Introduction

When you create Google Ads campaigns, you are entering an auction every time your advertisement is shown. If there is an auction, that means there are bids as well. Since there are so many Google Ads campaign objectives and campaign types, there are different bid strategies you can choose from.

Sometimes it can be overwhelming when choosing the best bid strategy for google ads or youtube ads bidding strategies for your campaigns and best fit your marketing objectives.

Google Adwords bidding strategies involve using an advanced advertising system that allows you to bid on particular keywords.

It’s an elaborate process – but if you know how to handle it, you can maximise your advertisement’s performance, all while lowering the costs associated with it.

Google Ads bidding strategies

Before we get started, let's quickly go over the fundamentals of how Google Ads works.

To begin, depending on the goal you choose at the outset, you can access various bidding strategies. As a result, the possible selection fields differ depending on the strategy used. That may seem perplexing at first, but the more you use Google Ads, the clearer it will become. The best approach here is to select the appropriate objective. Make certain that it reflects your marketing objectives.

Second, it is critical to understand that a combination of inputs allows users to create different bidding strategies due to the various configuration options. Some strategies do not exist in isolation. g., A target ROAS bidding strategy combines a maximise conversion value strategy with a predetermined target ROAS. Target CPA, on the other hand, is a maximise conversion strategy with a predetermined target CPA.

Awareness-focused bidding strategies

Target impression share

This bidding strategy is ideal for increasing brand awareness because it can potentially help you gain impression share - the proportion of actual impressions received versus the estimated number of impressions received. Learn more about the different types of impressions and variations of this term used in online advertising by clicking here.

Simply put, the Target impression share strategy assists you in occupying a specific keyword and raising brand awareness. It enables you to set a target impression share ranging from 0% to 100% and, as a result, occupy a specific SERP space.

Major Benefits

• Simple setup procedure
• Useful for brand-related ad campaigns.
• By occupying the space in SERP, you can help to increase brand awareness and visibility.

Potential drawbacks

• There is no guarantee that the traffic is of high quality.
• A high impression share (90-100%) can be expensive.
• If the Max CPCs are not set, there is a risk of significant growth in CPC.
• Effective for increasing brand visibility, but not so much for other business goals: Increase in signups, for example

Consideration-focused bidding strategies

Maximize clicks

The maximise clicks bidding strategy is an automated strategy that allows users to maximise the number of clicks generated by their ad campaign within the constraints of a daily budget. With this online advertising strategy, you can set your Maximum CPC (cost per click), allowing you to limit bids. In other words, by specifying your maximum CPC, you are telling Google how much you are willing to pay for each click.

You let Google adjust your bids automatically while spending your budget if you don't set a maximum CPC limit. As a result, defining the maximum CPC to set a specific limit that the platform cannot cross is usually recommended to better control your spending.

Major Benefits

• A simple and quick way to generate a lot of traffic (as much as possible)
• Such campaigns do not require conversion tracking.

Potential drawbacks

• There is no guarantee of traffic quality.
• If the maximum CPC is not set, it can be a costly option.

Things to keep in mind:

You’ll always need to set a maximum possible CPC and observe your average maximum CPC as well. Google will do its best to spend the whole budget to get as many clicks as possible, even if some of those clicks are wildly expensive. Start slow and build up from there, and observe if this tactic is getting you the most clicks at a desirable budget. At times, a smaller budget can perform similarly to a higher one.

Make sure to monitor your performance regularly with this bid strategy. You can see how much clicks this strategy is generating, and based on that data – you can decide if it’s meeting your goals at the desired budget. If it’s not working well, you can always adjust your settings to decrease your budget or opt for new adwords bidding strategies.

Manual CPC

Unlike automated bidding strategies, Manual CPC is the bidding strategy that lets you fully control your spend. Simply put, with this strategy, you define the maximum bid you’re willing to pay in an auction for a particular keyword.

‍

Major Benefits

• Complete control over your spending
• Such campaigns do not require conversion tracking.

Potential drawbacks

• Time-consuming
• There is no access to contextual signals.
• Complexity: it is difficult to consider all of the factors, and it may take a long time to begin understanding your data and recognising patterns.
• Error-prone
• There is a high risk of missed opportunities and budget loss.

