Navigating the world of Google Ads can feel like stepping into a high-stakes auction where every bid counts—but what if you could tailor your strategy to maximize results while staying within budget?
Whether aiming to drive clicks, boost conversions, or dominate search visibility, Google Ads bid strategies are the key to unlocking your campaign’s full potential. From manual control to AI-powered automation, understanding these strategies is essential for achieving your advertising goals.
In this guide, we’ll explain the intricacies of manual and automated bidding, explore their unique features, and help you choose the perfect approach to elevating your ad performance.
Ready to take control of your bids and make every dollar work harder? Let’s dive in.
Here’s what’s covered
- Understanding Google Ads Bid Strategies
- Manual vs. Automated Bidding Strategies
- Choosing the Right Bid Strategy
- Implementing and Optimizing Bid Strategies
- Monitoring and Adjusting Bid Strategies
- Advanced Bidding Techniques
Importance of choosing the right bid strategies
Choosing the right bid strategy in Google Ads is vital for maximizing campaign effectiveness and achieving specific marketing goals. It directly impacts ad performance, budget utilization, and overall ROI. Each strategy is tailored to different objectives, such as increasing traffic, boosting conversions, or enhancing brand awareness.
Understanding Google Ads Bid Strategies
What are bid strategies in Google Ads?
Google Ads bid strategies determine how advertisers pay for ad placements based on campaign goals. Strategies include Manual CPC, Enhanced CPC, Maximize Clicks, Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value, and Target Impression Share. Each strategy optimizes bids to achieve clicks, conversions, or visibility. For example, if you’re running a brand campaign, you’ll want to use target impressions share as this focuses on visibility.
Difference between automated and manual strategies
In Google Ads, there are two categories of bid strategies: manual bid strategies and automated bid strategies, which are also known as smart bids. Let’s take a closer look at each of these buckets.
Features of manual strategies
Manual bidding strategies in Google Ads offer advertisers complete control over their bids and targeting options. With manual CPC (Cost-Per-Click) bidding, advertisers can set the maximum amount they’re willing to pay for clicks on their ads at the keyword or ad group level. Manual bidding includes the ability to modify bids for specific keywords, ad groups, or campaigns based on performance data and desired ad positions. Advertisers can also apply bid adjustments for various factors like day of the week, time of day, user device, location, demographics, and audience membership. This strategy allows for granular control but requires a time commitment and deep knowledge of PPC (pay-per-click) advertising.
Features of automated or smart bidding strategies
Smart Bidding refers to automated bid strategies in Google Ads that utilize machine learning and AI to optimize bids for conversions or conversion value at each auction. It uses auction-time bidding and a wide range of signals to determine the appropriate bid for your ad. This removes the need for constant review and allows your account to scale more effectively. The core concept of Smart Bidding focuses on automating the bidding process to achieve specific performance goals, like maximizing conversions or conversion value. While automation can save advertisers time, these strategies aren’t hands-off or always the most cost-effective option.
Why strategy choice matters
Bid strategies significantly impact search engine marketing (SEM) performance by influencing key metrics such as CPC, conversion rates, and overall return on investment (ROI). For example, the automated bid strategy called Max Conversion focuses on generating the highest number of conversions in your campaigns but doesn’t consider cost (except for your daily budget) to get those conversions.
Choosing the Right Bid Strategy
Choosing the right bid strategy comes down to your goals and your budget.
Campaign goals
Anytime you create a campaign, you’ll want to consider your goal first. Do you want to build awareness or sell more products? How important are profit and revenue for your campaign?
Each of these goals can be achieved using various bidding strategies. The best approach is to choose the bid strategy that matches your goals, but there is a process to follow. Don’t just choose Target ROAS out of the gate, even if that’s your priority. More on that below.
| Bid Strategy | Goal |
| Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) | Profit |
| Target ROAS (Return On Ad Spend) | Revenue |
| Maximize Clicks | Awareness |
| Maximize Conversions | Customer acquisition |
| Maximize Conversion Value | Revenue |
| Target Impression Share | Brand awareness |
| Manual CPC (Cost Per Click) | Traffic cost |
| Enhanced CPC (ECPC) | Traffic cost |
| Viewable CPM (Cost Per 1,000 Impressions) | Brand awareness |
| Maximum CPM (Cost Per 1,000 Impressions) | Brand awareness |
| Target CPM (Cost Per 1,000 Impressions) | Cost of awareness |
Budget
Some bid strategies are better for low budgets, while others work better with larger ones. Generally speaking, the more funds you have for your campaign, the more flexibility you will have when choosing a bid strategy because budget will dictate the amount of data that comes into your account.
