You can create a series of sequential plans or create a recurring plan to manage spend for specific campaigns. Each plan specifies the dates the plan will run, a conversion value, and budget.
During a plan, you can spend the targeted amount by manually setting individual campaign budgets, bids, and bid adjustments, or you can set up a budget bid strategy that will optimize spend by automatically adjusting daily budgets, bids, and bid adjustments in the campaigns.
The essential components of a plan include:
- Which campaigns the plan applies to
- How long the plan is going to run
- How much you want to spend on advertising
Plans include additional features to help you set up, allocate (by time segment), understand, and track spend.
Information included in a plan
A plan includes the following:
- Time range: The time period to spend the budget. Plans must be at least 7 days and no more than one year.
- Campaigns: Includes the campaigns for your plan.
- Conversion value: Identifies a key metric or KPI (conversions, revenue, or clicks) that is important to your business.
- Total amount: The amount that you want to spend in the group of campaigns. The total amount is also referred to as the “target spend”.
- Charts: Enable you to compare a range of budgets with estimated rates of return for different bid-setting options that include automatically set bids (by a budget bid strategy) and manually set bids. Learn more about plan charts.
- Performance benchmark: You can optionally specify a desired efficiency or volume from the spend. The benchmark is added to the "Explore target spend" and "Compare estimate options" charts. Learn more about comparing benchmark figures for desired conversion value against the actual performance of a plan.
- Budget bid strategy: You can optionally enable a budget bid strategy (referred to as budget automation) in a plan to optimize spend, bids, and bid adjustments for the campaigns using the plan’s conversion value. A budget bid strategy can only be set up as part of a plan. Learn more about how to automate budget allocation and spending in a plan.
- Budget pacing graph: Before a plan starts, the graph shows estimated performance (volume and efficiency) that might yield from the budgeted amount. During a plan, you can revisit the graph to compare actual, estimated, and target amounts and determine if spending is on track. You can view the budget pacing graph on a campaign's Active plans and All plans pages as well as the Active plans page when scoped to a manager account. Learn more about the budget pacing chart.
- If a budget bid strategy is managing the spend, the budget pacing graph shows only actual and estimated spend.
- Automatically calculated weekly and daily spend in spend allocation. You can also set custom amounts if you want to spend a specific amount in a certain week or day.
- Other optional reporting-only conversion values that you want to use for reporting.
You can report on spend in Bidding and planning without creating plans. Plans aren't required. However, plans enable you to see how a specific amount paced during the time frame and to automate management of the budget.
- You enable a budget bid strategy in a plan for Q2 2025. When you create the Q3 2025 plan, a budget bid strategy is automatically enabled.
- In the Q4 2025 plan, you disable the budget bid strategy. When you create the plan for Q1 2026, the budget bid strategy isn't enabled.