A Google Ads bid is the amount you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad.
This bid plays a crucial role in determining where your ad appears on the page (also known as its placement).
Better ad placement can significantly influence how your ad performs. This can mean more clicks, more visitors to your website, and more opportunities for your business to increase its ROI.
For every ad space Google has available—whether on a search engine results page (SERP) or within the Google Display Network (GDN)—Google Ads runs an auction where marketers can bid on the ad space.
The higher your bid, the better your chances of winning and getting your ad placed in the available space.
But it’s not just about the highest bidder.
Google Ads considers several factors when choosing who wins each auction, including:
The above factors, including your industry’s competitiveness, determine your Ad Rank.
A higher Ad Rank can mean a more prominent placement on Google’s SERPs or GDN, even if your bid is lower than others.
That’s why it’s important to both design quality ads and develop a successful Google Ads bidding strategy. Winning high-quality ad placements can get your ads more clicks and conversions, increasing the ROI on your Google Ads spend.
Here’s a summary of how Google Ads bidding works:
Manual CPC bidding allows you to set and adjust your bids at the keyword or ad group level. Simply specify the highest amount you’re willing to pay for a click on your ad for each keyword.
This hands-on approach is ideal if you prefer direct control and have the time to manage your campaigns actively. However, it requires much attention and consistent oversight to maximize its effectiveness.
Automated bidding strategies in Google Ads use algorithms to optimize bids for your ads. These algorithms focus on performance goals to maximize the likelihood of clicks or conversions.
This type of strategy is an excellent example of PPC automation that saves time while optimizing your ad campaigns for better ROI.
Automated bidding is ideal to reduce the time spent on bid management without harming ad performance.
Smart bidding is a subset of automated bidding strategies for Google Ads, focusing on optimizing for conversions or conversion value in real time.
This type of bidding strategy uses Google’s AI at each auction—known as “auction-time bidding”—and considers several auction-time signals like device, location, and time of day to increase each bid’s precision.
Smart Bidding is ideal if you want to use AI for enhanced bidding efficiency, especially in cases where conversion optimization is your primary goal.
Match your Google Ads bidding approach with your specific advertising objectives. Whether your focus is on clicks, impressions, views, or conversions, the right strategy can significantly impact your campaign’s success.
For example, a campaign aiming for immediate sales might benefit more from conversion-focused bidding. While one looking to build brand recognition may prioritize impression-based bidding.
Consider these five basic types of goals to choose the bidding strategy that fits best:
Understanding each bidding strategy is vital to achieving your search engine marketing (SEM) objectives, like generating leads and boosting sales.
Let’s explore each Google Ads bidding strategy in detail, with insights into when and why to use them and their advantages and limitations.
This strategy is ideal for campaigns that generate website traffic because it allows for precise budget control. Its primary goal is to drive traffic while you maintain control over each cost per click. Choose it if you prefer a direct handle on your campaign costs.
For example, a business selling high-value items like electronics might use Manual CPC to control costs while targeting high-intent buyers.
Another example is a local service provider, such as a plumber, who could set bids for specific services to maximize ROI.
Manual CPC bidding is available for both the Search and Display Networks.
Enhanced CPC (ECPC) bidding is a semi-automated strategy that modifies your manual bids to increase the chances of conversions. It’s ideal if you want to balance manual control and automation efficiency.
While ECPC aims to keep the average CPC under your maximum set bid, it can exceed this max CPC temporarily for high-potential opportunities that can lead to conversions.
For example, if you’re selling cakes and set your max CPC to $1, ECPC might increase your bid to $1.70 for an auction likely to lead to a store visit. But reduce it to $0.30 for one more likely to lead to a website visit without a conversion.
ECPC is available on the Search Network and Display Network (except for app install campaigns).
CPM bidding prioritizes visibility and brand awareness over direct clicks or conversions. This strategy allows you to bid and pay for every thousand impressions your ad receives, making it ideal for campaigns where exposure is the main objective.
You implement it based on these use cases:
For example, let’s say a company is launching a new product line.
