In September of 2024, Google introduced that the improved CPC bid technique can be going away. As of the writing of this put up, you possibly can nonetheless use ECPC, but it surely’s getting phased out of most accounts and is slated to be a factor of the previous come March of 2025.
As a substitute of counting on ECPC, which can quickly not be an possibility, you might rework your technique to align with handbook CPC bidding.
I’ve been operating paid search adverts since 2010 and have used each bid technique beneath the solar. I’ve a private fondness for handbook CPC and suppose that any marketer who makes use of it for any time period will develop into a greater practitioner. However on the flip aspect, I see a number of accounts leveraging Guide CPC however not really optimizing it the best way it needs to be. Identical to the whole lot else in paid search, “set it and overlook it” isn’t actually an important concept if you wish to see outcomes.
On this put up, I’m going to stroll via some frequent errors (in no explicit order) I see when folks use Guide CPC bidding and speak about what your bid administration ought to appear like.
Contents
- Not knowing when to use manual CPC bidding
- Irregular performance reviews
- Incorrect lookback windows
- Poor degrees of bid adjustment
- Not conducting long-term performance reviews
- Not leveraging all bid modifiers
Errors to keep away from when managing handbook CPC Google Advertisements bidding
Listed here are the highest handbook CPC bidding errors advertisers needs to be cautious of in Google Ads.
🚨 Is handbook bidding the suitable technique to your campaigns? Discover out with a free, instantaneous account report utilizing our Google Ads Grader!
1. Not realizing when to make use of handbook CPC bidding
With ECPC going away, advertisers should select whether or not they need to now use automated or handbook bidding.
Considered one of Google’s options is to check out automated smart bidding, which is a good suggestion. If a machine can do a very good job for you and save a while, why not leverage it?
Whereas the vast majority of advertisers use automated good bidding methods, this put up is for these people who don’t see good outcomes with automated bidding for one cause or one other. Perhaps you’re simply beginning a brand new marketing campaign and don’t have any efficiency historical past to go off of. Maybe you will have low conversion quantity and Google’s machine studying can by no means actually detect any patterns, otherwise you’re low on funds and have to discover a technique to hold prices low. These are all examples of instances you might attempt handbook CPC bidding in Google Ads.
Irrespective of the rationale, if you’re going to be utilizing handbook CPC, this put up is for you.
2. Irregular efficiency opinions
One of many first issues we see with most accounts utilizing handbook CPC is that they don’t have a daily overview course of. It looks like each now and again it crosses the supervisor’s thoughts to examine bids, however generally the following overview is every week later, different instances it’s a month later, then possibly a pair days.
With out a common cadence of opinions, it’s exhausting to constantly see higher efficiency out of your adverts.
The change historical past you see under isn’t unusual once we overview a handbook CPC marketing campaign.
Wanting from the underside up within the left-hand column, adjustments for this key phrase had been made twice on February 14th, then solely once more on July fifth.
Nonetheless, I’m speaking concerning the timing of opinions, not adjustments. Not each key phrase wants a bid change on each overview. It may very well be very properly probably that this key phrase solely wanted altering twice in a handful of months.
The rationale this stands out is because of the diploma of adjustments (which we’ll get to in just a little bit). If the CPC was pulled down drastically from $7.19 to $1.31, that tells me that it in all probability wasn’t performing properly for all these months between February and July and that extra common opinions might have helped hold this key phrase extra worthwhile.
Having a regimented calendar of adjustments makes it extra probably you’ll see good efficiency and makes it simpler to comply with because it’s already laid out.
Right here’s an instance of a cadence that I love to do:
When conducting these opinions, I’m specializing in a couple of most important areas:
Let’s begin with an instance of a weekly overview and say my goal CPA is $100.
Each Monday, I’ll log into an account and take a look at the key phrase efficiency for the final week. There, I’m searching for the three classes above:
- Sturdy Performers: Key phrases with CPAs under $100.
- Low Performers: Changing key phrases with CPA over $100.
