When Google AdWords helps your business, Google AdWords helps Google’s business. Bearing that principle in mind, Google realizes that automated bid strategies minimize your bidding efforts and increase your business performance goals. As such, Google AdWords provides the following seven different automatic bid strategies that are designed for you to address different goals for your business:
1. Maximize Clicks
2. Target Search Page Location
3. Target Outranking Share
4. Target CPA (Cost-Per-Acquisition)
5. Target ROAS (Return On Ad Spend)
6. Maximize Conversions
7. Enhanced CPC (Cost-Per-Conversion)
Additionally, Google AdWords provides the power of tailored “Smart Bidding” based on advanced machine learning from monitoring certain auction-time signals. Such Smart Bidding is provided within the subset of three conversion-based bid strategies above (namely, Target CPA, Target ROAS, and Enhanced CPC).
Let’s review each of these seven automated bid strategies and the Google AdWords goals specific to each one.
1. Maximize Clicks (formerly known as “automatic bidding”) descriptively describes the automated strategy of establishing your bid precisely to obtain the most clicks possible according to your specific budget. AdWords provides this bid strategy to help you achieve your goal of increasing site visits.
2. Target Search Page Location endeavors to automatically establish your bid to help enhance the probability that your ads will appear on the first page of search results and preferably as close to the top as possible. Use this bid strategy when your goal is to increase visibility of your ads on the first page and preferably in the top positions of the search results.
3. Target Outranking Share automatically establishes your bid to help outrank the ad position of a competitor’s domain of your choice, based on how often you want to outrank that chosen domain. You’ll want to use this bid strategy when your goal is to gain more visibility over other domains.
4. Target CPA endeavors to automatically establish Search or Display bids to maximize conversions according to your own designated Target Cost-Per-Acquisition. AdWords provides this bid strategy for when you want to get more conversions according to your designated Targeted CPA.
5. Target ROAS automatically establishes your bid to maximize your conversion value at your designated Target Return-On-Ad-Spend. Use this strategy when your goal is to meet a specific ROAS based on valuing of each conversion differently.
6. Maximize Conversions automatically establishes your bid to obtain the most conversions possible while your specific budget is being spent. AdWords provides this bid strategy for those times when your goal is to maximize conversions while depleting your budget
7. Enhanced CPC endeavors to maintain the same Cost-Per-Click when automatically revising your manual bids accordingly to increase your conversions. Use this strategy when your goal is to increase conversions while also maintaining control of your keyword bids.
These seven automated bid strategies represent the current state-of-the-art in Google AdWords technology. When each strategy is used appropriately according to intended goals, each will greatly help you maximize your budget and help grow your business.