loosening strict ROAS constraints in a controlled way, the system can explore new segments of traffic that meet your overall profitability goals.