AdWords now applies recommended bids to new DSA categories automatically

The feature is designed to help managers set up a lot of dynamic search ad categories quickly.

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Google has announced that it will now automatically apply recommended bids when setting up categories in AdWords dynamic search ad (DSA) campaigns.

That sounds a bit terrifying, I know, but before you panic about losing control, know that you can still easily override the automated recommended bids when setting up new categories.

I actually see this coming in pretty handy as a way to quickly get a lot of DSA categories up and running. From the announcement:

For example, if you have four categories selected: “sandals,” “running shoes,” “loafers,” and “flip flops,” you no longer have to manually set bids for each one. You can also adjust recommended bids or leave the field empty to use the ad group’s default bid.

The bid recommendations are “based on the performance of your existing keywords that are targeting similar search queries.” So while you should absolutely review the bid recommendations before launching a new campaign, the fact that the recommendations are based on your own account activity means they should at least be a good starting point, “should” being the operative word. Again, you have the opportunity to review everything and adjust any bids that look out of whack before going live. Only accounts with sufficient data will see bid recommendations.

Google Auto Bid Recommendations Dynamic Search Ads


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


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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