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At the core of digital advertising lies the art of bidding. In the past, PPC experts were the masterminds behind a meticulous bidding and bid modifier process. Now, machine learning determines the value of ad placements in real-time auctions. They optimize bids for specific goals, such as maximizing conversions, enhancing conversion value, or achieving target return on ad spend (ROAS).
Smart bidding, an automated bidding strategy powered by machine learning, revolutionized this process by enabling advertisers to optimize bids for conversions or conversion value automatically. Or did it?
Bid modifiers are the tools that allow advertisers to fine-tune bids based on various contextual factors. So, how do you successfully combine the two strategies?
Smart bidding is a type of bidding strategy that leverages machine learning algorithms to adjust bids in real-time. Smart bidding strategies are specific to Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising and are currently unavailable on paid social media platforms. They optimize bids for specific goals, be it maximizing conversions, enhancing conversion value, or achieving target return on ad spend (ROAS).
Why use them? They give a competitive advantage over making manual adjustments because their changes happen dynamically at auction rather than being fixed, and they use thousands of intent signals that are only available to the platforms themselves.
Bid modifiers are manual adjustments that allow advertisers to increase or decrease their bids based on various factors such as device, location, or day of the week. The combination of utilizing both smart bidding and bid modifiers has the potential for a highly targeted advertising strategy. But it’s not quite as simple as it sounds.
There are bid modifier limitations on some smart bidding strategies and even some campaign types, that considerably influence the ability to effectively use those modifiers at all. Some allow the full range of modifiers, some allow limited modifiers, and some don’t allow any modifiers at all!
When designing a bid strategy, many advertisers think they must simply choose between manual bidding and smart bidding. However, the choice isn’t black and white. There are moments when manual bidding is the best option for you, but there are times when smart bidding or creative solutions that overcome smart bidding’s limitations might be better. That’s where the correct use of bid modifiers can take your bidding game to the next level!
In Google Ads, while some campaign types and smart bidding strategies may not allow bid modifiers, certain strategies like Maximize Clicks and Enhanced CPC allow you the most control and flexibility.
Other bid strategies like target CPA allow you to adjust some parts of your campaigns, such as devices. You can use these nuances to your advantage and to set yourself apart from other agencies by squeezing the most out of your campaign bid strategies..
You can view Google’s full list of rules on bid modifiers here: https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2732132?hl=en-AU
In complete contrast to Google, Microsoft Advertising states that bid modifiers are available to ALL bid strategies!
What does that mean? It means you have full control to adjust the device, location, and audience as you see fit. Want to spend less on mobile (or more)? You can make any adjustment of your choosing, and Microsoft won’t ignore it like Google often does!
If you use Microsoft bid modifiers and also sync your Microsoft Advertising account with Google Ads, you may want to change some of your sync settings to make sure that you’re not carrying any Google Ads bid adjustments over in that sync. For example, if you have no bid modifiers on a tCPA campaign in Google but you do in Microsoft, the sync might remove your Microsoft bid mods!
We’ve been talking a lot about the limitations of smart bidding and how bid modifiers give you more control. So, does that mean one of the two options is better? No! In fact, we recommend you strategically plan campaign bid strategies and pivot based on performance data.
Using a combination of strategies based on your data and the valuable insights you get from Adpulse, you can build campaigns tailored to your business and marketing goals.
If you adopt a smart bidding strategy that does not allow bid modifiers, you do face certain limitations. However, you can overcome these by using the following strategies.
Ensure your chosen strategy aligns with your business goals. When you start a campaign, it often pays to start with Max Clicks or Manual with eCPC until you get some learning under your belt. As you optimize and start to get conversions rolling in, moving towards smart bidding will give you an advantage – if you use it correctly.
Make sure you choose the strategy that most closely aligns with your goals.
While various opportunities for bid modifiers exist across the different platforms, campaign types and bid strategy types, in some cases the performance of a particular device warrants completely removing that traffic from the campaign. In most cases, a -100% device bid modifier will be respected so monitoring for device performance is a huge lever that you can use to remove large chunks of poor performance from a campaign.
If you want to use smart bidding but find that it doesn’t allow for exactly what you need, alter how you build campaigns. Create campaigns based on location, device, or audience so you can control the factors you can’t bid for.
Separating campaigns by an element you’d like to control will allow you to apply a budget for that specific element, giving you more control. At the same time, it allows for highly customized ads that can speak to a particular trait. Calling out someone’s location or letting them know you take Apple Pay may increase your conversion rate by more than a 25% bid adjustment on an audience.
Not seeing the results you want from the 18 – 24 demographic? Is there a city that consistently underperforms? Excluding these poor performers will have positive effects, too. Sometimes, it can be challenging to let go of a target, but it doesn’t make sense to hold onto it like that old t-shirt from high school!
If you’re using Performance Max campaigns, you can use Value Rules on devices, locations, and audience segments to let Google know where to focus or what’s more valuable for you.
There are also other tactics to use besides bid modifiers. Value Based Bidding can be particularly effective in helping smart bidding strategies understand your goals. By giving Google values, you can tell it how to steer your campaign to users that will provide you with the most value.
Sometimes you just need more control. Your keywords are expensive, or you’re in a highly competitive industry. In situations like these, it’s perfectly okay to stick to an Enhanced CPC strategy. You can even layer in Performance Max campaigns to assist, without losing all of the control.
When you use Adpulse to monitor your device bid modifiers, you can monitor and react to performance on your campaigns in a way that’s nearly impossible to do on your own. Worried about your cost/conversion or ROAS? Check on how your devices are performing by going to Performance > Devices. Reduce bids on devices with poor performance and increase bids on your better performing devices to drive improvements!
While Adpulse doesn’t currently track location and audience performance (coming soon), you can run reports to gain more insights into these. Start with +/-25% bid adjustments and see the effects. Test your modifiers until you find the sweet spot where your campaigns hit your goals.
Successfully managing bid modifiers in a smart bidding world can drastically alter your campaign performances. It allows you to narrowly target your ads, increase your return on investment, and ultimately, grow your business.
By careful use of device bid modifiers, for example, you can aim to funnel more or less spend through particular devices based on performance. Being mindful not to over-optimize (we generally recommend checking and updating your bid modifiers monthly), it’s not uncommon to see performance improvements of 10% or more simply by turning up devices that are performing well and turning down devices that are draining your budget!
Successfully managing bid modifiers allows you to laser target your ads, increase your ROI and, ultimately, grow the profit of your business or that of your clients. However, in this Smart Bidding world, it’s important we effectively combine automated bidding with bid modifiers, to achieve maximum impact.
While some limitations exist, the savvy advertiser can skillfully employ bid modifiers within smart bidding parameters. By doing so, businesses can unlock the potential for highly targeted and successful advertising campaigns.
We love talking PPC and spend most of our time chatting with agencies, so if you have a question please do drop us a line!
Also, Adpulse comes with a 14-day free trial, and right now the first month is only $19.99/mth, so it’s a low-risk way to try it for yourself. Sign up now!
