What Are Advanced and Flexible Bidding Strategies in Google Ads?

Along with automated and manual bidding strategies, Google Ads also offers two advanced bid strategies: Enhanced CPC and CPA.

1. Enhanced CPC (ECPC)

When it comes to getting more conversions, Enhanced Cost-Per-Click (ECPC) is a better option than manual bidding. It’s because ECPC adjusts the bids automatically for keywords that can drive more sales or conversions. 

It is a smart bidding strategy that works on the basis of several auction-time signals, like browser, time, location, etc., to customize the bids. 

You can set the maximum CPC for the campaign, and ECPC will maintain the average CPC lower than the set CPC. 

Furthermore, it optimizes the conversion rate for both Search and Display campaigns while keeping the CPC lesser than the manual bidding. This is also a good option for shopping ads.

2. Target CPA

Target CPA (cost-per-action) helps in optimizing the number of conversions at or below the target CPA set by you. It automatically improves the bidding and provides custom capabilities for auction-time bidding. 

Available as a standard strategy in a single campaign or in the form of a portfolio strategy in multiple campaigns, the target CPA uses historical data about the campaign to find the contextual signs for auction. It tries to optimize the bidding for all the ads. 

Although there might be instances when the conversions cost more than the target, in most cases, the cost for every conversion will be below or equal to the target CPA.

Flexible bid strategies in Google Ads are helpful when you want the smart systems of Google to handle the bids and optimize them for your goals. 

The flexible strategies are stored in Google Ads’ Shared Library that you can access and track the performance. You can implement these strategies in campaigns, ad groups, or keyword levels.

To ensure that the flexible bidding strategies are performing better than your existing bidding strategy, keep track of the number of leads and sales.

There are a number of options in Google Ads for flexible bidding strategies:

• Target Search Page Location

Target Search Page Location is a good option to choose when you want your ad to appear on the first page of SERP or at the top of the first page. Google will then bid accordingly for the keywords and increase or decrease the bids. 

The bidding will change every now and then to provide you with a high ranking at an optimal cost. It is worth noting that the top rankings aren’t guaranteed. 

• Target Return on Ad Spend

To utilize this bidding strategy, you have to first set up the conversion tracking from Conversions > Tools. To optimize your conversion value and target return on ad spend, Google will maximize the cost per conversion bid. 

The other flexible bidding strategies are:

• Enhanced CPC

• Target CPA

• Maximize Clicks