Bidding
📚BasicsBidding is the auction process in Google Ads — the maximum you're willing to pay per click, conversion, or 1,000 impressions.
Aliases: Licitiranje · Licitacija
What it is
Bidding is the auction process that fires every time a search matches your keywords - your bid combines with Quality Score through the Ad Rank formula that sets your ad's position, and you only pay as much as it takes to beat the next position. There are two approaches: Manual, where you set the amount for each keyword yourself, and Smart Bidding, where an algorithm adjusts the bid in real time toward a goal like tCPA or tROAS.
My take
When I take over an account, the bidding mistake I see most often isn't a wrong strategy choice but switching strategy every week or setting a tCPA goal too low from day one, so I give every strategy a minimum of 3-4 weeks and set the first tCPA target at the current average CPA, then lower it in steps of 10-15%.
Example
Account with a historical average CPA of $15: if I set the tCPA goal to $5 right away, the algorithm can't find enough auctions at that price and spend drops to a trickle. So I set the first target at the average, meaning $15 (or up to 20% above, $18, if spend drops), and lower it by 10-15% every 2 weeks until it reaches the level I want.
Read in depth
The complete guide to Smart Bidding strategies →Related terms