Google Ads Bidding Strategies

Big News! Google launched 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 and calls it 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐔𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 10 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬. Here are my thoughts when to use it!

First of all, 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?
This Beta is here to expand your high conversion search terms and find or explore new terms that might convert. Basically it tries to catch more queries while still trying to hit your tROAS goal.

𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧?
For now Smart Bidding has prioritized keywords that have a predictable performance. But that often means you’re ignoring:
• New or emerging queries (15% of searches are new every day)
• Long tail keywords
• Early funnel searches
Smart Bidding Exploration should solve this by letting Google’s AI strategically loosen ROAS targets to explore new searches. I think also because of new searches from AI Overviews.

💡 𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲: 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 + 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫y 𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬. 𝐋𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 + 𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐢𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥. 💡

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐭?
1️⃣ 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝
You’re seeing stable ROAS, but growth has stagnated.
Your Search Terms Report looks the same month after month.
Enable Exploration to find new intent patterns your current bid strategy ignores (or does not risk to find)

2️⃣ 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 (learning phase)
There’s no historical conversion data yet so Smart Bidding avoids any risk.
Use Exploration to lower learning-phase and push system.

3️⃣ 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐱
Industries like real estate, finance, B2B, and healthcare that have multiple touchpoints.
Let Exploration pick up earlier funnel searches like “how to qualify,” “what price,” or “what to expect.”