Using the right strategy at the right time
Every account will want to start with either enhanced CPC or max clicks. We recommend that most advertisers use max clicks due to the time needed to manage a fully manual account. As described below, once your account has enough data, move your campaign step-wise towards the bid strategy that matches your goals.
When to Change Your Bid Strategy
Identifying signs for a change
When moving from manual bidding or max clicks to a smart bidding strategy, the first sign you will want to look out for is the number of conversions in your campaigns. The bare minimum is 30 conversions over 30 days. You’ll want to see this level of conversions for a 60—to 90-day period. Google’s system looks back as far as 90 days; however, it puts more weight on the last 30 days, which is why you need this conversion threshold. More conversions and patience are always better.
To implement a smart bid strategy, we recommend using max conversions first. This will allow you to see how many conversions you can get with your current budget. We don’t want to limit our potential too early.
Once you have a smart strategy, you’ll want to look for stability in your metrics, mainly cost metrics like CPA and ROAS. Use the same 30-day window as before, and don’t be too anxious to make a change. More data is always better. If in doubt, leave it alone.
After a steady period, it’s time to move into your goal bid strategy (tCPA, Max Conversion Value, tROAS, etc.). When you do this, be sure to set a conservative goal. For example, set the target ROAS to a lower number. Gradually, you can increase the goal to your desired level.
How to smoothly transition strategies
If you follow the process above, your transitions will be smooth, but there are a few other things to watch out for.
- Keep your budgets the same
Keep your budgets the same during the learning periods, especially during the critical first six weeks of a new campaign or bid strategy. Don’t change them. This is because a budget change signals a strategy change, meaning the clock gets reset for your learning period.
- Leave targeting settings alone
Like the last point, keep your targeting the same during the learning periods. This means not changing bid adjustments like age and gender, or any location settings. These adjustments force the algorithms to adjust to new settings and make reaching the end of their learning period harder. Essentially, bid adjustments should be used to fine-tune your performance and not be the main driver.
- No experiments
Pause any experiments you are running, whether ad tests or other experiments. This reduces the complexity of your account but also ensures your experiments are true since updating a bid strategy is a significant account change that will impact results.
- Use worst-case thinking
When setting your target ROAS or CPA, shoot for a lower performance first. If Google suggests $40 for your target CPA, consider something higher, like $45. This ensures you don’t constrain your performance too early and miss out on big wins.
- Make gradual adjustments
As you move toward higher performance, avoid drastically updating your targets. We recommend going no more than 10% from your target. For example, if your target CPA is $40, don’t exceed $36.
- These guidelines apply when you change goal types
If you change goal types from signups to purchases, these guidelines apply. This means that you should make this change gradually, giving the system time to warm up to the new goal.
- Be patient
When in doubt, leave things as they are. Often, waiting for more data or a clearer signal is the best approach
Frequently asked questions about bid strategies
How do seasonality adjustments affect Google Ads bidding strategies?
Seasonality adjustments in Google Ads bidding strategies help advertisers optimize bids for short-term fluctuations in conversion rates. Google Smart Bidding considers these adjustments to increase or decrease bids during expected seasonal spikes or drops, such as holiday sales. This prevents over- or under-bidding, improving ad performance and budget efficiency.
What are the best practices for using portfolio bid strategies across multiple campaigns?
Use portfolio bid strategies in Google Ads by grouping multiple campaigns under a single bidding strategy to optimize performance. Best practices include aligning campaigns with similar goals, monitoring performance regularly, setting target CPA or ROAS accurately, and using seasonality adjustments. Ensure enough conversion data for Smart Bidding to function effectively.
What role do Quality Score improvements play in optimizing bid strategies?
Improving Quality Score lowers cost-per-click (CPC) and increases ad rank, optimizing bid strategies in Google Ads. A higher Quality Score enhances ad relevance, expected CTR, and landing page experience, reducing costs while maintaining or improving ad placement. This allows advertisers to achieve better results without increasing bids.
How can advertisers effectively use bid simulators to refine their bidding approach?
Advertisers use bid simulators to analyze potential performance changes based on different bid amounts. These tools estimate impressions, clicks, and conversions at various bid levels, helping refine bidding strategies. By testing bid adjustments, advertisers can optimize cost efficiency, maximize ROI, and improve ad placement without overspending.
Bid Adieu
In conclusion, mastering Google Ads bid strategies is crucial for SEM success in 2025. By understanding the nuances of each strategy and aligning them with your campaign goals, budget, and customer journey, you can significantly improve your ad performance and ROI. Remember that the digital advertising landscape is ever-evolving, and staying adaptable is key.
Ready to elevate your Google Ads campaigns? Don’t leave your bidding strategy to chance. As an experienced SEM consultant, I can help you navigate the complexities of Google Ads bidding, optimize your campaigns, and drive real results for your business.