Google advertisement bid strategy is perhaps among the most complex things involved in understanding the concepts of PPC. This state of confusion is because there are quite a few options for bidding and each of them has its own nuances. Even their descriptions may mislead you because they may not match and often may not behave as per your expectations.
Some vital aspects of manual and automated bidding explained:
What Should You opt for – Manual or Automated Bidding
With manual bidding, you have the freedom to fix your own maximum cost-per-click that you would like to incur, however, in the automated bidding system; the bid amount gets set based on a number of different factors. If you do not have any experience of advertising on Google, it would be quite natural for you to suppose that automated bidding is not only easier but also the safer method because you don’t need to monitor the bidding carefully with the bid amount being set automatically. However, that sense of security may not always serve you the best due to a number of reasons, which is why a large number of Houston SEO professional advertisers continue to use the manual bid system. Some of the top reasons for this preference:
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You need volume to benefit from the automated system
It has been proven that the automated system of bidding works best in environments that have a large volume of conversions as lots of data is generated that the bidding algorithm of Google can use to calculate the most optimum bid amount. When the algorithm has low data volumes to work with, it often gives the wrong results. It is because of this tendency that Google requires at least 30 conversions in a period of 30 days for some of the automated bid strategies to work. This means that accounts with lower volumes may only have the option of manual bidding.
A consistent history is a prerequisite for automated bidding
Even if your account volume qualifies for automated bidding, you could face problems if its history is uneven due to any reason like seasonal swings or other causes of fluctuations that can play havoc with the algorithm’s ability to decide on the bids amounts. So, if you are in an industry that sees a lot of swings for perfectly valid reasons, the only way you can think of making your advertising work is by manual bidding.
Flexibility with budgets is often required with automated bidding
In the automated bidding system, there are multiple adjustments and optimizations that Google needs to make on a continuous basis that can sometimes require ad spends to jump significantly for some time. This means that your advertising budget should be flexible enough to take such overspending in its stride.
You can get a competitive edge with manual bidding
It is often found that advertising campaigns perform better when bids are set manually rather than with the automated system. This is because you can react to changes in the environment more quickly whereas automated system algorithms can often get tied up in knots or because the campaigns may be far too complex, nuanced or have too low a volume for the automation to be effective.
Getting Your Manual Bidding Settings Right
Set up the rules for automated bidding: Even though you will be bidding manually, it does not mean that you cannot manage your ad bidding in other ways. Depending on your objectives, you can set rules to push your bids lower or higher to give you more control and relieve you of the bother of monitoring your bidding on a daily basis. For example, you can set up a rule for automated bidding to boost your keyword if your site is no longer ranked on the first page of the search results.
Attempttiered bidding: With the system of tiered bidding, it is possible to assign separate bid amounts to keyword matches that are of different types. This lets you bid a higher amount if there is a term that matches exactly than terms that are more of a broad match as you are more likely to get conversions.
Deselect “Enhanced CPC”: Google Ads has a system of automatically opting you into “Enhanced CPC” mode when you select manual CPC. It is important that you deselect the option “Help increase conversions with Enhanced CPC” unless you really want it.
Examine the “Get Guidance” facility: When you opt for manual bidding, you are allowed to choose “get guidance selecting a bid strategy” by clicking on the link. Thereafter, you can choose the most important things pertaining to your account so that Google can suggest an optimal automated bidding strategy. It is not necessary for you to choose what is suggested but it does serve as a valuable reference.
Try Out Automated Bidding: When you have enough account volume, you can always decide to try out automated bidding. There is no need to be completely automated as you can always try out a mix of manual and automated bidding. You may be overjoyed to see the seven options of automated bidding, which are supposed to meet different business goals but keep in mind that they may not always perform the way you expect or think. Not only will you need to exercise a lot of patience because you need to give enough time for Google’s algorithm to learn how your business performs but also remember that one automated strategy is unlikely to work across all target audiences. Keep in mind that even if automated, the bidding will still have to be monitored and the settings adjusted whenever required.
Conclusion
Automated ad bidding is indeed a wonderful system, however, for it to be really effective, you will need sufficient volumes, a history that’s devoid of wild swings, and allow enough time for Google’s algorithm to learn how to deal with your business account. It can often be more productive to start off with a manual system and then progress to a mix of manual and automated strategies. If you want to be really nimble and optimize your ad spends on a frugal budget, it may be better to stick to the manual system.
