Bid to the user’s auction-time context via Smart Bidding
Smart Bidding takes more factors into consideration when adjusting bids than are available in the interface with manual bidding using standard bid adjustments. These bidding decisions are made uniquely for each auction at the time the auction happens. This is called auction-time bidding. Only auction-time bidding has the level of precision required to set a bid matched to a user's actual search query and context.
Smart Bidding sets your bids at the moment of the auction for each impression based on all the factors in play. So instead of a few basic adjustments, you get subtle (and powerful) shades of all the relevant contextual factors. Things like:
- Exact wording of the query
- Match type
- More specific device (including OS)
- Browser
- Language
- Time of day
Smart Bidding also includes other factors like the ad creative in use or what audience list someone may belong to as a result of visiting your site previously. All can be factored in at the moment of an impression so you get a bid that makes sense for you and your business goals. Smart Bidding improves constantly as new signals are added to the algorithm.
Note
Curious about how our auction-time bidding technology works? Check out Setting Smarter Search Bids: Inside Automated Bidding with Google Ads.
Save time by automating your bids
If you have thousands or tens of thousands of keywords in your account, it might take more than 10 hours of effort each month to manually optimize your bids—even with modest estimates. Automated bidding dramatically reduces the time you spend on bidding, allowing you to reallocate time to optimizing other areas of your account. You can focus on other key areas to improve your account, such as:
- Ensuring accurate conversion measurement
- Developing new audiences
- Testing different assets in your ads
Case Study
Savings.com, Inc. is an online destination that offers coupons and deals that are redeemable at nationally recognized merchant web sites and stores. Savings.com wanted to drive incremental coupon redemptions while maintaining its ROAS. Smart Bidding allowed Savings.com to set unique bids for every auction while optimizing against a wider range of contextual signals. After making the switch to Target ROAS, they saw a 30% increase in gross profits at their target ROAS while saving time for its campaign managers by reducing their need to monitor multiple Google Ads bid adjustments for location and audience.
Next: Set up your account structure, settings, and measurement practices for success
