Bid strategies and budget bid strategies that target conversions (a CPA or conversions target) using a formula-weighted column soon won’t be supported in Search Ads 360. Starting in September 2022, these conversion sources in bid strategies and conversion goals in budget bid strategies will automatically be replaced with new bid strategies that target value (a ROAS or revenue target) using a formula-weighted column.
Soon, campaigns that are managed by the bid strategies will be automatically migrated to the new value-based bid strategies.
Because support for these types of bid strategies is ending, you will no longer be able to create bid strategies that use weighted or conversion-based columns that filter custom Floodlight variables. Instead, use value-based bid strategies.
Deprecation dates
| Conversion source/ Conversion goal type |
Deprecation of formula-weighted conversion-based and custom Floodlight variable sources starts |
|---|---|
| Formula-weighted conversion-based bid strategies | September 2022 |
| Formula-weighted conversion-based budget bid strategies (in budget plans) | September 2022 |
| Conversion-based columns that filter custom Floodlight variables | September 2022 |
Formula-weighted conversion bid strategies aim to maximize the number of conversions at a targeted cost per action (CPA). For example, if conversions originating on a specific page - say, Review Cart - are particularly valuable, you might have created a formula that assigns those conversions a weight of 4; conversions originating from another page may have a weight of 1, .25, or nothing. Each action from your Review Cart page will be recorded as 4 actions - four times as valuable as actions from the other pages. The example below describes a formula that assigns weights to Floodlight activities (tagA, tagB, tagC). With a weighting of 2 , tagB is twice as valuable as tagA but only half as valuable as tagC.
Weighted_conversions = tagA + 2*tagB + 4*tagCFormula-weighted conversion bid strategies let you set the relative value of certain actions. However, conversion-based bidding in Search Ads 360 isn't explicitly designed to optimize for differences in relative value.
Value-based bid strategies (bid strategies that target a revenue or ROAS goal) maximize value by explicitly modeling the relative value between different conversion actions.
Soon, Search Ads 360 will no longer support formula-weighted conversion bid strategies. Instead, you should move your campaigns to value-based bid strategies that provide the same or better performance. Search Ads 360 started creating replacement bid strategies for you in April 2022.
Value-based bid strategies can use a formula column that assigns specific values to conversion actions, based on their relative value to your business. In the example below, each action from tagB is worth $20, which is twice the value of tagA but only half that of tagC.
While weighted conversions bid strategies and budget bid strategies assume all conversions have the same value, weighted value strategies are explicitly designed to model the relative value between conversions, and use this information to maximize overall value at a specified ROAS target.
You can effectively replicate your weighted conversions strategy by ensuring that the relative values between conversions are the same as their weighted conversions formula column equivalent.
If you want to reproduce exactly your previous weighted conversions formula, you can update values to mirror the weights you had previously assigned. For example, if your lowest targeted CPA is $100, the weighted conversions formula 0.25*tagA + 0.5*tagB + tagC + 2*tagD is functionally equivalent to value_based = 10*to_money(tagA) + 20*to_money(tagB) + 40*to_money(tagC) + 80*to_money(tagD).
Migrate campaigns to the new value-based bid strategy
You can move your campaigns from weighted conversions bid strategies to the new value-based bid strategies.
Search Ads 360 will automatically create new value-based formula columns and bid strategies based on your existing weighted conversion formula column and bid strategy names:
- [Previous column name] (value-based)
- [Previous bid strategy name] (value-based)
Campaigns are automatically migrated to the new value-based bid strategies.
You aren't required to move or make any changes to your campaigns that are included in budget groups of monthly recurring plans because the new value-based budget bid strategy is automatically applied in the next plan.
View the new value-based formula columns
- Navigate to an advertiser.
- Click the Columns button in the toolbar above the performance summary graph.
- In the Search for columns box, enter "value-based" to view a list of all the new columns.
- Optional. Click the pencil icon
to view the formula.
View your new bid strategies
- Navigate to an advertiser.
- In the left navigation panel, click Bid strategies.
- Filter the list to display only bid strategies that contain "value-based" in the name.
Migrate a campaign to the new value-based bid strategy
- Navigate to an advertiser.
- In the left navigation panel, click Bid strategies.
- Select one of the new bid strategies, and then click the Campaigns tab.
- Select one or more campaigns.
- Click Edit, and then click Change bid strategy.
- Under New bid strategy, select the new bid strategy and then click Save.
Monitor performance
After transitioning to a new strategy, it's a good practice to actively monitor performance, and adjust targets and budgets as necessary.
For example, if you see that a campaign is not getting enough conversions on a specific conversion type, you can increase the value of that conversion action, relative to the others.