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You want your Google Ads campaign to go off without a hitch, which requires a winning bid. But how do you get the winning bid, especially without going over budget? Learn about Google Ads bid adjustments and how to get the most from your bids.
Before getting into Google Ads bid adjustments, you need to understand intent based keyword research to get the maximum out of your search campaign, then come the bid adjustment. In Google Ads, the term bid adjustments refers to a percentage that you decrease or increase your bids. Making bid adjustments is a strategy to let you adjust your ad frequency based on how, when, and where someone searches. Bid adjustments will affect individual bids but not your overall daily Ads budget.
Google also offers the ability to adjust bids depending on their performance. This strategy can help you with your return on investment.
As mentioned, you set your bid adjustments as a percentage. For example, assume you have a starting bid of $1. If you were to increase the bid by 20% for certain situations, such as mobile visitors, your new bid would be $1.20. The adjustment would look like $1 + (20% of $1).
If you wanted to decrease the same $1 bid by 20% on desktops, it would end up at $0.80. The calculation would look like: $1 — (20% of $1).
Whether you want to add or remove a bid adjustment, the process is fairly similar. Keep in mind that there are slightly different steps for the Search Network and Display Network.
As you set up your Google Ads bidding, you will notice that there are only a few specific bid adjustments that you can make. Some of these are more advanced than others, but all are possible Google Ads bid adjustments.
You will also notice that each bid adjustment type has its own situations when you can use them and its own range of adjustment available. As you set up your bid adjustments, Google will remind you of these limitations, but you should still be aware of them.
When looking at the available ranges of adjustments, remember that a decrease of 100% will prevent your ads from showing. Choosing this lets you fully opt-out from showing ads in that set of circumstances.
Ad scheduling adjustments let you change the ad bid and frequency depending on the time of the day or day of the week. Using these Google Ads bid adjustments requires you to first set up your custom ad schedule. That schedule is simple to set up and lets you easily adjust the days and hours your ad will appear.
You can use ad scheduling adjustments in campaigns.
Reduce the bid by up to 90% or increase it up to 900%.
You can also make adjustments based on demographics, including household income, age, and gender. This is one element of demographic targeting with Google Ads.
You can use this type of adjustment in the new experience from Google Ads in campaigns as well as ad groups.
You can decrease bids by 90% or increase them by 900%.
Device bid adjustments let you adjust the frequency of your ads based on the device the searcher is using, including mobile devices, tablets, smart TV and computers.
You can use this type of adjustment in campaigns and ad groups. Keep in mind that Google will use the ad group adjustment if you set an adjustment for both the ad group and the campaign.
You can decrease your bid by up to 100%, which will stop showing ads on that device. On the other end, you can increase the bid by up to 900%.
This is a slightly different option to adjust your Google Ads bidding. Instead of adjusting your regular bid, you adjust your bid specifically for call ads. The bid adjustments will change how often call-only ads and call extensions appear to users.
You can use these adjustments for campaigns within the new experience of Google Ads.
You can decrease the bid up to 90% or increase it by 900%.
Location adjustments let you adjust the frequency with which your ad appears based on the viewer’s location. The location can be set based on geographic areas like cities and countries. Combine this with location extension targeting to give customers who are physically close to your business different bids.
You can use location bid adjustments on ad campaigns.
You can decrease the location bid by 90% or increase it by 900%.
One of the more advanced Google Ads bid adjustments you can choose is for the remarketing list of your search ads. You need to have a remarketing list set up in order to use this bid adjustment, but that is easy to do.
You can use remarketing list bid adjustments in ad groups or campaigns.
You can choose to decrease the bids by up to 90% or increase them by up to 900%.
Targeting methods bid adjustments are an advanced setting. This lets you create bid adjustments for targeting methods like placements and topics for ads on the Display Network.
You can use targeting method bid adjustments on ad groups and campaigns.
You can decrease this bid by 90% or increase it by up to 900%.
