Before getting into more advanced or unique bidding strategies, it’s worth understanding a couple of fundamental truths about PPC bidding – these might sound easy at first, but it’s easy to lose sight of them when you’re deep in performance reports.
Truth #1: There are really only two objectives in bidding.
This is most probably oversimplified, but I do think it’s worth pointing out just to prevent us from getting too caught up in data analysis. The two key objectives are:
Objective 1: Decrease bids in low-performing areas (keywords/ad groups/etc).
Objective 2: Increase bids in high-performing areas.
Many complexities are involved in each of those objectives.
- How much should we adjust the bids?
- How do we determine what a low-performing entity is?
- Are we tracking lifetime value or just utilising the immediate data to which we have access?
These are important questions, but really, at the core of what we’re trying to do is one of two things:
- Should we adjust bids on these terms and, if so,
- Should we adjust them higher or lower?
It’s important not to get too caught up in everything else. Bidding rules, even complex ones, can be simplified into these two objectives.
Truth #2: The quality of your data matters more than quantity.
Good bidding relies on good data, but more data doesn’t necessarily mean good decisions.
In platforms like Google Ads, you’re presented with a huge number of metrics. It is fairly easy to fall into the trap of analysing everything, but in reality, that is not necessary, especially in large accounts.
Below are a couple of variables I ask myself before optimising, as follows.
Is there enough traffic?
To start, you usually analyse data points such as impressions, clicks, or spend that ensure you have enough data to make a good decision. If you can’t get enough data for this point, then the best way to fix this is to increase your data range to 30 days instead of 7 or 180 instead of 60, etc. Having tested a wide variety of date ranges, I find that for high traffic accounts, 7 days is best for immediate analysis. I’ll then use a bigger picture view of 90 days. This way, I can identify whether something used to be performing or has always been problematic.
If it was performing before, why not now? What has changed? These are the types of questions that improve you as a PPC marketer.
Is it profitable?
This is one of which we’re all most aware. If the return on ad spend (ROAS) isn’t great, you’ll probably want to lower the bids. If the ROAS is great, you may want to consider raising your bids to be even more competitive and bring in more sales.
If it’s a lead gen client, you’ll likely want to analyse CPA based on leads, or even better, based on ROI from the client’s lead data.
The key takeaway from this is to ensure that you analyse carefully before making any bid decisions. Remember, quality beats quantity!
The PPC bidding process
The PPC ad auction is a process that determines which ad appears on the search engine results page (SERP) and what position your ad appears in. Whilst advertisers set their maximum bid, a common misconception about the auctions is that the advertiser with the highest bid automatically secures the top position on Google. Whilst the highest bid is important and has a part to play, it’s only one part of a series of other factors.
One way Google rewards advertisers during the PPC bidding process is through ad relevance, with the aim of delivering useful and relevant ads to users. To achieve this, Google will prioritise adverts that are relevant to the user’s search intent, with ads that have well-written content and are supported by a strong landing page. On the other hand, poor-quality, irrelevant landing page content will lead advertisers to pay higher CPCs and achieve lower rankings in the SERPs.
Google ensures the highest ads are the highest quality, leading advertisers to focus on relevance and landing-page user experience. This mix results in advertisers seeing improved visibility and lower CPCs, creating more efficient campaigns.
Below are some examples of bidding strategies that advertisers can utilise:
Manual Cost Per Click
Gives you complete control over how much you spend per keyword click. However, due to the increasingly data-driven nature of advertising platforms and the rise of AI-powered bidding, Manual CPC is now generally considered an outdated bidding strategy.
Maximise Clicks
Gives users the most clicks whilst aligning to their budget limits. This strategy is not optimal long-term due to a lack of conversion focus; however, advertisers must start new campaigns to maximise clicks to build this data, and it is then optimal to move over to SMART bidding.
Maximise Conversions
Is an automated bidding strategy that aims to generate the highest possible number of conversions within the campaign’s budget. Google will analyse a range of various signals – such as location, time, device – and will increase bids if deemed likely to result in a conversion.
Maximise Conversions
Target CPA/Target ROAS has the same structure as maximise conversions; however, advertisers will input a desired cost per acquisition or return on ad spend to indicate how much they are willing to spend for a lead. The system will then aim to generate as many conversions, whilst keeping within that target. This strategy is particularly useful for businesses that want to prioritise acquisition/ROAS costs whilst scaling conversions.
Conclusion
In conclusion, successful PPC bidding isn’t about spending more; it’s about spending smarter and aligning your goals with your bidding strategy. By focusing on high-quality ads through ad relevance, strong copy and landing page experiences, users can see lower costs and improved rankings. When paired with the right bidding strategy, advertisers can scale their campaigns effectively while minimising wasted spend.
