Hey everyone, Matt here, your Google Ads expert from the Ad Alchemy Growth Club.
Today we're diving deep into the world of Google Ads bidding strategies. Choosing the right approach is crucial for maximising your campaign's success and achieving your desired results.
To start here's a flow chart I use with my own campaigns and those of clients.
Let's break down everything you need to know about each strategy, from when to use them and when to avoid them, to any recommended thresholds you should be aware of.
Manual Bidding
Manual CPC
You set the maximum cost-per-click bid for each keyword.
Best for:
New advertisers starting in PPC.
New Google Ads accounts.
Campaigns generating website traffic.
Advantages:
Precise budget control.
Respond quickly to market changes.
Detailed bid management.
Disadvantages:
Time-consuming.
Requires consistent monitoring.
Limited data insights.
Automated Bidding
Uses machine learning to optimize for conversions or conversion value in every auction.
Enhanced CPC (ECPC)
Semi-automated strategy. Modifies manual bids to increase chances of conversions.
Best for: Transitioning from manual bidding to automated strategies.
Advantages: Can improve click-through and conversion rates compared to manual CPC.
Disadvantages: Can lead to increased CPCs, so continuous monitoring of CPC and CPA is essential.
Maximise Conversions
Aims to get the most conversions possible within budget.
Best for:
Campaigns where driving conversions is the main objective.
Large budget clients.
Testing.
New campaigns with a high chance of working.
Minimum Threshold: At least 30-50 conversions in the last 30 days.
Advantages: Can increase conversion volume.
Disadvantages:
Can be expensive.
May need to set a target CPA to control costs.
Each campaign should have its own budget.
Target CPA (tCPA)
Aims to achieve your desired cost per acquisition. It now sits under Maximise Conversions as a setting
Best for: Campaigns with a clear ROI target.
Minimum Threshold: At least 30-50 conversions in the last 30 days.
Advantages: Effective for controlling costs and ensuring campaign profitability.
Disadvantages:
Requires a good understanding of the target audience.
Requires a healthy budget.
Needs a realistic target CPA.
Maximise Conversion Value
Aims to generate the highest possible conversion value within budget.
Best for: E-commerce businesses with multiple products where maximizing revenue is the primary goal. Also useful for lead gen advertisers who can do predictive lead scoring or predictive LTV.
Advantages: Can help achieve a higher return on investment.
Disadvantages: Requires accurate conversion tracking and assigning values to each conversion.
Target ROAS (tROAS)
Aims to achieve your desired return on ad spend. Like target CPA sits under Maximise Conversions, target ROAS now sits under Maximise Conversion Value.
Best for:
E-commerce platforms and advertisers with variable conversion values
Businesses that are focused on ROI.
Minimum Threshold: At least 15 conversions in the last 30 days.
Advantages:
Available for use in standard and portfolio strategies.
Factors in real-time signals for bid adjustments.
Disadvantages:
Requires accurate conversion tracking.
Requires assigning conversion values.
Needs a realistic target ROAS.
Maximise Clicks
Aims to get as many clicks as possible within budget.
Best for:
Driving traffic to a website.
Temporary use to increase traffic.
Campaigns where profitability isn't the primary concern.
Advantages: Can generate traffic quickly.
Disadvantages:
Clicks might not be from valuable audiences.
Can lead to high CPCs.
Target Impression Share
Aims to achieve a specific impression share for your ads.
Best for:
Brand campaigns.
When dominating the search results is desired.
Advantages: Increases brand presence and visibility.
Disadvantages:
Can be expensive.
May not lead to a high ROAS.
Portfolio Bidding
Manage bids across multiple campaigns with shared goals. This is useful when you have a handful of smaller campaigns that are all optimised towards a similar goal.
Advantages: Simplifies bid management and can improve performance.
Disadvantages: Requires a good understanding of campaigns and their shared objectives.
You can also use my hack with portfolio bidding to use the other strategies I’ve mapped out here today with the added control of a maximum CPC.
Wrapping Up
The key to successful Google Ads bidding lies in aligning your chosen strategy with your specific goals, understanding the nuances of each strategy, and continuously monitoring and adjusting based on performance.
While manual bidding offers granular control, Target ROAS stands out as a powerful strategy for revenue-focused campaigns, leveraging Google's AI to optimise bids and maximise your return on investment. If you don’t have a revenue or value you can pass through, Target CPA is the next best option for performance marketers.
Experiment, analyse, and adapt to find the perfect bidding strategy that fuels your campaign's success. Good luck!