If you are showing ads on the Display Network or YouTube, you can use this advanced bid adjustment. It applies to content that Google determined is more popular, with higher viewer engagement and traffic and more impressions per day. Your ad must be eligible to show up on this content. When that is the case, your bid adjustment can increase your bid.
Top content bid adjustments work on ad groups. It applies to the Google Display Network of websites and apps and YouTube.
You cannot decrease the bid with adjustments. You can increase it up to 500%.
In most cases, any bid adjustments you make within a campaign get multiplied together. The exceptions are location and device bid adjustments.
It is also important to remember that all bid adjustment types have a maximum increase of 900%, even if there are several bid adjustments. The same is true of the maximum decrease of 90%.
Google Ads uses your bid adjustment for the ad group instead of that for the campaign if you set both. The only exception is if you set the campaign-level device adjustment to minus 100%. In that case, Google will use that adjustment and ignore your ad-level adjustment.
Google Ads does not combine multiple bid adjustments for locations. Instead, it uses the more specific adjustment. For example, assume you have one adjustment for Paris and another for France. Users from Paris will only get the bid adjustment from Paris.
You will notice that Google lets you set your bid adjustment a few ways on Display campaigns. You can set them for ad groups on your targeting method, which is done using the Display tab. You can also set them in the Settings tab for Top content. The result is if your ad might appear on specific placements that are top content, there are two potential bid adjustments. They would be based on your specific targeting method or top content, respectively.
There is no need to make bid adjustments if you use Google’s Smart Bidding strategies, which are automated. Those strategies already adjust your bids automatically to maximize your conversion goal. In fact, the strategies will not let you manually adjust the Smart Bidding strategies.
However, you can change your CPA target in the case of Target CPA strategies.
Google outlines which bid adjustment types you can use for each bid strategy. If your strategy is to maximize clicks, you can make any type of bid adjustment. Otherwise, you can only make bid adjustments for devices. Furthermore, the only type of bid adjustment you can make for devices is negative 100% on Target Impression Share, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, and Maximize Conversion Value automated strategies.
To help you stay informed as you choose whether to use a Smart Bidding strategy and which one to use, keep the following refresher in mind:
Strategies that let you focus on conversions include:
If you want to focus on clicks, you will want to consider the following Smart Bidding strategies:
If your goal is visibility, you will want to consider these bid strategies:
There are plenty of reasons that any savvy marketer will want to use Google Ads bid adjustments.
By using bid adjustments, you can improve your targeting by adjusting who you spend most of your ad budget on. For example, if you know you are more likely to make sales during a particular time, you can increase the bid adjustment during that time.
By improving your targeting, you should find yourself using your budget more efficiently. The result should be an improved return on investment.
Bid adjustments are also a simple and convenient way to test various campaigns. For example, you could test how well one of your current campaigns would perform as “mobile only” by increasing the bid on mobile devices or decreasing the bid on other devices.
If something goes well, you can consider turning it into a separate campaign. If it doesn’t go as expected, just remove your bid adjustment to bring everything back to normal.
Now that you have a better understanding of Google Ads bid adjustments, take the time to look at some strategies and tips for Google Ads bidding.
You will want to keep your goals in mind as you set your bid adjustments and overall bidding strategy. Your goals will determine which campaigns and ads you increase bids on and which ones you decrease bids on.
Use real data when planning your Google Ads bidding strategies. This includes taking the time to understand how you perform across various segments. Pay attention to variations across audiences, locations, devices, and times.
As you look at the data, try not to rush. Specifically, make sure you wait long enough for conversion delays to be accounted for. Or, you may need to wait a little longer just to have enough data to provide useful insights.
Google Ads has a bid simulator. You should make it a point to use this to help you figure out a good starting point for your bids.
The easiest way to make bid adjustments is to let Smart Bidding take care of it for you. These strategies will automatically adjust your bids based on various factors. Target ROAS and Target CPA do so for each auction and optimize for time, location, audience, and device.
Opting for manual bidding in Google Ads can prevent you from accidentally getting too close to your budget or overshooting it. While Google Ads does let you set your budget, you still may find that the automated bidding strategy makes bids that are higher or lower than you want. If you prefer to stay in complete control, stick to manual bidding.