Things to keep in mind:

This process is very labor-intensive and can take much time and practice. It could also take much time from your day, which could be spent elsewhere – looking at the performance, judging if a bid is worthwhile, and having enough knowledge to predict whether it’s going to yield a high enough ROI.

Automatic bidding is superior to manual bidding in more ways than one. A computer algorithm can gather more data and process it faster than a human can, allowing it to work faster, better, and yield a higher return.

Enhanced CPC (ECPC)

Enhanced CPC (ECPC) is a semi-automated bidding strategy that is more advanced than manual CPC.

What exactly is the add-on? ECPC assists a user in increasing conversions through manual bidding. ECPC enables Google to automatically adjust manual bids for clicks that appear more or less likely to result in sales or conversions by leveraging contextual signals and historical data.

Simply put, Google can automatically adjust your bid based on the performance of your ad.

Enhanced CPC, in contrast to Target CPA and Target ROAS smart bidding strategies, will assist you in keeping the average CPC below the set maximum CPC.

Major Benefits

• Complete command over the maximum CPC Optimization for clicks.
• Higher traffic quality: increased bids for users who are more likely to convert while decreasing bids for users who are less likely to purchase the product.

Potential drawbacks

• The ECPC strategy, like Manual CPC, may take some time to implement. To achieve the best results, you will need to devote more time to reviewing and testing various bid modifiers.
• The maximum CPC that you set can limit the algorithm, and if it is too low, it can result in missed opportunities.

Things to keep in mind:

ECPC has the ability to alter keyword bids, making it one of the most important keyword bidding strategies available. It can also change keyword bids that don't have a cap, increasing the chances of making a bad judgement.

Monitoring the CTR and CVR to see if the bidding strategy is working as planned is an excellent technique to combat this. If everything is going well, the CTR and CVR should both rise. Track the CPC and CPA to see if the whole package is producing an acceptable ROI at the end of the day.

Conversion-focused bidding strategies

Maximize conversions

Maximize conversions is another Google automated bidding strategy that assists users in generating as much conversion volume as possible within the budget constraints. A user does not need to set a specific cost per click (CPC), cost per acquisition (CPA), or return on ad spend (ROAS) target in this case.

Major Benefits

• Improved traffic quality
• It is simple to use and manage, and it does not take much time.
• Allows users to maximise the number of conversions for a campaign while staying within the budget constraints.
• Ideal for those who do not have a specific CPA or ROAS goal.

Potential drawbacks

• Conversion tracking must be properly configured, which can be difficult.
• It can be costly if there is no defined CPA goal.
• You must have a certain volume of historical data to ensure the model's effectiveness, such as at least 15 conversions in 30 days.

Things to keep in mind:

Running this strategy without having conversion tracking is a bad option. Google tries to maximize the number of tracked conversions, so if there is no tracking enabled, the algorithm isn’t going to function properly and won’t yield the best results.

While it’s a fantastic strategy for increasing conversions, it’s less than ideal for profitability. Google will always automatically spend the daily budget regardless of the performance – the profitability at the end of the day could be either excellent or a disaster.

Increasing profitability safely is as easy as using the two different bidding strategies that I’ll discuss next – tCPA and tROAS.

Maximize conversions + Target cost-per-acquisition (CPA)

Target cost-per-acquisition is another automated bidding strategy available on Google Ads. This online advertising strategy focuses on increasing conversions while meeting the defined average CPA goal.

Major Benefits

• If you want to maximize your profits, use an effective bidding strategy. It primarily affects companies that sell products with similar price points, and those customers have higher Lifetime Values for the company.
• With the Device bid adjustments, you can prioritise conversions by device.
• When compared to the Maximize conversions strategy, you have more control over your costs.

Potential drawbacks

• Expert knowledge in both online advertising and industry peculiarities is required: for example, understand what the right CPA goal for your industry and a specific product should be - it is critical to set a realistic target.
• Setting bid limits for the Target CPA bid strategy is not advised because it can limit Google's automatic bid optimization.
• A sufficient volume of historical data is required.
• Conversion tracking must be properly configured, which can be difficult.

Things to keep in mind:

It is very important to establish a reasonable tCPA. Your tCPA can be directly related to the number of conversions. For instance, if the target is too low, you might miss a certain number of clicks, which leads to a smaller number of conversions. A good idea is to check your historical average CPA and compare your tCPA with this metric. If the historical average is much higher than your current target, you should increase the tCPA and vice versa.

