In this article we evaluate the performance of Target CPA, Target ROAS, Maximize conversions, and Maximize conversion value.
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Assess bid strategy performance
After you’ve activated Smart Bidding, you can assess and manage bid strategy performance with the following tools. When managing your bid strategy, adjusting bid targets and budgets are the best levers to pull to control performance.
Bid strategy report: You can use the bid strategy report to gain deeper insight about bidding performance and troubleshoot issues. It can show you how your bid strategy is performing on average against the set target (if applicable), and when your strategy might need attention. A good first step is to set a time frame that includes at least 2 full conversion cycles. It can be helpful to assess over longer periods of time, like a month, or at least 50 conversions, for a clearer perspective. Learn more about bid strategy reports and how to find your bid strategy reports.
- Some campaign performance variance is normal due to auction dynamics and no action is required in these cases. Sustained spikes or drops may be a sign that other elements are impacting the performance.
- The bottom of the bid strategy report performance graph will highlight considerations like conversion delay or conversion reporting outages.
- You can also consult Explanations within campaign reporting for more information.
Bid Simulator: To understand how the auctions works and to see how your Target ROAS target will affect the performance, use Bid Simulator. For example, if you’re using Target ROAS bidding and want more conversion volume, use Bid Simulator to see how you can lower your ROAS target to get the desired results. Learn to use bid simulators.
- Only evaluate relevant metrics.
- For example, if your campaign is using Maximize Conversion Value with a Target ROAS, look at your average actual ROAS performance compared to the average target ROAS within the bid strategy report.
- Don’t look at trailing, dependent metrics like cost-per-click and impressions.
- While evaluating performance, wait for changes.
- Account for conversion delays (the time from click to the time the conversion is shared back to Google Ads). Some conversions take more time than others– in some cases up to days or even weeks. If you compare recent performance with past performance, your recent performance might not look as strong because of conversion delay. Learn how to find a report on your conversion delay
- If you make significant changes to your campaign, give the bid strategy time to adjust. This could take a few days for smaller changes and up to 2 conversion cycles for larger changes.
Manage Performance using these features
Adjust Targets (For example, when using value-based bidding with a target ROAS):
- If you want to increase total conversion value and conversion volume, consider gradually reducing the target ROAS. This allows the bid strategy to be more competitive in auctions and likely generate more conversion volume and value. Alternatively, if you want to increase your efficiency (for example, achieve a higher ROAS), you may raise the target ROAS. The opposite would apply for Target CPA.
- The opposite would apply for Target CPA.
- When you change targets, the bidder will react immediately but may need some time to hit the new target. Learn more about how to make target adjustments with Search Smart Bidding.
Set a target ROAS that’s right for you:
- Before transitioning to value-based bidding, ideally you will be already bidding to the desired conversion goal using a tCPA bid strategy. Be sure to report values across all relevant campaigns for 4 weeks or 3 conversion cycles (whichever is longer) before determining your ROAS target and activating value-based bidding. Learn more about changing biddable conversion goals.
- Your ROAS target should be at or below the ROAS compared to your historical performance.
- To find this, select Modify Columns from the “Columns” drop-down and add the Conv. value/cost column from the list of "Conversions" columns. Then, multiply your conversion value per cost metric by 100 to get your target ROAS percent.
- Target recommendations can also be found in the Recommendations tab, during campaign construction, within the bid simulator or while creating a strategy at the campaign or portfolio levels.
If you’re seeing a change in conversion rates due to seasonality or issues with conversions consider the below features:
- Seasonality Adjustments: If you’re anticipating a major temporary change in conversion rates due to a promotion, sale, or an increase in demand, you can use Seasonality Adjustments to inform Smart Bidding in advance of these expected changes. Learn more About seasonality adjustments.
- For low conversion rates please check for any conversion tracking issues.
- Data Exclusions: Data exclusions may help to mitigate some performance fluctuations that ensue due to data outages.
Additional considerations for Smart Bidding performance
For additional ideas on optimization, review these additional topics:
Conversion delay estimates
In Google Ads, a conversion delay refers to the time elapsed between a user clicking on an ad and completing a conversion, such as a purchase or newsletter signup. Learn more About conversion delay estimates.
Learning period duration for campaigns
When an automated bid strategy is updated, the campaign or portfolio may display a "Learning" status. This indicates that the system is calibrating to the new objective. Learn more about the Duration of the learning period for campaigns and what affects it.
Evaluate and optimize your bids
Once your ads have been running for a while, it’s time to see how they're doing. Learn more about how to Evaluate and optimize your bids.
Low traffic or conversion rate for Target CPA bidding
When using Target CPA bidding, you might observe a decrease in traffic or conversion rate. Learn more about how to Fix low traffic or conversion rate for Target CPA bidding.