While manual bidding has its pros and cons, so do automated Smart Bidding strategies. They are particularly helpful for those who have to run multiple campaigns. It prevents wasted time.
The caveat here is that you should wait to start using automated bidding until you already have some data in place. Experts typically suggest starting with manual bidding to get the data you need. Once you have a fair amount of data and have seen some initial success, you can then consider switching to automated bidding.
The cutoff point for many experts is about 30 conversions per month in your campaign. Once you reach this point, you should strongly consider switching to an automated strategy.
In addition to knowing when to use automated bidding in general, you also want to familiarize yourself with when to use specific strategies. The Target CPA Smart Bidding strategy, for example, is great for improving your conversions. However, you will want to gradually switch to this strategy over time to gather enough data.
Another example is the enhanced CPC strategy is great for maximizing conversion value and conversions. It combines Smart Bidding with manual bidding, and it is among the most cost-effective strategies.
Whether or not you automate the process with Smart Bidding, create some sort of system to manage your bids. Google Ads suggests creating base bids that will let you meet your overall goals. From there, take care of performance differences across segments like device type or location with bid adjustments.
Your strategy should also account for any overlap with bid adjustments. Remember how Google Ads treats overlapping bid adjustments for things like audiences, time of day, and location.
You can do a few things to maximize the efficiency of your bid adjustments. Start by trying to stick to adjustments at the campaign level. Only make group-level adjustments if campaigns have significant variations in performance within them. This is not only more efficient, but it also lets you make your adjustments based on larger volumes of data. After all, there will be more data on campaigns than ads since they are larger groupings.
Another efficient strategy is to try to consolidate your campaigns. Remember, even if you combine campaigns, you can use segments to fine-tune your bid adjustments.
As you set up your Google Ads bidding, make sure that you divide your budget across various strategies. This is a smart safety net as it ensures that you do not lose your entire budget even if a campaign or bidding strategy does not produce results.
Even if you choose the right bid adjustments and bidding strategy, you need to have the right keywords for the most success. Try to look for keywords with a low cost per click and decent search volume. For most companies, this is the happy medium between getting enough clicks and sticking to your budget.
You should also look for long-tail keywords with exact matches. These keywords tend to deliver a high return on ad spend because there is a lot of intention behind them. They also tend to be less competitive because they are specific.
Don’t forget to research negative keywords in addition to your standard keywords. This helps prevent you from wasting your budget and effort attracting searches that are unlikely to convert.
While you will get more clicks in Google Ads if you are in the top spot, this is not necessarily the best for your budget and CPC. In many cases, you will get almost as many clicks in the second position as you would in the first. This is despite the fact that the bid for the first position may be two or three times as much as that for the second.
While you may miss out on a few clicks by aiming for the second spot instead of the first, you will have a lower cost per click and should still see enough results to make your efforts worthwhile.
As a bonus, being ranked No. 2 can also help your bounce rate and conversions. This comes from human nature, and the fact that many people tend to click on the first link before even confirming it is relevant. By contrast, if they are looking at the second or third spot, they will likely take a few milliseconds to confirm it is relevant. The result is an improved conversion rate for you and less paying for clicks that don’t convert.
Remember that the ultimate goal with your Google Ads bidding is to get clicks that become conversions. To increase your chances of conversions, take some time to optimize your ad copy and landing page. They should both be accurate in conveying your product or service and what sets you apart. They should also use similar terminology, preferably the exact same wording in the headings. This will dramatically reduce your bounce rate.
Google Ads bid adjustments let you easily customize your bids for specific visitors based on factors like device, location, demographics, remarketing, schedule, and other factors. This can let you use your budget more efficiently. It also reduces the amount of time you need to spend creating separate campaigns and setting up varying budgets. Once you get used to setting up bid adjustments, it becomes an intuitive part of Google Ads bidding. Combine the adjustments with other bidding strategies and tips for the best results.
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