This bidding strategy also requires conversion tracking, but unlike the previous bidding strategy, it won’t operate at all without tracking enabled. Google requires you to have some conversion data for the machine learning that drives the program, ultimately increasing conversions. If the volume of data is lacking, the algorithm can’t make an educated guess, rendering it virtually useless.

A good amount of conversions for starting is anywhere from 30-50 conversions in the past month. It will give the tCPA enough data to know how to acquire customers for your unique campaign.

Maximize conversion value

In contrast to the Maximize Conversions bidding strategy, the Maximize Conversion Value bidding strategy aims to help you get the most valuable conversions for the budget you set. In other words, this strategy allows you to concentrate solely on conversions that will yield the highest return. As a result, in this case, the algorithm will prioritise quality over quantity: there may be fewer conversions than with Maximize clicks, but they will be of higher value.

Major Benefits

• Allows users to maximise high-value conversions within a given budget.
• It is simple to use and manage, and it does not take much time.
• improved traffic quality

Potential drawbacks

• Conversion tracking must be properly configured, which can be difficult.
• A certain amount of historical data is required to ensure the model's effectiveness.

Maximize conversion value + Target return on ad spend (ROAS)

If you choose this bidding strategy, Google Ads will attempt to optimise your bids in order to maximise revenue while staying within your target ROAS.

Keep in mind that you can only use this strategy if you have enough historical data: at least 15 conversions in the last 30 days.

The Target ROAS strategy has the same advantages and disadvantages as the Target CPA bidding strategy.

Things to keep in mind

Make sure that you have a good enough tracking history and conversion tracking enabled on your Google account. Never set your tROAS near as much as the product you’re selling. This technique requires some fine-tuning, so make sure to start with a lower goal and raise it based on the performance to reach the best possible ROAS.

Google ads automated bidding strategies for Enhancing Brand Awareness & Visibility

Target Impression Share

Target impression share is a clever bidding technique that aims to increase brand awareness by contacting as many people as the budget allows.

How does it work?

It's an automatic bidding approach, so it'll establish bids for your advertisement to appear at the top of the page, which is one of the greatest positions for this reason. It will submit bids based on your budget to ensure that your ad receives as much exposure as possible.

For example, if you want to completely dominate the competition in terms of impressions for a given keyword or key phrase query, such as washing machines, you need ensure that your adverts can appear on the SERPs at any time. Set your desired impression share to 100% to do this. It will not be inexpensive, but it will ensure that your brand receives the most exposure possible.

Things to keep in mind:

This strategy is not cheap - things might get quite pricey if you always aim for 100% of your goal impression share. Of course, attaining 100% is nearly unattainable, and you should not set such lofty expectations. In a competitive market, you can be content with anything between 60% and 80%. If the market is not particularly competitive, your objective should be between 80% and 95%.

An effective strategy to cut these costs is to prioritise your advertising efforts and establish budgets for each target impression share accordingly. Some keywords and key phrases will be more expensive than others, so plan your budget accordingly if you want to earn a profit.

 while raising brand awareness.

It's an excellent strategy if you want to target low-cost keywords to increase brand awareness.

CPM

CPM is entirely determined by your impressions. It's a smart bidding strategy that only works with the Display Network and YouTube ads like TrueView. This approach cannot be used in the Search Network.

How does it work?

This bid method enables you to pay based on the number of impressions received on any visual material. It enables you to pay for each time your advertising appear on YouTube or the Google Display Network.

For example, if your advertisement appears on YouTube or Google Display Network, you must pay for it. Each max CPM AdWords impression necessitates a separate payment.

Things to keep in mind:

This method is excellent for increasing brand awareness since Google will automatically maximise the amount of visible impressions received by your unique campaign. You should always use this strategy to reach as wide an audience as possible, as Google will increase your chances of obtaining a high frequency count on each person.

There is a noticeable distinction between all viewable impressions, so keep an eye on your placements to make sure your content isn't showing up in places it shouldn't.

Smart Bidding Strategies - Boosting Views or Interactions for Video Ads

Increasing the number of views or interactions on your video adverts is a certain approach to improve impressions, prospects, and sales. It's a really specific goal with only one bidding approach that works well for it: cost-per-view bidding.

