Conversion-optimized campaigns

Use a conversion-optimized cost-per-click (oCPC) campaign when you want to optimize delivery toward one tracked conversion event while continuing to pay for valid clicks. In the Ads API, oCPC uses bidding_type: "conversions".

Choose the campaign goal that matches the outcome you want:

Before you begin

Before you create an oCPC campaign, make sure:

• The ad account supports conversion bidding. If campaign creation returns 403 with Conversion bidding is not enabled, contact your OpenAI partner representative.
• You have set up conversion tracking with the JavaScript Pixel, the Conversions API, or both. The Conversions API is a more reliable tracking source than the pixel alone.
• You have exactly one active standard conversion event to use as the optimization goal. Custom events cannot be oCPC optimization goals.
• The conversion event setting belongs to the current ad account and connects to one active conversion source.

Product-feed campaigns cannot use oCPC. Each oCPC campaign uses one selected conversion event, and you cannot change the goal or event after campaign creation.

Create a conversion-optimized campaign

Create the campaign as paused while you add and check its ad groups and ads.

curl -X POST "https://api.ads.openai.com/v1/campaigns" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_ADS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Acme purchases",
    "status": "paused",
    "budget": {
      "lifetime_spend_limit_micros": 250000000
    },
    "bidding_type": "conversions",
    "conversion_event_setting_ids": ["ces_123"]
  }'

Replace ces_123 with the active conversion event setting ID that represents your goal, such as order_created, lead_created, or registration_completed. See Conversion setup to create and manage event settings.

Create each child ad group with billing_event_type set to click. For an oCPC campaign, max_bid_micros is the CPA bid even though billing uses valid clicks. For example, 100000000 is a $100.00 CPA bid for a USD account.

curl -X POST "https://api.ads.openai.com/v1/ad_groups" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OPENAI_ADS_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "campaign_id": "cmpn_101",
    "name": "US English",
    "status": "active",
    "bidding_config": {
      "billing_event_type": "click",
      "max_bid_micros": 100000000
    }
  }'

Create ads as you normally would, then activate the campaign after all child resources are ready. For the complete resource-creation sequence, see the Ads API quickstart. For all campaign and ad-group fields, see the campaigns and ad groups references.

Understand delivery and billing

oCPC uses your selected conversion event together with ad quality, relevance, click likelihood, and conversion likelihood to favor clicks that are more likely to lead to that event. The CPA bid controls how the campaign competes for those outcomes.

Billing does not change to pay per conversion. OpenAI charges you only when a valid click occurs, and the auction determines the actual CPC. Treat the CPA bid as an optimization input, not as a conversion charge.

Review and improve performance

In Ads Manager, review impressions, clicks, conversions, spend, click-through rate (CTR), and average CPC together. Because oCPC optimizes toward the selected event, conversions are the primary outcome to review. You can calculate cost per conversion by dividing spend by conversions.

Use the Insights endpoints to retrieve delivery metrics such as impressions, clicks, spend, CTR, and CPC.

To improve performance:

• Choose the standard conversion event that best represents your campaign goal.
• Keep conversion tracking healthy. Incomplete or incorrectly configured tracking can make reporting and optimization less effective.
• Use a conversion event with enough volume to evaluate performance.
• Align ad copy with user intent and the selected conversion goal.
• Review enough volume before making large changes to bids, budgets, or creative.

Common questions

Supported events

An oCPC campaign supports exactly one active standard conversion event setting. Custom event settings are not supported as optimization goals. See Supported events for the standard event names.

Changing an existing campaign

No. You cannot change an existing CPM or CPC campaign to oCPC. Create a new campaign with bidding_type: "conversions".

Changing the selected conversion event

No. You cannot change the campaign goal or selected conversion event after creation. Create a new campaign to optimize toward a different event.

Billing

No. oCPC optimizes delivery toward the selected conversion event, but billing still uses valid clicks.

Product-feed campaigns

No. Product-feed campaigns cannot use bidding_type: "conversions".

Next steps

• Set up conversion measurement
• Send browser events with the JavaScript Pixel
• Send server-side events with the Conversions API
• Create campaigns
• Create ad groups
• Query insights