Google Releases Conversion Optimizer To Aid AdWords CPA Bidding

Google announced a new AdWords feature to help advertisers automate their bids on their CPA (cost-per-acquisition) ads. Conversion Optimizer is a tool that will look at your costs and conversion goals and automatically change your bid prices based on those metrics. All you need to do is define a maximum CPA bid and this tool […]

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Google announced a new AdWords feature to help advertisers automate their bids on their CPA (cost-per-acquisition) ads.

Conversion Optimizer is a tool that will look at your costs and conversion goals and automatically change your bid prices based on those metrics. All you need to do is define a maximum CPA bid and this tool will do the rest.


In order to work, the optimizer requires you set up AdWords Conversion Tracking and have at least 300 conversions in the last 30 days.

Google offers instructions on how to set up Conversion Optimizer. In short, go to a campaign, then click on an ad group, then go to your “Edit Campaign Settings” section and then finally click on “Bidding Options.” Personally, I see a grayed out version of the Conversion Optimizer because I do not have AdWords Conversion Tracking setup, so it looks like this:

Conversion Optimizer

It is important to note that, currently, the following features are not supported by Conversion Optimizer:

  • Position Preference
  • Budget Optimizer
  • Site Targeting
  • Advanced Ad Scheduling
  • Preferred Cost Bidding

About the author

Barry Schwartz
Staff
Barry Schwartz is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land and a member of the programming team for SMX events. He owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry can be followed on Twitter here.

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