Evaluating the success of a Search Ads 360 bid strategy typically involves answering two broad questions:
- Is performance better than manual bidding (or other automated bidding systems)?
- Could you get better results with different settings (higher CPA, wider min/max bid range)?
While you may be tempted to start your evaluation by comparing a bid strategy's performance to manual bidding, it's best to start by understanding how your current settings affect performance, make adjustments if necessary, and wait for the adjustments to take effect. Otherwise, you're not really giving bid strategies a fair chance.
The budget bid strategies in Search Ads 360 learn and optimize the ads as they perform. It is advised that you create the budget bid strategies 2-3 days in advance of the launch of your campaign. The bid strategies require a minimum of 3-4 weeks of spend data in order to show optimal results.
So be prepared that a realistic evaluation of bid strategy performance requires at least several weeks.
Recommended timeline
Here's an overview of the timeline and recommended steps to take when evaluating a bid strategy:
| Week 1 |
Do nothing in the first week after you launch a Search Ads 360 bid strategy. During the first two weeks, Search Ads 360 needs time to observe performance, adjust bids, and respond to those adjustments. In addition, if the bid strategy contains new keywords without performance history, Search Ads 360 will engage in startup learning behavior for those keywords. |
|---|---|
| Week 2 |
Check if the bid strategy constraints you specified (such as minimum and maximum bids) are slowing optimization. Adjust the constraints if your business goals allow. Avoid changing the target amount (such as the CPA amount) at this time. Just address any issues that arise from constraints. |
| Week 4 |
Use Search Ads 360 reports and bid strategy forecasts to answer the question, "Could I get better results with different settings or keywords?" Make small adjustments to your target amounts, if needed. Check the forecast again after a few days. Continue making small changes once every week or two until you've reached your ideal balance of cost and conversions. Learn more about Forecasting the results of your performance plan. |
When you find that the Search Ads 360 bid strategy is performing well and is compatible with your marketing goal, keywords, and business constraints, you can continue with the same strategy and also use it for similar campaigns in the future. Alternatively, you can run experiments to understand which bid strategy works better for your campaign.
How automated bidding helps improve performance
Automated Bidding can be a simple and powerful solution to the often complex challenge of finding the right bid for each auction. It may be a useful addition to your account as well. Changing the bid strategy settings manually may cause performance fluctuations as the bid strategy adjusts to the new settings.
To get started, decide which strategy is right for your business and then test it out. If it’s working right, you’ll see better results while saving hours and days of management time in the long run.
The final goal, of course, is driving the clicks, conversions, revenue and profit you want at the price that makes the most sense for your business.