Google is eliminating managed placement default bids in an effort to simplify bidding on its Display Network. Now Display Network advertisers who use managed placements will only have to deal with a regular default bid and a Display Network default bid.

The change will go into effect March 15. They effect managed placements only, which are placements that target specific web sites in the content network that accept display ads.

“We’ve heard feedback from advertisers that it’s confusing to work with these three default bids,” said Google in a blog post, adding that most advertisers don’t use the managed placement default bid, anyway, preferring to set bids individually.

The change will be phased in between now and March 15. Starting today, new ad groups created will no longer allow managed placement bids. New managed placements in existing ad groups won’t require a new default bid. If advertisers want to make the switch now, they can change the managed placements default bid to zero, which will cause it to disappear.

Advertisers using AdWords Editor 7.6 will need to download the latest version of AdWords Editor to manage their bids under this new system, as the 7.6 version isn’t compatible with this change.

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords

About The Author: Pamela Parker is a contributing editor for Search Engine Land and Executive Features Editor at Marketing Land. She’s a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since 1998, including a stint as managing editor of ClickZ. She’s also worked to help monetize independent publishers’ sites at Federated Media Publishing. She blogs about media and marketing at The River and about cooking, gardening and parenthood at Free Range. She can be found on Twitter as @pamelaparker. See more articles by Pamela Parker

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