Target Impression Share is a Google Ads bid strategy that raises or lowers your bids automatically to show your ad a chosen percentage of the time in a chosen position.
Target Impression Share is a visibility strategy, not a performance strategy. You tell Google where you want to appear and how often, and Google bids whatever it takes to get there, up to a maximum cost per click you set.
That is the important difference from every other automated strategy. Target CPA bids toward a cost. Target ROAS bids toward a return. Target Impression Share bids toward presence. It does not know or care what a conversion costs, which makes it powerful in the one situation where presence is the goal and dangerous everywhere else.
[table]
Setting | What you are asking for | Typical use
Absolute top of page | The very first ad above the organic results | Brand terms you must not lose
Top of page | Anywhere in the block of ads above organic results | Competitor terms and high-value head terms
Anywhere on the results page | Including the ads below the organic results | Rarely useful in B2B, very low intent position
[/table]
Alongside the position you set a target percentage, from 1 to 100, and a maximum CPC bid limit. The bid limit is the control that makes the strategy safe. Without it, Google will bid whatever the auction demands to hit your percentage, and on a competitive term that number can be far higher than the click is worth to you.
Defending your own brand terms.
When someone searches your company name they have already decided to look at you. That click is the cheapest and highest converting click in your entire account. If a competitor is bidding on your brand name and appearing above you, they are intercepting a buyer you already earned. Losing that position is expensive in a way that no other lost impression share is.
For brand campaigns, Target Impression Share at absolute top of page with a target around 90 to 95 percent and a sensible bid cap is usually the right answer. You are not trying to optimise a cost here. You are making sure nobody gets in front of a buyer who was looking for you.
The second reasonable use is a short, deliberate competitor campaign, where the whole point is to be seen next to a rival's name. Even then, keep the target modest and the bid cap firm, because competitor terms convert far worse than brand terms and the cost climbs quickly.
Two failure modes, and the first one is expensive.
It gets applied to non-brand campaigns. Someone wants more volume from their main product terms, so they switch the campaign to Target Impression Share at 80 percent top of page. Impressions climb immediately. So does cost per click, because the strategy is buying position regardless of what that position yields. Cost per lead rises, cost per opportunity rises faster, and the account looks busier while producing less. If the goal is volume, a conversion-based Smart Bidding strategy with a higher budget is the correct tool.
The bid cap is left empty. The maximum CPC field is optional, and leaving it blank hands Google an unlimited mandate to hit your percentage. On a competitive B2B term with a $40 or $50 cost per click, an unlimited bid cap can drain a daily budget before lunch. Always set the cap, and set it against what the click is actually worth to you rather than against what the auction is currently charging.
Use it on brand, cap the bid, and leave every other campaign on a conversion-based strategy.
A structure that works in most B2B SaaS accounts looks like this. Brand campaign on Target Impression Share, absolute top of page, 90 to 95 percent target, bid cap set to roughly two to three times your normal brand CPC. Everything else on Maximize Conversions or Target CPA, fed by offline conversion import so the bidding is learning from qualified opportunities rather than from form fills.
That split works because the two parts of the account have genuinely different jobs. Brand is defence. You already created that demand, often through content and LinkedIn, and the only question is whether you keep it. Non-brand is acquisition, where the cost of each outcome is the entire point.
Worth checking alongside this: if your brand impression share is dropping, look at the Auction Insights report before you raise the target. A new competitor bidding on your name is a different problem from a budget constraint, and raising the target will not solve the first one on its own.
An automated bid strategy that adjusts your bids to show your ad a chosen percentage of the time at a chosen position on the results page. You select absolute top of page, top of page, or anywhere on the page, set a target percentage, and set a maximum cost per click.
Mainly on brand campaigns, where appearing above competitors bidding on your company name is worth more than optimising cost per click. It also suits short competitor campaigns where visibility next to a rival name is the objective. It is the wrong choice for general non-brand acquisition.
Between 90 and 95 percent at absolute top of page is a common setting for B2B SaaS brand campaigns. Pushing to 100 percent usually costs disproportionately more for the last few percent, because those are the auctions where a competitor is bidding hardest.
Because the strategy buys position rather than efficiency. It will raise bids as far as your maximum CPC allows in order to hit the percentage you set. If you did not set a maximum CPC, there is no ceiling at all. Set the cap based on what the click is worth to you.
Target CPA bids toward a cost per conversion and Target ROAS bids toward a return on ad spend, so both are optimising an outcome. Target Impression Share optimises presence only and has no view on what a conversion costs, which is why it belongs on brand rather than on acquisition campaigns.
ScalixAI is a performance-driven Google Ads agency specializing in helping high-growth, AI-first companies scale with predictable, profitable customer acquisition. Founded by an ex-Googler with 9 years of insider advertising experience, we manage the entire Google Ads lifecycle—from campaign strategy and account setup to conversion tracking, analytics, and ongoing optimization. Our data-centric, AI-powered approach ensures you know exactly which campaigns are working, why they’re working, and what to do next to outpace your competitors.ScalixAI is a performance-driven Google Ads agency specializing in helping high-growth, AI-first companies scale with predictable, profitable customer acquisition. Founded by an ex-Googler with 9 years of insider advertising experience, we manage the entire Google Ads lifecycle—from campaign strategy and account setup to conversion tracking, analytics, and ongoing optimization.
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