Review and adjust Search Ads 360 bid strategy constraints

As part of defining a Search Ads 360 bid strategy, you specify constraints to ensure that the bid strategy operates within the parameters of your existing business practices. For example, one constraint tells the bid strategy the maximum amount you’re comfortable bidding for any item in your portfolio.

Constraints can impact the efficiency of a bid strategy, so it's important to keep a close eye on the constraints you've specified. If the constraints are too narrow, then your bid strategy may not hit the target.

Here are the main bid strategy constraints:

1. Intraday Min./Max. Bids
   1. Search Ads 360 won’t set the keyword maximum cost-per-click (Max. CPC) above or below these thresholds.
2. Auction Time Min./Max. Bids: Setting bid limits for your bid strategies is not recommended, because it can restrict the automatic optimization of your bid.
   1. Max. bid limit: The highest CPC bid that you want ads to set.
   2. Min. bid limit: The minimum CPC bid that you want ads to set.

Use the following steps to understand any constraints that may be negatively impacting a bid strategy:

1. Sign in to your new Search Ads 360.
2. Navigate to a sub-manager account.
3. From the page menu, click Bid strategies.
4. From the top bar select a time range. Start at least two weeks after you launched the bid strategy.
5. Check the “Status” column to find the bid strategy status.
   • On the Overview page you can click the columns icon and add columns to show your minimum or maximum limits for Intra-day or Auction bids.
   • To review the bid strategy settings, select the specific bid strategy and click Settings. You can review the settings for your bid strategy and make changes to it.
   • A bid strategy status of “limited by bid” may negatively affect your bid strategy.
6. Click the name of the bid strategy in the “Bid strategy” column.
7. Review the “Strategy status” card to check the reasons why the selected bid strategy is experiencing constraints.
8. Scroll down to Settings to review if the bid strategy has any constraints.

If you change your max bid or min bid, your max CPC may not change until the next time the bid strategy updates your bids.