​​Bidding Strategies

While bidding strategy is important, there is no need to overcomplicate things at the start. 

Before you start testing various bidding methods there are a variety of things you must focus on first: 

• Tracking and analytics is set up and correctly recording conversions.

• Thorough keyword planning has been completed.

• Campaigns have been structured and set up correctly.

• Appropriate keyword match types are being used. 

• Ad copy has been formulated to match keyword interest and intrigue.

• Website is converting well

• Keywords have been refined based on performance.

After all those things are in place you can start to play around with bid types.

With that being said, here are the bidding rules we generally use on our campaigns. Keep in mind, there will always be exceptions, but this should work well for the majority of businesses.  

My Local Ads Bidding Strategy

New account

- Use manual bidding with exact match & phrase match keywords

Existing account with under 30 conversions

- Manual Bidding

Existing account with over 30 conversions

- Start testing automated bidding using Maximize Conversions

Existing account with over 100 conversions 

- Start testing automated bidding using Target CPA and Target ROAS

Note: It is smart to test both target ROAS and target CPA on your campaigns even though they essentially work the same way. Sometimes you will find that one does a lot better than the other, in which case you can solely focus on the winner.

Conclusion

The goal is to find a bidding strategy that works well for your account and stick with it. Most people obsess over bidding strategies without having the essentials already in place. 

It is always good to test new strategies when the time is right (see strategy above) but if you find manual bidding working well over everything else, then stick with it. Each Google account is unique and some bidding strategies work better for some people and not for others.