- Outliers: Key phrases with extraordinarily excessive CPAs (probably 3x the CPA goal) or excessive spend and no conversions.
I’ll then alter the key phrase bids primarily based on the efficiency I’m seeing and make any bigger adjustments to the outlier key phrases to try to deliver them again in line. That might embrace pulling again on funds, including negative keywords, or many different issues.
The advantage of a course of like that is twofold. It’s straightforward to maintain a weekly check-in when the duty falls on the identical day of the week. In my instance, that was Monday. Secondly, key phrases are being commonly reviewed and adjusted to hit efficiency objectives.
However you’ll discover that weekly isn’t the one cadence I’ve. I even have line gadgets for month-to-month and quarterly opinions.
These may also be performed on the identical Monday, however the lookback window and diploma of your bid adjustments will change in comparison with the weekly overview. Let’s take every of those individually as they’re two extra points I commonly see with handbook CPC campaigns.
3. Incorrect lookback home windows
The problem when reviewing efficiency commonly is to at all times be sure to have the suitable lookback window in use.
In the event you had been to launch a key phrase on July 15, after which have weekly check-ins primarily based on the information since launch, your timeline would possibly appear like the picture under.
The issue is, whenever you make changes on these home windows, it’s really going to look just a little extra like the next, with the efficiency information from the primary week being included in 3 completely different rounds of bid changes.
As a substitute, we needs to be searching for these short-term weekly opinions to be mutually unique of one another. When you make your bid adjustments on July 22 primarily based on the primary week of information, you shouldn’t be together with that information in your weekly opinions (till we get to longer-term evaluation). The bid adjustments on 7/29 ought to solely embrace the efficiency information from July 22 on so that you’re solely evaluating how the present bids carry out in comparison with your targets.
This manner, on a weekly foundation, you’re transferring your key phrase bids up and down primarily based on how a key phrase is performing with that given bid and never discounting or enhancing its efficiency with previous information.
The simplest rule of thumb: look again to whenever you did the final overview. Weekly appears again every week. Month-to-month appears again a month. And so forth.
Technically, the month-to-month and quarterly opinions will overlap with the weekly adjustments you’re making, however that brings us to the following mistake we see.
4. Poor levels of bid adjustment
Let’s rapidly revisit the instance we began off this put up with.
The 2 backside line gadgets are for February 14th and the bid went from $2.85 to $7.19. That’s a 152% improve in someday. On the best way again down, going from $7.19 to $1.31 is an 82% lower. Personally, these swings are simply too giant for me. I’d wish to see one thing just a little extra conservative.
Fast aspect word: I’ve at all times been a fan of fixing bids by proportion relatively than a flat quantity. In case your bids are $10, then it’d make sense to boost or decrease the bid by $1 primarily based on latest efficiency. However for somebody solely bidding $1, one other $1 come what may might both be a doubling or flatlining of the bid. Percentages are at all times your greatest good friend with this as they scale with you and may match into any account.
Let’s check out the next picture once more. We now have overview layers for weekly, month-to-month, and quarterly, and as I discussed above, month-to-month and quarterly opinions will overlap with weekly changes, however the levels of adjustments right here needs to be relative to the date vary we’re taking a look at.
For weekly adjustments, I wish to hold my bid adjustments small. The date vary is smaller, so the adjustments ought to replicate that. Usually, if efficiency is close-ish to the goal CPA, I’ll alter by 10% and if one thing appears actually unhealthy or good in a given week (say 2x the CPA goal or solely at half), then I’ll make a 15% adjustment.
As we get into longer time frames like a month-to-month overview, my proportion of bid adjustments grows. Now I’m taking a look at 20% to 25%.
Identical factor with quarterly adjustments, my bid adjustments is perhaps an extra 25% – 40% or I’d even take into consideration pausing a key phrase altogether.
Successfully, these month-to-month and quarterly bid adjustments may also help provide you with insights into longer-term efficiency and can permit you a chance to get roughly aggressive on a key phrase as in comparison with the weekly opinions.
