Should You Use Google Ads (AdWords) Smart Bidding?

It’s easy to lose money in paid advertising. When you’re getting used to things, you can make some simple mistakes. But even small mistakes can cost a lot, and if you’re on a small budget that can soon put a dent in your ambitions.

Thankfully, Google Ads has a few features that can help advertisers get to grips with their platform in a shorter space of time.

One such weapon is AdWords smart bidding.

In this article, we’ll find out what that is, and learn how you can use smart bidding to get more bang for your buck.

What is AdWords Smart Bidding?

With machine learning now at the heart of Google, smart bidding takes a lot of the guesswork out of keyword bids. By considering millions of different factors, the platform makes automated bids, which are optimized for the best possible chance of conversion.

There has been a lot of big changes to Google Ads in the past year, many of which are setting the tone for the future of digital marketing. When it comes to bidding strategies, AdWords smart bidding may be one of the best.

And there are lots of smart bidding strategies for you to experiment with…

6 AdWords Smart Bidding Strategies

1.   Maximize Conversions

Tell Google to spend your budget each day while trying to generate the most conversions possible. The algorithm will then choose the cost-per-click (CPC) bids based on this goal.

It’s important to enable conversion tracking with this goal, otherwise, you could incur a lot of wasted spend. In any case, whether the cost per conversion is high or low, the daily budget will be exhausted.

2.   Target CPA (Cost per Acquisition)

Conversions are great, but profitability is the end goal. By setting a target cost per conversion, Google will get conversions within your cost limit.

Ensure conversion tracking is enabled, and it’s also advised you have sufficient data for this strategy. About 30 conversions in the past month should be enough.

3.   Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)

Similar to CPA bidding, this strategy predicts the target ROAS and adjusts your keyword bids accordingly. You can define the bid range with min and max limits, although this does restrict your freedom somewhat.

It’s a wise move to start off with a low ROAS before gradually increasing to boost your overall return on investment (ROI).

4.   Maximize Clicks

With this strategy, Google will generate as many clicks as possible for you while spending the entire daily budget. This is a good one for brand awareness.

Once again, you can set bid limits to add boundaries if you are on a tight budget. It’s best to set a max CPC bid and then monitor the average CPC. That way, you can look to optimize the strategy over time.

5.   Target Impression Share

This is a recent addition to the selection, giving advertisers the option of setting the target impression share value. Google will then adjust your bids to achieve your goal.

By setting the max bid limit, you will give the algorithm a better chance of predicting optimized bids, which will prevent any overspending.

You can bid for several ad positions:

1. Absolute top of page
2. Top of page
3. Anywhere on the page

Depending on your preference, Google will predict keyword bids and then aims to achieve your target impression share.

6.   Cost per Thousand Viewable Impressions (vCPM)

This is a display-only bidding strategy, which has been designed to allow advertisers to bid for impressions whenever their ad is displayed in a viewable space.

You might wonder, “when is an ad viewable?”

According to Google, the answer is:

• Display Network Ads – When the ad is on screen for one second or longer
• Video Ads – When the ad is on screen for two seconds or longer

 
By studying a placements report, you can identify if your ads are been shown to the right audience. Having a lot of views means very little if the audience is unqualified or uninterested in what you have to offer.

5 Benefits of AdWords Smart Bidding

So, it’s clear that there is a lot that can be done with AdWords smart bidding. But just why should you bother? If you’re thinking it’s all hype, well think again.

Here’s what AdWords smart bidding can do for you.

1.   Time Saver

Is smart bidding a time saver? That’s a resounding yes! With automated bids in play, you’ll waste less time trying to figure things out on your own, and more time counting the results that Google’s optimized bids help you gain.

2.   More Data, Better Results

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve surely heard that analytics-driven marketing is the future. AdWords Smart bidding needs data to get going, and the more data you gather, the better the system works. It’s a glorious circle.

3.   It’s Great for Seasonal Times

The run-up to Black Friday and Christmas is a hectic period for marketers. However, if you’re ready for it, you can make a lot of profits in these times. AdWords Smart bidding makes it easier to stay agile, so you remain competitive without worrying about manual adjustments.

4.   Flexible Performance Controls

One of the great things about Google Ads is the ability to customize the settings and targets for your specific business or campaign. AdWords Smart bidding goes hand-in-hand with this goal-oriented style of marketing and advertising.

5.   Transparent Reporting of Performance

When you have smart bidding and data analytics set-up, there is no hiding from the truth in your campaigns. Whether you’re flying or failing, you’ll have easy-to-read reports, alerts, and conversion tracking that keeps you updated throughout.

Final Thoughts on AdWords Smart Bidding

Whether you’re a booming big corporation or a small startup, smart bidding is a great feature to use to maximize your gains with Google Ads.

There is a learning curve, and you should get up-to-speed with Google Ads policies before starting, as you don’t want to encounter any legal issues with your bidding.

Another caveat to be aware of is the impact on cost-per-click (CPC). By increasing or decreasing your keyword bid based on the likelihood of sales, advertisers will impact the CPC, which could quickly negate any profits.

Those minor challenges aside, AdWords smart bidding is a great fit for goal-focused advertising. By setting up your campaigns with goals in mind, you can employ AdWords smart bidding to help achieve that goal through optimized, automated bids.

Over time, you can test and refine until you learn how to be more effective with your budget.

Measure if your bidding strategy is working for you. Run PPCexpo What’s Change Report to evaluate it.