Use portfolio experiments to test bid strategy changes before you apply them to your entire portfolio. This can help you feel confident in Search Ads 360’s recommendations and validates their effectiveness. Testing ensures improved performance and maximizes return on investments.
On this page
- Create a new experiment
- Create an experiment from a bidding recommendation
- Apply bid strategies
- How to view experiment results
Create a new experiment
- Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
- Navigate to a sub-manager account.
- Go to Experiment under “Bidding & planning”.
- If it’s your first time, click the Create an experiment button in the “Experiments” page. If you have existing experiments, click the plus
icon at the upper left corner of the table.
- Configure the details of your experiment. These include:
- Experiment details: Include settings like “Experiment name”, “Experiment dates,” and “Owner”.
- Control arm: You can select existing bid strategies or campaigns.
- Treatment arm: This is your proposed change. This could be an experiment on new targets, or different bid strategy types.
- Traffic split: The default is a 50/50 traffic split between the control and treatment group.
- Note: Traffic label will show the traffic split.
- Click Create experiment.
Tips:
- The Experiment summary panel is available at the right side to show the control and treatment arms.
- 50/50 traffic split is recommended.
- A maximum limit of 200 campaigns per client account can be added to your experiment.
- A minimum experiment duration of 4 weeks is recommended to ensure there is enough time to obtain results.
- Consider your goals when choosing an experiment type.
- Test adding campaigns to a portfolio bid strategy.
- Test merging 2 portfolios into a single portfolio bid strategy.
Create an experiment from a bidding recommendation
- Sign in to your Search Ads 360 experience.
- Navigate to a sub-manager account.
- On the page menu, under “Bidding & planning”, select Bid strategies.
- Select the Search Ads 360 Recommendations button on top of the “Bid strategies” page to check which recommendations are eligible for experimentation.
- On the "Search Ads 360 Recommendations" page, select a recommendation that has the “Experiment available” label found on the top right corner of the recommendations card.
- Select View details on an eligible recommendation to open its details.
- The recommendations tab will explain what experiment is available under the "Try an experiment" callout. Select Create an experiment.
- Within "Actions", you’ll now find 2 options:
- Apply recommendation (maintaining the current behavior).
- Create an experiment action, which allows for one-click experiment creation.
- Enter a name for the experiment and fill out the “Treatment arm”, and “ Experiment dates” fields. Select Run experiment.
Apply bid strategies
When you create an experiment, you can define bid strategies for both your control and treatment arms. This lets you compare the performance of different strategies within the same experiment. For example, your control arm might use an existing strategy while your treatment arm tests a new or modified one.
You can define bid strategies in the following ways:
- New bid strategy: You can test a new bid strategy in your experiment. In the "Control arm" card, select an existing campaign or campaigns. Then, in your "Treatment arm," define a new strategy.
- Add campaigns to an existing bid strategy: In the "Control arm" card, select an existing bid strategy. To add campaigns, click the Select campaigns (optional) link. You can select multiple campaigns.
- Experiment with different targets: Set a different target for your treatment arm. For instance, you could use your existing bid strategy with a $10 USD Target CPA as the control, and set a $25 USD Target CPA for the treatment arm.
- Experiment with different bid strategies: Test different bid strategies in your experiment. For example, your control group could use a Target CPA bid strategy, while your treatment group uses a Target ROAS bid strategy.
- Combine bid strategies: Select multiple bid strategies for the control arm. In the treatment group, you can combine the selected strategies. For example, if the control group includes Bid Strategy 1 with a Target CPA of $10 USD and Bid Strategy 2 with a Target CPA of $30 USD, your treatment arm could have a combined Target CPA of $40 USD.
How to view experiment results
You can view the results of your experiment at any time. Here’s how:
- Go to Experiment under “Bidding & planning”.
- On the “Experiments page, you’ll find a table listing all your portfolio experiments. The table provides key details for each experiment, including:
- Name: This is the name of your experiment.
- Status: The current status of your experiment, such as “In progress” or “Complete”.
- Split: The percentage of traffic allocated to each arm of the experiment(control or treatment). By default, this is a 50/50 split between the control and treatment arms.
- Control arm: The bid strategies in the control arm. Select the link to view a filtered list of these strategies on the “Bid strategies” page.
- Treatment arm: The bid strategies in the treatment arm. Select the link to view a filtered list of these strategies on the “Bid strategies” page.
- Start date: The date when the experiment began.
- End date: The scheduled end date for the experiment.
- Select the name of the experiment in the “Experiments” table. This opens the “Experiment results” page. You can find the following information:
- Summary card: This card shows how your treatment is performing compared to your control. Use the scorecards to quickly find metrics and determine which arm is doing better.
- Data comparison table: The table allows you to check key metrics for your control and treatment arms side by side.
- After you review the results, you can select one of the following actions:
- Apply: Implement the changes from your treatment arm to your portfolio bid strategy.
- End experiment: Conclude the test without applying the changes.