When doing these longer opinions, don’t overlook to make use of your greatest judgment. Guidelines make it straightforward to do the work, however when you’ve got a hesitation, discover it. If a key phrase has transformed however has a CPA that’s 2.5x your goal, possibly examine to see if it’s trending in the suitable course together with your weekly adjustments earlier than pausing it or giving it a giant bid reduce. That brings us to the following Google Advertisements handbook bidding mistake.
💸 Trying to get essentially the most bang to your buck in Google Advertisements? Obtain our free information to 6 easy ways to save money in Google Ads!
5. Not conducting long-term efficiency opinions
Along with the weekly, month-to-month, and quarterly opinions, it’s essential to examine again to even longer date ranges. There are two sides to this longer overview.
First, even with the shorter time-frame opinions, you might be lacking out on the overall impact of a keyword. With long-term opinions like half-year and annual lookback home windows, you possibly can see the weight each keyword carries in your account. Does one key phrase account for greater than 20% of the conversions? Is one class of key phrases dragging up the CPA as a result of they’re larger on common? With out taking a look at longer ranges, chances are you’ll not see these developments.
Second, whereas the shorter time frames above assist with key phrases which might be more likely to have first rate quantity and have some conversion efficiency, there’s a class of key phrases that normally is barely found with these longer-term opinions: the silent thief.
Right here’s the information for a sure key phrase for the final week:
The CPA goal for this account is $100, so though it hasn’t transformed, it’s nonetheless beneath that threshold and simply 1 conversion would make it worthwhile, so we don’t make any adjustments.
Right here’s the final month’s price of information:
Now we’re about 2x the CPA goal on spend, so we decrease the bid by 25% and set it on its approach.
Right here’s 1 / 4’s price of information:
Once more, now we’re in 3x the CPA vary so primarily based on our guidelines, we’d decrease the key phrase bid one other 25-40% and see the way it goes. At this stage, we’re additionally going to examine for larger adjustments. Can we add in some new unfavorable key phrases? Ought to we take a look at some new ad copy? Is there a different landing page we might ship these people to? How will you get this time period again on observe?
However now we’re at a 6-month overview:
And nonetheless nothing. As soon as we’ve hit this level, we’re at 4x the CPA goal, and all of the bid decreasing and technique adjustments don’t appear to be serving to. With out this 6 month overview, we’re left to have a look at solely a quarterly foundation, which could solely present us a 3x CPA spend with no conversions and we might proceed optimizing when in actuality, this key phrase simply isn’t working. At this 6 month level, I used to be able to pause.
6. Not leveraging all bid modifiers
Whereas all this would possibly sound like numerous work, you’re not off the hook but. We’ve simply been speaking about key phrases, however one of many different errors I see with handbook CPC is that almost all advertisers don’t reap the benefits of all the opposite bid modifiers obtainable in Google Advertisements.
In contrast to all of the Good Bidding methods, handbook CPC is suitable with all of the bid modifiers together with audiences, units, demographics, advert scheduling, and extra.
Now, I’m not suggesting you overview all of those bid modifiers on a weekly foundation. Possible month-to-month and quarterly opinions will suffice for these since extra information might want to accrue, however they need to completely be a part of your common course of.
Every can be in a special place, however bid modifiers will at all times appear like the picture above. You’ll be capable to add a proportion improve or lower to your goal layer to resolve if you wish to get roughly aggressive in that section. Identical to with key phrases, these percentages ought to all be primarily based on efficiency.
Flip these handbook bidding errors into
Guide CPC bidding takes fairly a little bit of time to do correctly, however I feel it’s an important resolution for campaigns that want just a little extra consideration and don’t see good outcomes from good bidding methods. Make a schedule, hold to it, and also you’ll get essentially the most from handbook CPC. For extra assist managing your search advert bidding methods, see how our solutions can optimize your bids and maximize marketing campaign outcomes.
