To enable you to better assess bid strategy performance, click-date aligned (or click-aligned) metrics are now reported for Search Ads 360 bid strategies and budget bid strategies. The conversions are attributed to the date a click occurs rather than the date a conversion occurs. Formerly, bid strategy metrics were conversion-date-aligned.
Click-aligned metrics provide better insight into a bid strategy's performance, especially when there's a significant conversion delay. A conversion delay indicates how long it takes customers who see and click your ad to complete the conversion. Sometimes conversions happen within a day of the click, or several days after the click. Consider shoppers who leave items in their carts and actually purchase days or weeks later, or customers who shop for big-ticket items. They may click on an ad on Saturday, but not buy until weeks later, after they've done more research.
If there's a significant conversion delay, it's better to evaluate bid strategy performance beyond the conversion delay that occurs in the campaigns. Otherwise, the conversions reported are incomplete.
Click-aligned conversions enable you to evaluate your return on investment because you can see how many conversions result from your spend on a given day.
Example: click-aligned reporting versus conversion-aligned reporting
- A $25 CPA is set for a bid strategy that manages bids and bid adjustments for campaigns that advertise appliances.
- From November 1 to November 10, the bid strategy spends $1000 and 10 appliances are purchased.
- From November 11 to November 20, 40 more conversions occur because of November 1 ad clicks.
- Because a bid strategy examines current and past performance when setting bids (and bid adjustments), the bid strategy knows that the conversion delay for the campaigns is about 8 days.
- A conversion-aligned report (on November 11 or later) for the time period would show a $100 CPA for the bid strategy.
- A click-aligned report (on December 1 or later) for the time period, would show a $25 on target CPA for the bid strategy.
Click-date aligned bid strategy performance columns
Bid strategy click-date aligned columns are available to provide more information to help compare and analyze performance. The columns are available in the following reports and tabs:
- Bid strategies reporting table
- Bid Strategy Overview tab
- Any Keywords tab
- Any Dynamic Search Ads tab
| Bid strategy column | Description |
|---|---|
| Bid strategy conversions |
Displays the number of conversions attributed to the bid strategy for a selected date range. The number doesn't include the estimated conversions due. Note that if the bid strategy's conversion source is a formula column, the weights are applied when calculating the number of conversions. |
| Bid strategy conversions total |
Displays the total number of click-aligned conversions that occurred and are expected to occur during the time the bid strategy is applied to the campaigns and other items. The number is a combination of Bid strategy conversions due and Bid strategy conversions. Note that if the bid strategy's conversion source is a formula column, the weights are applied when calculating the number of conversions. |
| Bid strategy conversions due | Displays the estimated number of conversions expected for a selected date range. The estimate is based on the conversion delay. |
| Bid strategy conversions unweighted |
Displays the number of raw conversions. That is, the conversions are counted without the weighting applied by a formula column. The column doesn't include the estimated raw conversions due. |
| Bid strategy conversion rate | Displays the percentage of conversions to clicks. |
| Displays the total amount of click-aligned revenue for conversions that occurred during the time a bid strategy is applied to campaigns and other items in the selected date range. | |
| Bid strategy revenue total | Displays the combined total of Bid strategy revenue due and Bid strategy revenue. |
| Bid strategy revenue due | Displays the estimated amount of revenue for a selected date range based on the conversion delay. |
| Bid strategy revenue unweighted | Displays the raw revenue for a specified date range. |
| Bid strategy CPA | Displays the bid strategy cost per action, calculated using click-aligned metrics. |
| Bid strategy average target CPA | Displays a bid strategy's average target cost per action using click-aligned metrics. A bid strategy may have different targets because the target was manually changed during the selected date range. |
| Bid strategy ROAS | Displays the bid strategy return on advertising spend, calculated using click-aligned metrics. |
| Bid strategy average target ROAS | Displays a bid strategy's average target ROAS using click-aligned metrics. A bid strategy may have different targets because the target was manually changed during the selected date range. |
| Bid strategy ERS | Displays the bid strategy effective revenue share, calculated using click-aligned metrics. |
| Bid strategy average target ERS | Displays a bid strategy's average target ERS using click-aligned metrics. A bid strategy may have different targets because the target was manually changed during the selected date range. |
| % of optimal cost |
Indicates whether a bid strategy was on target for a selected time range. The number is based on bid strategy conversions or revenue. 100% means the bid strategy is on target.
|
| Bid strategy optimal cost | Displays the amount that a bid strategy should have spent to achieve target (and operate efficiently) for a selected date range. |
| Bid strategy optimal cost total | Displays the amount that a bid strategy should have spent to achieve target (and operate efficiently) for a selected date range. The number combines Bid strategy optimal cost and Bid strategy optimal cost due. |
| Bid strategy optimal cost due | Displays the estimated amount that a bid strategy should have spent to achieve target for conversions that aren't yet complete due to the conversion delay for a selected date range. |
| Bid strategy % of optimal cost total column | Indicates whether a bid strategy was on target for the total cost of conversions due or revenue due. |
| Conversion delay |
Displays the number of days (80th percentile) that occur between a click and the conversion for the campaigns managed by the bid strategy. This metric is only available in the bid strategy reporting table. It's not available on the Campaigns, Ad groups, Keywords, or Targets tabs.
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