Google Ads, a cornerstone for many advertising strategies, recently introduced value adjustments for Smart Bidding, a development that promises to enhance the precision and effectiveness of ad campaigns. Let’s look at what this means for marketers who must stay abreast of the ever-evolving digital advertising landscape.
What Is Smart Bidding?
Smart Bidding is a suite of automated bid strategies offered by Google Ads that leverage machine learning to optimize bids for conversions or conversion value. Unlike manual bidding, where you set a fixed maximum cost per click (CPC), Smart Bidding takes into account a multitude of factors in real time, including:
- Is the user searching on a mobile phone, desktop or tablet?
- Where is the user searching from?
- When are they searching?
- What keywords are they searching for?
- Has the user interacted with the company’s ads before?
By analyzing these signals and historical data, Smart Bidding aims to set the most competitive bid for each auction automatically. This maximizes the chances of getting clicks that are most likely to convert into valuable customers.
What Are Value Adjustments?
Value adjustments are a powerful new feature that allows advertisers to provide Google Ads with additional insights about the relative value of different conversions. This allows them to directly influence how Smart Bidding assigns value to conversions. Here’s how it works:
Imagine you run an e-commerce store selling everything from phone cases to laptops. A conversion for a phone case might be worth less to you than a conversion for a high-end laptop as primary equipment purchase of the laptop leads to subsequent orders from that customer. With value adjustments, you can tell Google Ads to increase the value assigned to conversions that lead to laptop sales, effectively instructing Smart Bidding to prioritize auctions where users are more likely to purchase a laptop.
Benefits of Value Adjustments
The ability to fine-tune conversion value within Smart Bidding strategies unlocks a treasure trove of benefits for advertisers. Here are a few key advantages:
- Improve campaign performance. By guiding Smart Bidding toward higher-value conversions, you can expect an overall increase in return on ad spend (ROAS).
- Prioritize high-value customers. You can target audiences more likely to convert into high-paying customers.
- Optimize for different product categories. You can assign different values to conversions based on product categories, ensuring Smart Bidding prioritizes clicks with the potential for bigger sales.
- Enhance control over bidding strategy. Value adjustments offer a layer of control without completely abandoning the automation benefits of Smart Bidding.
Getting Started With Value Adjustments
Implementing value adjustments is a straightforward process. Here’s a quick rundown:
- Navigate to your Google Ads account.
- Select the campaign you want to edit.
- Click on “Settings” and then “Bidding.”
- Choose your desired Smart Bidding strategy.
- Underneath the strategy selection, you’ll find the option for “Value adjustments.”
- Here, you can define rules to adjust the conversion value for specific audiences, devices, locations and other parameters.
Important Considerations
While value adjustments offer significant benefits, they require careful consideration and planning. Here are a few key points to consider:
- Data quality is paramount. Value adjustments depend on precise conversion tracking data, so ensure your conversion tracking is properly set up to utilize the feature effectively.
- Start small and monitor performance. As with any new feature, it’s wise to start with small adjustments and closely monitor the impact on your campaign performance.
- Seek professional help. If you’re new to Smart Bidding or value adjustments, consider consulting a Google Ads certified professional to ensure optimal implementation.
Update as of May 2024
Value adjustments for Smart Bidding in Google Ads are still available but have been significantly evolved and rebranded into what’s now known as Conversion Value Rules. Google has enhanced its machine learning algorithms, offering even more sophisticated ways to optimize ad campaigns. New features, such as automated performance insights and predictive analytics, give advertisers deeper insights into their campaign performance and future trends. Additionally, at Google Marketing Live 2024, the company announced its intention to expand the role of AI in various aspects of the platform, including campaign creation, measurement and optimization.
