There are two types of google ads bidding strategies; manual & automated.
1. Manual bidding strategies (Manual CPC):
It is the strategy that allows you to set the maximum you want to spend on any given click. Manual bidding is considered the easiest way to bid on google ads, however, it is not the right orientation all the time.
2. Automated bidding strategies:
This is used to achieve a particular result based on campaign objectives.
Actually, there is no exact rule for when to automate your google campaigns or when to set it manually as it depends.
Here are the automated Google ads bidding strategies that save your effort & time.
First: Bidding strategies for the google search network GSN
1. Enhanced CPC:
Enhanced CPC enabled by checking the box under the manual bidding or choosing it from the dropdown list directly.
Let’s say it is the updated version of the manual CPC. When you choose to use a manual CPC bidding strategy then you’d say that I’ll pay for example $5 per click, but what the enhanced CPC offers is that Google Ads will increase or decrease that bid amount of $5 for a keyword in an individual auction based on the likelihood that click will lead to a sale. This causes more flexibility while managing your campaigns & budgets.
This variation that google runs around your bid amount is adjusted at any level, not like what is used previously, where the change is only 30% up or down.
This increases CTR, CVR, as well as CPC, as the algorithm tends to raise the bid more often than it lowers it.
– The major drawback of this strategy is that its costs may exceed its profits & not cause the aimed CPA.
2. Maximize conversions
It is a fully automated tool. It works on trying to achieve the maximum number of possible conversions while spending your daily balance. All that is required is to choose “Maximize conversions” from the drop list & with no additional settings for the advertiser to control.
What is really crucial is to enable conversion tracking as Google’s goal is to maximize the number of conversions being tracked, so if no tracking is enabled, the algorithm is more likely to make bad decisions.
One of the drawbacks of this strategy is that it exhausts the whole budget regardless of the performance of the conversion rate. Also, it requires to be used in a separate campaign with a set daily budget & not shared with others as it will consume the daily budget of the entire shared group, not just its own apportionment.
3. Target CPA:
Target CPA (cost per acquisition) is another fully automated bidding strategy. Just like the case with CPC; you set an amount per target acquisition on a particular conversion action and then Google adjusts bids to generate as many conversions as possible at that CPA.
Target CPA can be set at either the campaign or portfolio level. But in the case of portfolio level; you are able to set bid minimums and maximums.
This bidding strategy also requires enabling conversion tracking; otherwise, it will never know if it’s driving conversions or not.
Google needs to have a certain amount of conversion data to make decisions. So, If there is not enough conversion volume, then the target CPA isn’t the right bidding option for you.
4. Target ROAS
This is roughly the same as Target CPA, but with return on ad spend (ROAS) instead. With this strategy, Google AdWords Algorithms will predict future conversion and conversion value performance based on your historical data to enter auctions. It will adjust bids in real-time to maximize conversion value while trying to achieve the Target ROAS goal you’ve set at the ad group, campaign, or portfolio level.
Target ROAS can be set at either the campaign or portfolio level. But in the case of portfolio level; you are able to set bid minimums and maximums.
This bidding strategy also requires enabling conversion tracking; otherwise, it will never know if it’s driving conversions or not.
As with Target CPA, individual conversions may have higher or lower ROAS than your goal, and Google will work to balance those out to achieve your ROAS target.
Start off with a goal slightly lower than what your performance has been recently, then slowly raise the target over time to achieve a more profitable ROAS.
5. Maximize Clicks
It is the same as the maximize conversions strategy but with a focus on clicks. So google’s target is to achieve as many clicks as possible while spending the daily budget. This strategy suits the more the goal of driving traffic to your website. Also, If you guarantee a strong conversion performance & you want to boost it more; it extremely helps.
In this case, Google provides an option of setting a maximum CPC, if you want to keep low costs per click. But it is better to check daily your average max CPC to avoid google’s expensive & abnormal bids.
6. Target Impression Share
In this strategy, advertisers set a goal Impression Share percentage & placement of the ad; either Absolute Top of Page, Top of Page, or Anywhere on the Page.
For example, setting 50% for the top of the result page will aim to show the ad for at least half of all available impressions in the top positions above organic results.
Always set a max CPC bid to ensure you don’t pay too much for any individual click as Google provides an option of setting a maximum CPC if you want to keep low costs per click & check daily your average max CPC to avoid google’s expensive & abnormal bids.
7. Target Search Page Location
This strategy allows you to set the objective of trying to reach the top of the paid results when people are searching on google.
It is used on the portfolio level only & allows you to have your ads shown at the top of the search results or on the first page of results.
This strategy focuses on gaining ad impressions in a given location on the results page & not on any profitability or performance numbers for your account.
8. Target Outranking Share
This is the best strategy when you have a direct competitor that you need to outpace. So you enter the domain name of the competitor & the system will try to automate your bidding so you can outrank him.
This strategy deals with an auction level.
It doesn’t guarantee the appearance in the first place as it originates around one domain to be above, not focusing on all the domains that enter the auction.
But what if your competitor at the same time uses the target outranking share strategy & enters your domain? Actually, both of you will earn nothing except higher CPCs & lower profits.
Second: Bidding strategies for Google display network:
It has 5 strategies, the first four strategies are exactly the same as in the GSN the only difference in the last one is “Cost per Thousand Viewable Impressions”:
Target CPA
Target ROAS
Maximum clicks
Maximum conversions
Cost per Thousand Viewable Impressions
It is a bidding strategy that is designed to display ads only & advertisers are bidding on impressions when their ad is shown in a viewable space.
CPM bidding is great if you’re working on expanding your brand coverage and simply want to get your message in front of a large group of people.
Just like any other display campaign, it’s important to keep an eye on your placements report to ensure you’re not showing up on unwanted sites.
Google Ads Bidding Strategies types: manual & automated. Know the difference between bidding strategies for search networks vs display networks.
Choosing from various options of google ads bidding strategies needs a practiced person in that field & that is what we offer you in Selectdigital. agency. Unleash the power of your brand!