They can use CPM bidding to increase the likelihood that their promotional ads reach a vast audience across the GDN to promote product visibility and brand recognition.
Another variation of CPM is viewable CPM (vCPM), which enables you only to pay when users can see your ads.
Target CPA bidding helps you optimize for conversions while sticking to an average cost per action. This automated bid strategy is ideal when you have a clear ROI target and want each conversion to bring similar value to your business.
Let’s say you set a target CPA of $5. Google Ads will then aim to secure as many conversions as possible at this average rate, employing auction-time adjustments based on various signals to enhance the bid’s effectiveness.
Some conversions may be above $5, but some may be below $5. However, the average will equal approximately $5.
Target ROAS bidding is a Smart Bidding strategy that allows you to optimize your campaigns for conversion value relative to your ad spend. This strategy is ideal when you have specific ROI targets and different conversions have varying values.
For instance, let’s say you run an online mug store.
You aim to make $13 in sales for every $10 spent on advertising, setting your target ROAS at 130%. Google Ads will adjust your bids to increase the value of conversions while trying to maintain your ROAS at 130%.
Assigning accurate values to the conversions you’re tracking will help you better understand your campaign’s ROAS and optimize your marketing efforts for maximum effectiveness.
Maximize conversions bidding uses your entire budget to secure the most conversions. This Google ads bid strategy is ideal if your primary goal is to use up the budget without targeting a specific ROI or CPA.
For example, a retailer looking to clear seasonal inventory could use a maximize conversions bid strategy to ensure Google Ads uses their entire advertising budget. This approach maximizes exposure and potential sales without targeting a specific cost per sale.
Maximize conversion value bidding is designed for campaigns that aim to optimize for the highest possible conversion value within a given budget. This strategy is ideal when conversions hold varying degrees of value for your business and you’re not targeting a specific ROAS.
Use maximize conversion value bidding if specific conversions (like selling a high-end product) are more valuable than others. Or, for campaigns with varied conversion goals. Such as different product categories or services with varying profit margins.
Target impression share bidding helps you to maximize your ad’s visibility in Google’s SERPs. This strategy focuses on placing your ad at the top of the page—either at the very top, among the top positions, or anywhere else on the search results page, depending on your settings.
For example, let’s say you run a local grocery store competing with bigger stores.
A target impression share strategy can help ensure your brand remains visible in crucial searches. If you want your ad to appear 100% of the time for searches related to your brand, setting the target impression share to 100% aims to achieve this visibility.
Maximize clicks is an automated Google Ads bid strategy that tries to get as many clicks as possible within a specified budget. This strategy is ideal if your primary goal is driving traffic to a website.
When you select maximize click bidding, Google Ads automatically sets your bids to attract the highest possible clicks within your average daily budget.
For example, if you have a seasonal promotion, using maximize clicks can help drive substantial traffic to your offer page without exceeding your budget.
CPV bidding is ideal for video ad campaigns where engagement, such as views or interactions, is the primary goal. It’s especially effective for campaigns that increase product or brand consideration through video content.
In CPV bidding, you pay for video views and interactions, like clicks on call-to-action (CTA) overlays, cards, and companion banners.
For this bid strategy, Google Ads counts a view when someone watches 30 seconds of your video ad (or its entire duration if it’s shorter than 30 seconds) or interacts with the ad. This method allows you to set the maximum price you’re willing to pay for a view when setting up your video campaign.
Adjust your bids and test automated strategies to improve your Google Ads. Here are some practical methods and tools for better campaign targeting and efficiency.
A bid adjustment is a percentage change applied to your bids, giving you the flexibility to bid more or less in certain situations.
Bid adjustments enable you to modify your bidding strategy based on specific factors like device type, location, and time of day. This customization enables you to allocate your budget more effectively by increasing bids in scenarios where your ads perform best.
For example, let’s say you’re running a campaign for a coffee shop.
You notice that your ads get more clicks during early morning hours. You could set a bid adjustment to increase your bids by 30% from 6-10 a.m., enhancing your ad’s chances of appearing during this prime time.
