Portfolio bid strategies: the what, how, why, and when
What is a Portfolio Bid Strategy?
A portfolio bidding strategy in Google Ads is a type of bidding strategy that allows you to optimize your bids across multiple campaigns. This can help you save time and improve your results.
Portfolio bidding strategies use Google's machine learning to evaluate performance over time and optimize for your specific goal. Since it updates bids regularly to ensure that your bids are always optimized for the target you have specified, it's unlikely that manual bidding could achieve the same accuracy and consistency.
There are several different portfolio bidding strategies available in Google Ads, including:
Target CPA: This strategy helps you achieve a specific cost per acquisition (CPA).
Target ROAS: This strategy helps you achieve a specific return on ad spend (ROAS).
Maximize conversions: This strategy helps you get as many conversions as possible.
Maximize conversion value: This strategy helps you get the most value from your conversions.
Maximize clicks: This strategy helps you get as many clicks as possible.
Target impression share: This strategy helps you get a specific percentage of impressions for your keywords.
To create a portfolio bidding strategy, you'll need to go to the Shared library page in Google Ads and click Bid strategies. Then, click the Create a portfolio bid strategy button and select the type of strategy you want to use.
Once you've created a portfolio bidding strategy, you'll need to select the campaigns you want to include in the strategy. You can also set other settings, such as your budget and your target CPA or ROAS.
Portfolio bidding strategies can be a great way to save time and improve your results. However, it's important to choose the right strategy for your goals and to monitor your performance closely.
Here are some of the benefits of using a portfolio bidding strategy:
Increased efficiency: Portfolio bidding strategies can help you save time by automating the bidding process. This frees up your time so you can focus on other aspects of your Google Ads campaigns.
Improved performance: Portfolio bidding strategies can help you improve your campaign performance by optimizing your bids across multiple campaigns. This can lead to more conversions, more revenue, or a better return on ad spend (ROAS).
Simplified management: Portfolio bidding strategies can simplify the management of your Google Ads campaigns. You can create a single portfolio bidding strategy that applies to all of your campaigns, which can make it easier to track your performance and make changes as needed.
Here are some of the factors to consider when choosing a portfolio bidding strategy:
Your performance goals: What are your overall goals for your Google Ads campaigns? Do you want to maximize conversions, maximize revenue, or achieve a specific return on ad spend (ROAS)?
The structure of your campaigns: How are your campaigns organized? Do you have multiple campaigns that are targeting the same audience or keywords?
The budget for your campaigns: How much are you willing to spend on your Google Ads campaigns?
Do All Campaigns in a Portfolio Bid Strategy have the same bid?
All campaigns in a portfolio bid strategy do not have the same bid. The bidding strategy will optimize bids for each campaign individually, taking into account factors such as the campaign's budget, target CPA or ROAS, and the performance of other campaigns in the portfolio.
For example, if you have a portfolio bid strategy that is set to target a CPA of $50, the bidding strategy may set a higher bid for a campaign that has a low conversion rate and a lower bid for a campaign that has a high conversion rate. This is because the bidding strategy wants to ensure that all campaigns are able to meet their CPA target, but it also wants to get the most conversions possible.
In some cases, the bidding strategy may even set different bids for different keywords within the same campaign. This is because the bidding strategy will consider the performance of each keyword when optimizing bids. For example, if a keyword has a high click-through rate (CTR) but a low conversion rate, the bidding strategy may set a lower bid for that keyword.
The bidding strategy will continue to optimize bids over time, as it learns more about the performance of each campaign and keyword. This means that the bids for each campaign may change from day to day. However, the bidding strategy will always try to optimize bids so that you can reach your performance goals.
Here are some of the factors that a portfolio bidding strategy will consider when optimizing bids:
The campaign's budget
The campaign's target CPA or ROAS
The performance of other campaigns in the portfolio
The performance of each keyword within the campaign
When Should I Use Portfolio Bid Strategy?
You should use a portfolio bidding strategy in Google Ads when you have multiple campaigns that are targeting the same audience or keywords. This type of bidding strategy can help you optimize your bids across all of your campaigns to achieve your overall performance goals.
Here are some specific scenarios where you might want to use a portfolio bidding strategy:
You have multiple campaigns that are targeting the same product or service.
You have multiple campaigns that are targeting the same geographic area.
You have multiple campaigns that are targeting the same audience demographics.
You want to optimize your bids for a specific performance goal, such as maximizing conversions or return on ad spend (ROAS).
Portfolio bidding strategies can be a great way to save time and improve your results. However, it's important to choose the right strategy for your goals and to monitor your performance closely.