Smart Bidding

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Smart Bidding has been a hot topic in the world of PPC since its introduction in 2016.

And not without good reason – this subset of automated bidding strategies use machine learning to optimise for conversions in real time in each and every auction.

The algorithm takes into account a whole host of contextual signals – everything from user demographics and user location to device and time of day.

There are five different Smart Bidding strategies that work towards a different conversion goal:

• Maximise Conversions: Optimises bids to get as many conversions as possible from your budget.
• Target CPA: Optimises bids to maintain your target cost-per-action (CPA) from your budget – i.e. how much you pay for each conversion.
• Target ROAS: Optimises your bids to achieve your target return on ad spend (ROAS) from your budget.
• Target impression share: automatically sets bids with the goal of showing your ad on the absolute top of the page.
• Enhanced CPC: Optimises your maximum cost-per-click (CPC) to maximise conversions.

We Use Smart Bidding To Elevate Your Results

When used correctly, results from smart bidding can far exceed results of campaigns managed manually, particularly when working with larger volumes of conversion data.

Our PPC specialists have had years of experience utilising Smart Bidding for both Search and Display campaigns, and have seen the power it has vs manual bidding first hand.

The graph below shows how Blueclaw has used Smart Bidding to raise a client’s results to the next level. We used Google Experiments to test a Maximise Conversions Smart Bidding strategy against a manual bid strategy on the same campaign, at the same time.

You can see that cost-per-action (CPA) for Smart Bidding is much lower than manual bidding, due to a higher conversion rate that the Smart Bidding algorithm was able to achieve.

After gathering results from the experiment, we fully implemented this automated bid strategy to the campaign, which meant that we were able to achieve more conversions (in this case First Time Deposits) for the same monthly budget.

If you’re still unsure as to whether Smart Bidding is the right choice, take a look at our Ultimate Guide to Smart Bidding for Display Campaigns.