The types of bid adjustments include:
To add a bid adjustment, click “Campaigns” > “Audiences, keywords and content” in your Google Ads account.
Select the element you want to modify from the drop-down menu. Here, we chose “Locations.”
Click the pencil icon under the “Bid adj.” column to edit the bid adjustment.
Set a percentage increase or decrease and click “Save.”
Testing automated bidding helps you focus on maximizing conversions or conversion value. This method saves you time and spots opportunities (like optimal bid amounts and valuable audience segments) that you might overlook with manual bidding.
Semrush’s PPC Keyword tool can help you refine your keyword targeting and set up negative keywords to optimize automated bidding with a targeted and well-organized keyword set.
Negative keywords are words or phrases you exclude so your ads don’t appear for specific search queries.
From the left-hand navigation bar, click the “Advertising” drop-down and select “PPC Keyword Tool.”
Select your project or domain.
Click the “Negatives” tab beside “Keywords.”
Add negative keywords based on how specific or broad you want the filtering effect to be. (The filtering effect determines how widely your ads reach audiences.)
Using specific negative keywords narrows your ad’s reach, aligning it with targeted searches. Broad negative keywords expand the filter, preventing your ads from appearing in a larger array of searches.
For example, suppose you’re advertising for an Italian restaurant.
You might use “fast food” as a broad negative keyword to avoid irrelevant searches. A specific negative keyword could be “pizza delivery” if your restaurant doesn’t offer this service.
Use campaign-level negative keywords for broad exclusions across your entire campaign. For more precise control within certain ad groups, apply group-level negatives.
This approach is particularly effective when different ad groups cater to varied aspects of your offerings and need distinct keyword strategies.
Select whether you want to add your negative keyword manually or via .txt file by clicking the green “+ Negatives” button.
After organizing your keywords, upload the negative keyword list to your Google Ads to implement them in your campaign.
Here are some Semrush PPC tools and tips to improve your automated bidding in Google Ads:
Google Ads scripts are an advanced yet highly effective tool for automating and optimizing your bidding strategy.
These scripts are snippets of JavaScript that you can set up within Google Ads to automate various aspects of your campaigns based on specific criteria. Such as time intervals or performance metrics.
Google Ads scripts enable you to:
Scripts require some technical expertise in JavaScript, so you might need a developer to assist you. Implementing Google Ads scripts involves:
Check Google’s developers page to get started with your first Google Ads script.
Understanding and applying bid strategies can help you align your campaigns with your specific goals, manage budgets more efficiently, and significantly boost your ad performance.
As you implement a Google Ads bid strategy, monitor results continuously to learn from feedback about how it impacts your campaign goals and adapt accordingly. This approach enables you to improve campaign performance and ROI.
Semrush offers PPC tools like Ads History and Advertising Research that can bolster your bidding strategy to streamline your campaign management and optimization.
These tools provide insights into competitive strategies, keyword analysis, and performance tracking, making it easier to refine your Google Ads campaigns for optimal results.
Sign up for a free Semrush trial to explore resources and tools tailored to enhance your PPC campaigns. So you’re not just running ads but creating success stories with every click.
A bid strategy in Google Ads refers to the method you use to determine how much you’re willing to pay for each click on your ads. It’s a crucial aspect of your ad campaign as it influences your ad’s visibility and the likelihood of achieving your advertising goals.
Bid strategies can be classified into manual and automated types.
Manual bidding gives you control over bid amounts for different ad groups or keywords. Automated strategies use Google’s algorithms to optimize bids in real time for the best results.
For example, maximizing clicks aims to get the most clicks within your budget. In contrast, targeting CPA focuses on getting as many conversions as possible at or below your target CPA.
Here’s how to change bidding strategy in Google Ads:
Navigate to “Campaigns” in your Google Ads account.
Click the “Settings” icon next to the campaign you’d like to change.
Click “Bidding” from the settings menu.
Click “Change bid strategy.”
Select your desired strategy.
Click “Save” to apply your changes.
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