AdWords Automated Bidding Gets An Overhaul: Welcome, Portfolio Bid Strategies

Terminology changes come with some new functionality, including the ability to set different CPA targets at the ad group level within the same bid strategy.

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new set up for adwords automated bidding

Google is going to be rolling out a revamp of AdWords automated bidding. Some of the changes are just semantic, but the workflow is also getting an update.

First the naming changes:

  1. Flexible strategies will be called “portfolio” bid strategies. The change is meant to better indicate that a single strategy can be applied across multiple campaigns, ad groups — and keywords, in some cases.
  2. A strategy that is applied to a single campaign is called a “standard” bid strategy.
  3. Conversion Optimizer will be called Target CPA for all new bid strategies to simplify the nomenclature. Target CPA can still be applied as a “standard” or a “portfolio” bid strategy.

Now for the functionality updates:

  1. Managers will be able to create or add to bidding strategies from the Campaigns Setting tab — no more need to dive into the Shared Library.
  2. Portfolio bid strategies for Target CPA can have different CPA goals for separate ad groups. “For example, if you’re a clothing retailer with multiple ‘Accessories’ ad groups in a bidding portfolio, you may want to set a lower CPA target for ‘Socks’ compared to other product categories with higher average order value.”

Note that Portfolio bid strategies can not be applied to video or universal app campaigns.

In December, Google added new reporting features for automated bidding. These latest updates will start showing up in accounts over the next few weeks.


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About the author

Ginny Marvin
Contributor
Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, MarTech and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

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