Cost per View Bidding (CPV)

It's a smart bidding approach designed for video ads on the Google Ads network, but it also works on the TrueView video platform.

How does it work?

A PPC bid strategy necessitates paying for each view and engagement your video ads receive. On the Trueview platform, interactions are classified as CTA clicks, Overlay clicks, Cards, or companion banners.

The length of time someone spends watching your video commercial is defined as a view. When someone watches at least 30 seconds of your video advertisement or decides to engage with the ad itself, CPV bidding counts your view. TrueView advertising uses it as the default bidding type.

Example:

You must enter the greatest offer you are willing to pay for a particular view or engagement with your video advertisement. The mCPV, or maximum cost-per-view, is the most you're willing to pay for each interaction or view.

If you set your mCPV (Maximum cost per view) to $1.50, you'll have to pay up to 1 dollar and 50 cents every time someone watches your ad or interacts with your CTA.

Things to keep in mind:

If you're not careful, this strategy, like the others on this list, can grow rather pricey. The ideal approach is to begin with a low mCPV and gradually increase if the numbers are correct.

‍

Best Practices When Choosing Adwords Bidding Strategies

Choosing a single strategy from the variety of adwords bidding methods for your specific objective is difficult because numerous goals are related with distinct bidding strategies. The greatest thing you can do is choose one that appears to be appropriate for your unique campaign objectives, educate yourself on it, and then go with it.

Always begin modest with any approach, as most of them may become rather costly if you are not careful. While the Google algorithm is highly complex, it does have a few flaws, which are detailed in sections addressing the various tactics.

Starting with the correct plan based on your individual campaign goals is a good place to start. Except when it comes to increasing views and interactions, the default setting may not always be the greatest.

If your game plan isn't working, don't be hesitant to change things around. Testing several tactics will allow you to make the best decision based on the information acquired throughout the testing process.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, monitor as much as possible with these adwords bidding techniques. You'll need to keep track of particular performance indicators like conversions, conversion rate, cost per conversion, and a slew of others. Google's algorithm is not perfect and could cost you a lot of money.

If you keep track on what it's doing on a regular basis, even if it makes a mistake, it won't be nearly as costly as it could have been.

Below are Tips you can use to leverage Bid Strategies in Google Ads

• Before choosing your strategy, it is very important to understand what is your business and the core objectives you aim to achieve. Different bidding strategies fit better different company profiles and targets.
• Be patient with the campaign, some of the more complex automated strategies will take a bit longer until they find their sweet spot and deliver optimal performance. Even the eCPC or fully manual strategy will require a few days of active running until there is enough data for further decisions to be made.
• Test and try different strategies, even when they are running super well. It is natural to want to change when things are going bad, but try to see if you can test out different bidding strategies and improve even further the performance when the numbers are good.
• Try as much as possible to make your decisions based on data. Some Days you’ll feel urges and emotions to take action just because you saw good or bad numbers. But check the data first before taking the step.
• There will be days with bad performance, don’t panic when you don’t like the numbers. Take your time to analyze it, and check different metrics and signals. At the end of the day the bad performance could be related to a simple bank holiday in the region you’re targeting.
• Be careful with the short-term timeframe analysis. Checking the data day by day is okay, but don’t get caught in it. It’s also important to take a step back, pick a longer time frame and analyze the evolution. An easy way to do it is by creating a simple report that will keep a constant timeframe of the last 30 days.
• Keep an eye on the Optimization Score & Recommendations. Keeping the score as high as possible will contribute to keeping your bidding strategy optimized and healthy. Check out our article on how to maintain a high optimization score

‍

CONCLUSION

Finding the best adwords bidding strategy is a difficult task. If you're not a seasoned marketer, you're unlikely to make the best decision on your first try, and making the wrong choice could quickly derail your campaign.

It is critical to reassess your goals until you are totally certain of what they are. Only then can you match adwords bidding techniques to campaign goals and use the best play for your specific campaign.

If you want to simplify things, you should consider a PPC bid management service.

We at Tealbox Digital have helped 100s of businesses simplify PPC advertising for their business and maximise their ROI. Contact us today for an introductory call where we can explore more on how you can leverage PPC advertising for your business effectively.