I’m going to say something controversial: Smart Bidding has made negative keywords mostly irrelevant. For the last couple of years, some of our biggest performance gains haven’t come from adding negative keywords, but from removing them. Yep, I said removing. The reason is simple. Most advertisers are stuck in a 2018 mindset, over-using a tool […]
Why Negative Keywords Can Hurt Your Google Ads Performance Read More »
Let’s be clear: Smart Bidding is one of the best things to come out of Google Ads in years, second only to Shopping ads. It does a much better job at managing bids at scale than any human ever could. But it has blind spots. There are things Smart Bidding simply doesn’t know, and if
Max Bid Limits: Why I Use Them on Every Google Ads Account I Manage Read More »
Intro Just like YouTube Ads shouldn’t defacto be run by your Google Ads agency (unless they know what they’re doing), it’s equally wrong to classify branded and non-brand keywords as the same. Just because they’re both within a Google Ads account does not mean they should be treated the same. In this article, I explain
The Real Reason Nobody Agrees on Brand Bidding in Google Ads (incl. P-Max) Read More »
Here’s a common scenario: You increase your ROAS target from 500% to 600%, but Smart Bidding barely reacts. You wait a few days, still nothing. Frustrated, you increase it even more – and suddenly, your traffic tanks. Sound familiar? After managing hundreds of Google Ads accounts, we’ve learned that Smart Bidding isn’t really a black
Beyond the Black Box: What Smart Bidding Actually Does With Your Money Read More »
Today, I want to explain a concept that sneaks past most PPC managers. But first, let me start with a story; In 2017, I took over an account in a high AOV industry. The previous agency had decreased the spend in the account from $90,000/month to $40,000 over a four-month period. This was back in
What Every CMO Should Know About Conversion Lag & Smart Bidding Read More »
Smart Bidding has been a staple in the way we run campaigns since 2020. When I was first asked to update my 2018 article on Smart Bidding, I found it said that we weren’t very optimistic about it. Flash forward to 2024, and our internal directive since 2020 has been: “By default, Smart Bidding must
Smart Bidding: Full guide to increased performance Read More »
Summary There are actions you can take to significantly improve Smart Bidding Don’t try to outsmart Smart Bidding—it’s better at math than you are Work with the ROAS targets and the available budget Use the features available, including Portfolio bid strategies, Seasonality Adjustments, and Data Exclusion Try not having a target Always give it time
9 Actions to Optimize Smart Bidding for eCommerce Read More »
Summary Smart Bidding is great at math calculations based on historical data To help Smart Bidding predict performance you can use seasonality bid adjustments Set adjustments based on your desired CPC increases, not CVR increases Never use for longer than 7 days To erase faulty data, or time periods, you can use data exclusion Use
Tweak Smart Bidding with Data Exclusion & Seasonality Bid Adjustments Read More »
Summary If everyone is using Smart Bidding, the advertiser that provides the best data will gain an edge in the auction. Micro conversions can be a way to give more data in cases where you don’t get enough transactions to fuel Smart Bidding. Attribution is fundamentally flawed, so adding more conversions to Google isn’t an issue. Start simple with
Unlock Non-Branded Growth with Micro Conversions in Google Ads Read More »
Much has been written about automated bid management in the last few years, but it seems little is written about managing your bids manually. At least not much that’s new information. So, in this article, I will talk in-depth about how to manually manage bids. It’s one of those parts of PPC management that I
The Forgotten Art of Manual Bidding in Google Ads (Full Framework) Read More »
