When planning to run a pay per click campaign through\nGoogle, understanding the different types of PPC bidding strategies is\nessential to making sure you don\u2019t break the bank. After all, it can be\ntempting to just pick five of your best performing keywords, set a budget then\nsit back and see what happens. But for the best chance of success you\u2019ll need\nto bear in mind factors such as your business model, marketing goals and of\ncourse your budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, what is a PPC bidding strategy? When you sign into your\nGoogle Ads account (previously known as AdWords) you have different options to\ncontrol or automate your keyword bids. When starting out you might find that\nyou prefer a fully automated strategy before switching to a more hands on\noption as you find your confidence with the platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Like pretty much everything else in life, having a goal in\nmind will help your focus. After all it\u2019s not always about boosting sales. If\nyou\u2019re looking to find your campaign goals, ask yourself a couple of questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What do I want my audience to do? Are you looking for people\nto click buy, or to sign up for an event? Or perhaps you\u2019re just building a\nbuzz and increasing brand visibility? Maybe you\u2019re just looking to generate\nleads and you\u2019re offering something that is of interest to a niche audience.\nAsk yourself what the final goal of your PPC campaign is <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is your marketing budget and do you have leeway to go\nover that? Some PPC campaigns can be quite, ahem, fluid with the amount of money\nthey can cost. If you\u2019re on a solid budget there are more rigid options to\nensure you don\u2019t spend too much. But keep an eye on your campaign performance\nregularly and change things that aren\u2019t working as expected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Your campaign goals might switch around, or you might even\nhave a couple of different campaigns on the go at the same time. But keeping\ntrack of, and regularly updating your goals, will allow you to stay focused and\navoid going astray or over budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So now your campaign goals and your marketing strategy are\nall planned out thoroughly (right?), we can take a look at the most popular PPC\nbidding strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve done your research properly and you know your most\neffective keywords then manual cost per click is an option you can choose. With\nthis strategy you set your maximum cost per click (CPC) and can adjust and\nmanage bid prices across multiple campaigns. The benefit is that you\u2019ll never\npay over your specified bid price per click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The danger with this bidding strategy is that if you\u2019re not\nsure about the PPC bid price you can either end up overpaying for your chosen\nkeyword, or underpaying and not getting many clicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are some schools of thought that you don\u2019t need to do\nmanual cost per click ever, as the automated options are much better than they\nused to be. Although it isn\u2019t the best option for beginners, this is the most\nbasic option and can come in useful on occasion for specific or perhaps\nsecondary keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This PPC strategy is one of the easiest to manage and lets\nGoogle take the strain. Using your daily budget as a guideline, Google\u2019s\nalgorithms aim to get you the best bids on your chosen keywords within your\nbudget. This means you can almost just set up your ideal cost per click and let\nthe campaign do it\u2019s thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The problem with full automation is that you can end up\npaying an excessively high price for some clicks, if that\u2019s what Google figures\nyou should do. Be aware that your maximum CPC can easily be exceeded. Factors\nsuch as a surge in popularity or a competitor paying a high price for a keyword\ncan cause your bid to climb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another thing to bear in mind is that if your search terms\nare fairly generic or quite low volume, then automatic cost per click might not\nbe your best PPC strategy. For generic search keywords you might find that you\nattract accidental or mistaken clicks, or even show up incorrectly in the\nSERPs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re using manual CPC this bidding strategy is an\noptional feature that can maximise your results. The theory is that using\nenhanced cost per click will adjust your bid for the best chances of getting a\nconversion, even if this means exceeding your maximum CPC. But it works both\nways and you might also be able to bid low for certain keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ECPC uses a combination of your own conversion history and\nGoogle\u2019s analysis to choose the best time to bid. This means you need to\nalready have been running a CPC bidding strategy for the last 30 days and have\nat least 15 conversions. ECPC will then analyse the timing, location and\ndemographics of searches and bid accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You are able to set a maximum CPC price but if ECPC thinks\ngoing over this will help a conversion then it can and will do that. Previously\nthe bid cap was 30%, but ECPC can now go over that, although it will try and\nkeep your average CPC at or below your specified amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Similar to ECPC, this bidding strategy allows you to set a\ntarget price for acquisitions and uses smart bidding for the best chances of\nsuccess. Using target CPA means that your target price is more a guideline and\nthat it can be exceeded regularly, although Google aims to keep the target cost\nat around your ideal CPA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve been running a CPC campaign for a while and you\nknow what works then using target CPA can be an effective way to manage your\nbudget. You can optimise the results to target particular devices, which is\ngreat if you find that most conversions come from mobile or tablets. This works\nwell for advertisers with bigger budgets and a range of keywords, rather than a\nsmall business with niche search terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By using the CPM bidding strategy you\u2019ll only be paying for\nthe amount of times your ad is seen on the Google display network, that is,\npartner sites running AdSense. The appeal of this is probably obvious for those\nrunning a brand awareness campaign rather than those looking to get more leads\nor sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For each one thousand views of your ad, you pay your\nspecified cost per one thousand impressions (CPM) and you pay precisely zero\nfor any click throughs. If you are still relying on people clicking through to\nyour site then it is of course possible to pay for all these views and get no\nconversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have a display ad that you already know converts\nwell, it might be cost effective to switch over to CPM instead of a CPC\nstrategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This might seem like a bidding strategy similar to ECPC, but\nthere is one clear difference. With maximise clicks you set the daily budget\nand Google tries to make sure you get the best value per click for the most\nconversions. While with ECPC you set the actual per click cost so your daily\nbudget can vary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can set up a target spend across campaigns or specific\nkeywords and let Google do the rest. Using this particular bid strategy is best\nwhen you have a campaign with a good conversion history, much like CPM, but\nyou\u2019re looking to get people to take action. Although it is an efficient way to\nboost website traffic, you might find that the traffic quality is variable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Google also recommend not setting bid limits as this can\nimpact on the effectiveness of the strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This clever bid strategy aims to use your ad conversion\nhistory to enable it to predict your ROI from certain keywords. If you\u2019ve been\nrunning a campaign with conversion history activated, Google can analyse the\neffectiveness and optimise your CPC to drive traffic and conversions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course this works best where you are directing traffic to\nan online store or other business where the spend is measurable. Although the\nname implies you\u2019ll get more money back, \nthere is of course no guarantee of success. The Google algorithms will\naim to set a maximum CPC to maximise your click through conversions, based on\nyour CPC history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As with many of the previous bid strategies, it helps if you\nhave identified keywords and campaigns that are effective and then implement\nthis bidding strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are lots of bidding strategies designed to help you\ndrive traffic and conversions. The one you choose depends on your own marketing\nstrategy, budget and knowledge of the Google Ads platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In many cases, it can be useful to change between the\ndifferent Google Ads bid strategies as and when your business demands change.\nWhen using automated bidding strategies you should always monitor the\nperformance and be sure to change things that aren\u2019t working and keep an eye on\nyour spend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n