19 ADWORDS BIDDDING STRATEGIESYour Competitors Don’t Know

Not Happy With Your AdWords Bidding Strategy?

Let’s make you as happy as this!

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS?

First Things First:

If your goal is to make more profit, then keep conversion volume and

cost per conversion balances in mind.

1. Your max cost per click (CPC) bid. 2. Your quality score. 3. Your ad extensions and relevance.

Here’s how the AdWords auction rapidly considers your ranking of ads:

These days, there are hundreds of different bidding combinations.

Let's touch on the bigger ones so you can customize them to your liking.

MANUAL CPCAdWords Bidding Strategy #1:

Set bids at either the ad group or keyword level.This allows you to stay

in control, but can take more time to optimize.

• Keyword level bids override ad group level bids. • Keyword level bids also allow for the highest level of

control. • Ad group level bids set the same bid to all keywords/

placements in that ad group.

BEST FOR: Advertisers who want tight control over spending.

AUTOMATIC CPCAdWords Bidding Strategy #2:

Set a daily budget for a specific campaign and have Google automatically adjust

bids to get the most clicks.

• Get the most clicks within your daily budget for a specific campaign.

• Warning: You goal isn’t to get clicks. Your goal is to get conversions. Test to see if this is a good fit.

• Downside: Doesn’t allow you to set max CPC bids at the keyword level.

BEST FOR: Drastically reduced budgets where you don’t want to lose impression shares too quickly.

ENHANCED CPCAdWords Bidding Strategy #3:

Give Google the freedom to increase or decrease your bids by 30%.

• Google uses historical conversion data and sets algorithms to predict likely conversions.

• Google will ⬆ CPC bid by up to 30% for likely conversions. Google will ⬇ your max CPC bid by up to 30% for unlikely conversions.

• We found this strategy to work best for the AdWords Display Network, not so much on Search.

BEST FOR: More conversions while maintaining or reducing your cost per conversion.

CPA BIDDINGAdWords Bidding Strategy #4:

Allow Google to adjust bids to average a specified cost per acquisition goal that

you’ve set.

• Needs at least 15 conversions over 30 days to become active.

• Set budget caps to limit ad spend. • Measure performance before and after implementing

the new strategy.

BEST FOR: AdWords Display Network, since it has many more factors to adjust for compared to the AdWords Search Network.

CPM BIDDING (COST PER THOUSAND IMPRESSIONS)

AdWords Bidding Strategy #5:

Set target bids that accumulate after 1,000 impressions.

• Available for Display Network campaigns only. • Charges you for impressions of your ads (even if below

fold) and not clicks.

BEST FOR: Branding and awareness campaigns, not so much for direct response campaigns.

TARGET SEARCH PAGE LOCATION

AdWords Bidding Strategy #6:

Target specific locations on the search results page.

• Test out if you find certain ad positions perform better than others.

• You might find that lower ad positions perform better than higher ones.

BEST FOR: Controlling the location of your ads for best performance balance between CPA and conversion volume.

TARGET CPAAdWords Bidding Strategy #7:

Set bids for most conversions within your CPA goal.

• Include as many or as few campaigns as you want • Campaigns share the same CPA goals.

BEST FOR: Reaching your CPA goal with most possible conversions.

TARGET OUTRANKING SHARE

AdWords Bidding Strategy #8:

Enter your competitor's domain and tell Google how often you want to outrank

them.

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• You can set target outranking share %. • You can set automatic or manual bid automation.

BEST FOR: Performance goals based on outranking competitors.

MAXIMIZE CLICKSAdWords Bidding Strategy #9:

Maximize your number of clicks and automate your bidding within a set

budget.

• Warning: This could lead to a lower quality of clicks and conversions.

BEST FOR: Increasing site visits and clicks on low traffic keywords while staying within a budget.

TARGET RETURN AD SPEND (ROAS)

AdWords Bidding Strategy #10:

Hit your ROI goals and set a percentage of targeted return on ad spend.

• Your conversion values or Google Analytics ecommerce revenue values are taken into account.

BEST FOR: Hitting ROI goals.

BID MODIFIERSAdWords Bidding Strategy #11:

Run reports based off various metrics and see where it’s advantageous to increase or decrease bids depending on performance.

Segment campaigns and ad groups to see:

• Device performance. • Day of week or time of day performance. • Geographic performance.

BEST FOR: Segmenting campaigns and ad groups to drill down on performance.

BIDDING RULESAdWords Bidding Strategy #12:

Set criteria to change bids and budgets.

• Set rules at the campaign, ad group, ad or keyword level.

• Click “automate” button and select rule type.

BEST FOR: Automating rules based on specific thresholds and goals.

BIDDING SCRIPTSAdWords Bidding Strategy #13:

Automate your AdWords activity on a time interval and various set metrics.

• Allows for greater customization beyond AdWords rules.

BEST FOR: Automating more intricate rules based on specific thresholds and goals.

BIDDING FOR SALES (NOT CONVERSIONS)

AdWords Bidding Strategy #14:

Track which keywords are generating sales, not just leads or conversions.

• Not all keywords are created equal. • Some keywords will have a higher sales rate than

others. • Bid more aggressively on keywords with higher sales

rates. • PPC traffic should be treated differently with distinct

cost per conversion goals.

BEST FOR: This is not for eCommerce advertisers, but for lead gen and SaaS advertisers that want to track the entire sales cycle.

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SEASONAL TRENDSAdWords Bidding Strategy #15:

Adjust your bidding strategy based on seasonal trends.

• Bid more aggressively when conversion rates are higher.

• Bid less aggressively when conversion rates are lower.

BEST FOR: Conversion rates that go and up and down based on seasonality.

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DIFFERENT KEYWORDS, DIFFERENT OFFERS,

DIFFERENT MARGINS

AdWords Bidding Strategy #16:

Split test your landing page CTAs to find conversion rate increases or decreases, and

then adjust bids from there.

• Different keywords bring in different margins and revenue amounts.

• Keep track of performance changes: close time, sales per closing rate.

BEST FOR: Testing and tracking performance changes and causes.

BID BUMPINGAdWords Bidding Strategy #17:

Temporarily boost bids to achieve higher quality scores.

• Temporarily pay a higher CPC and get a higher click-through-rate (CTR) = higher quality score.

• Lower your bids afterwards for lower average CPC and conversion cost.

• Maintain performance levels.

BEST FOR: Lower average CPCs by increasing quality scores and hoping they stay high.

RLSA COMPETITOR BIDDING

AdWords Bidding Strategy #18:

Bid more aggressively on competitor searches for visitors who have

previously visited you.

• Add an RLSA audience to an existing competitor search campaign.

• Add a more aggressive bid modifier to your competitor name keywords.

BEST FOR: Being okay paying high CPCs for keywords now that they have higher conversion intent.

BIDDING ON BRANDED KEYWORDS

AdWords Bidding Strategy #19:

Add your brand name to the keyword phrase you’re bidding on. This can

increase your overall account health and account quality score.

• Increase your overall account health. • Test new UVP messages and landing pages to see if

you can outperform your own site.

BEST FOR: Improving account health, performance, and brand equity.

Your bidding goals can quickly change depending on performance fluctuations or landing page testing.

Don't "set it and forget it”.

Also… Keep In Mind:

WHY?Higher conversion rates can allow you

to have more aggressive bidding strategies.

Now Get To Testing!

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