Evaluate Search Ads 360 bid strategy performance

Report on Search Ads 360 bid strategies

Next: Gain insight into Search Ads 360 bid strategy performance

After a Search Ads 360 bid strategy has completed its learning period, use these steps to report on performance. You can:

See and compare performance of all bid strategies
Segment the bid strategy report
Focus on a specific bid strategy
Customize the data that appears in reports

See and compare performance of all Search Ads 360 bid strategies

To view the status and performance of all bid strategies at a glance and quickly see which bid strategies require attention:

Navigate to an advertiser.
Steps for navigating to an advertiser
1. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.
2. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.
3. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser.
4. Click Apply or press the Enter key.
Search Ads 360 displays the advertiser page, which contains data for all of the advertiser’s engine accounts.
In the left navigation panel, click Bid strategies.
Select a time range that begins on or after the day that you applied the bid strategies to campaigns, ad groups, or keywords, or product groups.
Optionally customize the data that appears, and then save the reporting view.

The performance is reported using the bid strategy's currency instead of the advertiser's currency.

To sort the reporting table so that bid strategies with the most keywords are at the top, click the title of the Current keywords column.

By default, the Bid strategy performance view includes the following types of columns in the reporting table:

Columns that display bid-strategy settings. For example:
Columns that display performance. For example:
- Bid strategy conversion count
- Bid strategy revenue
Bid strategies with a Clicks or Position goal don’t define conversions. For these bid strategies, “---” displays in these columns.
The Bid strategy health column, which indicates any settings that may be causing the bid strategy to underperform.

Microsoft Advertising Shopping campaigns in the bid strategy overview

While the bid strategy overview report shows conversions attributed to Microsoft Advertising Shopping campaigns that are managed by a Search Ads 360 bid strategy, the report does not include engine metrics, such as clicks, cost, and impressions for Microsoft Advertising Shopping campaigns. Instead, to see both conversions and engine metrics for Microsoft Advertising Shopping campaigns, narrow the focus to a specific bid strategy (that is, click the name of the bid strategy in the bid strategy overview report).

After you click into the bid strategy details, the Campaigns, Ad groups, and Product groups tabs include engine metrics as well as conversions for Microsoft Advertising Shopping campaigns.

Note that this is a reporting issue that only affects the bid strategy overview report. Search Ads 360 bid strategies are able to evaluate performance history and automate bidding for Microsoft Advertising Shopping campaigns just as they do for Google Shopping campaigns.

Segment a bid strategy report

Click Bid strategies in the left navigation pane to navigate to the all bid strategies page.
Segment the report by date or device.
1. In the toolbar above the performance summary graph, click Segment.
2. Click +Segment ▼ to display the segmentation options.
3. Do one of the following:
  - Click Attribute to select the device segment.
  - Click Date, and then select one of the date segment options:
    - Custom days
    - Daily
    - Months
    - Quarters
    - Weeks (Mon - Sun)
    - Weeks (Sun -Sat)
    - Years
4. Optional. Click +Segment ▼ to choose another segment.
  You can only segment by a single date and device. That is, you can't use multiple date segments.
5. Click Apply.

Focus on a specific bid strategy

To narrow the focus to a specific bid strategy:

Navigate to an advertiser.
Steps for navigating to an advertiser
1. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.
2. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.
3. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser.
4. Click Apply or press the Enter key.
Search Ads 360 displays the advertiser page, which contains data for all of the advertiser’s engine accounts.
In the left navigation panel, click Bid strategies.
Click the name of a bid strategy in the Bid strategy column.
Select a time range that begins on or after the day that you applied the bid strategies to campaigns, ad groups, or keywords, or product groups.
Click any of the following tabs:
- Overview: Displays a performance summary graph, scorecard that summaries performance, and if applicable, information about the health of the bid strategy.
  
  It typically takes 16 to 20 hours for today's metrics to appear on the "Overview" tab.
- Campaigns: Displays the campaigns that you've applied the bid strategy to.
- Ad groups: Displays the ad groups that you've applied the bid strategy to.
- Keywords: Displays the keywords that are currently managed by the bid strategy, either because you've applied the bid strategy to them or because they're inheriting the bid strategy from the ad group or campaign.
  
  Note: You might notice that the totals for the metrics on the bid strategy "Keywords" tab don't match the totals on the bid strategy "Overview" tab. This is because the "Keywords" tab displays totals only for the keywords that are currently managed by the bid strategy. The "Overview" tab displays totals for all keywords that have been and are currently managed by the bid strategy. Learn more about why the totals may not match.
- Targets: Product groups (Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising only): (Not available for bid strategies with a Position goal.) Displays the product groups that are managed by the bid strategy, either because you've applied the bid strategy to them or because they're inheriting the bid strategy from the ad group or campaign.
- Targets: Remarketing targets (Google Ads only): (Available for bid strategies with a Conversions, Revenue, or Advanced Targeting goal.) Displays remarketing target bid adjustments, that are managed or recommended by the bid strategy, along with revenue and cost. Learn more.
- Targets: Location targets (Google Ads only): (Available for bid strategies with a Conversions or Revenue goal.) Displays the geo-location target, proximity target, and location extension target bid adjustments that are managed or recommended by a bid strategy along with other metrics. Learn more.
- Targets: Dynamic ad targets (Google Ads only): (Available for bid strategies with a Conversions, Revenue, or Position goal.) Displays metrics for dynamic ad targets managed by the bid strategy.

If a setting in the bid strategy is preventing optimal performance, a message appears above the reporting table. The message lets you know which setting is constraining performance. You can either change the setting or add analysis columns for a more detailed understanding of performance. You cannot dismiss the message. Search Ads 360 will remove it when the bid strategy is no longer constrained.

If a message continues to display for more than a day, check the following:

Verify that the bid strategy is active
Resolve any other health issues of the biddable items. Issues such as max bid limit constraints will prevent biddable items from syncing.
Recent activity for the biddable item. For example, if the item hasn't received any clicks in more than seven days, the activity volume is low and the message may persist.

Customize the report

From any bid strategy reporting table, you can:

Customize the data that appears, for example add a custom Floodlight column, and then save the reporting view.
Download reports in a variety of formats.
Add troubleshooting columns to help you understand bid strategy performance.

Add a Floodlight activity column to a bid strategy report

In the left navigation panel, click Bid strategies.
Add a Floodlight activity column to the report.
1. In the toolbar above the performance summary graph, click Columns.
2. Under Available columns, click Custom conversions and then click Floodlight.
3. Click + to next to each Floodlight activity column that you want to add to the report.
4. Optional. Drag the column where you want it in the list.
5. Click Apply.
  The custom Floodlight column displays the number of conversions or amount of revenue for the biddable items managed by the bid strategy.
  
  The Floodlight activity column can be a different column from the bid strategy conversion source.

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