Google constantly upgrades it’s auto bidding (Smart bidding as they call it) algorithm every few months. While Google may tell you to use Smart Bidding, you should actually search for what others, who have tested it already, have to say about it.
I’ve been testing a lot with Google’s automated bidding over the past 8 years. True, it gets better every year. Also true is that I always beat it with the manual bidding. In my tests over the past 8 years, the average was a lower cost per conversion by 3 times ( 50 instead of 270 GBP), so it’s quite a no brainer.
But why a lot of advertisers are using Smart Bidding?
Because it saves time. And while it may work great for b2c businesses like e-commerce, where the cost per click is much lower, for b2b it may become an issue. The average cost per click in B2B is much higher, because competitors know the worth of the traffic, and the average order value is higher, compared to b2c, hence even with higher CPC’s it’s still profitable. And your competitors know that, so they bid high as well.
It’s not that it’s not working, the Smart bidding. It is working, it just produces much expensive results.
How is it working for you?
Also, below there’s my 6 months test results between smart and manual bidding 🙂 enjoy
