Smart bidding sounds beautiful, right? But really, why are so many individuals in the marketing field so excited about it? Let’s explore this and see whether it truly is the game-changer it promises to be.
Thus, picture a Rubik’s Cube. You know that vibrant puzzle that either makes you doubt your life decisions or makes you feel like a genius. In this scenario, though, every little colored square functions as a “signal.” And no, they are data points not like a Wi-Fi or smoke signal. When you use Google’s clever bidding techniques—like Target CPA (cost per acquisition) or Target ROAS (return on ad spend)—Google’s not just tossing haphazard darts at a board to determine your price. For every single auction, it is making highly specialized judgments utilizing these signals.
How Smart Bidding Utilizes Signals
Here’s where it gets crazy: these indications are not only the ordinary “Oh, this person is searching for sneakers.” Nope. Google is delving deeply into topics such the time of day, where someone is seated—or standing, or lying down—who knows?, what gadget they are hooked to, and even the operating system they are running. Oh, and it continues beyond that. They are also considering what this individual has been Googling lately, the YouTube videos they have seen, and even their interest categories. Google is like that buddy who knows far too much about you but utilizes that information to get you the ideal birthday present. Except here, the appropriate ad at the right moment is the “gift”.
Manual Bidding vs Smart Bidding
Now let’s be honest: you cannot possibly adjust bids for every one of these elements while you are manually building up a Google Ads campaign. You could certainly change for location or time of day, but are you really going to consider what someone viewed on YouTube one hour ago? You cannot, as hinted at here. Moreover, it is not happening in real time even if you could. Smart bidding is like having a supercomputer running behind-the-scenes making judgments faster than you could say “conversion rate.”
Consider this: Google may find that viewers of a particular kind of video on YouTube are more likely to purchase anything within the following hour. Someone else who has been binge-watching cat videos meanwhile? Perhaps not as much as others. Alternatively, they may discover that readers of Vogue magazine are more inclined to purchase a leather horse saddle. Indeed, that seems arbitrary, but Google doesn’t give a damn if it makes sense to you or me. It is about cold, hard evidence, not about gut sentiments or preconceptions. And if you have access to more than 100,000 distinct data points—yes, Google is working with *that* much information—you may begin to create links that no person could possibly think of.
Why Smart Bidding Works
The worst is yet clever bidding works. Like, truly performs. Indeed, there are some exceptions; manual bidding still has value; we will get to that in a little. Generally, the results speak for themselves. Adventure Media is really fond of this strategy. Patrick Gilbert, our CEO, even penned a best-seller about it. (Not to boast, but yes, we are really fascinated with automation.)
Still, don’t rely only on my word for it. The following class will look at why, in some situations, hand bidding might still be worth considering. Though clever bidding is fantastic, it is not a one-size-fits-all fix. Keep tuned.
For more insights on digital marketing with AI, check out our dedicated section. Additionally, learn more about Instagram marketing strategies to boost your campaigns.
For further reading, explore Google’s official documentation on Google Ads Smart Bidding or check out industry insights on Search Engine Journal.