How do you align your bidding strategy with your keyword strategy and ad quality score?

A bidding strategy is essential in determining how much you're willing to pay for a click on your ad. It can be automated, where algorithms adjust bids based on specific goals like maximizing clicks or conversions, or manual, allowing you to set bids for individual keywords. The choice of strategy depends on your campaign goals—whether you're focusing on brand awareness, driving traffic, or maximizing ROI. Balancing cost and performance is key, as it influences your ad's visibility and overall effectiveness in reaching your target audience.

A lot of us know what not to do when aligning bidding strategies with keyword strategy and ad quality scores, but here’s a simple framework to get it right: 1. Identify high-performing keywords with strong CTR and conversion rates. Allocate higher bids to these keywords to maximize visibility. 2. Improve ad relevance, landing page experience, and CTR. Better quality scores reduce CPC and improve ad positioning, making your bids more effective. 3. Apply adjustments based on device, location, and time of day to target high-performing segments. 4. Regularly review performance data and tweak bids based on keyword performance and quality scores to ensure optimal ROI

To effectively implement a bidding strategy that adapts to different campaign objectives, consider using machine learning algorithms to predict and adjust bids automatically. For example, deploying predictive analytics allows you to increase bids for high-converting keywords during peak shopping seasons or decrease them when conversion rates are low. This method ensures that your spending is optimised without needing constant manual changes. Additionally, you can set up bid adjustments based on device performance or geographic location, enhancing the strategy’s responsiveness to market conditions.

Here's something a lot of beginner PPCers don't realize: you shouldn't use smart bidding until you have accurate (and sufficient) conversion data. Instead, begin with a max clicks or a manual bid strategy. Once you see 30+ conversions in a single campaign, and you know your conversion quality is good, then you can begin optimizing for that action.

Understanding Keyword Strategy Choose keywords relevant to your product or service. Focus on high-intent keywords that align with user search intent. Use keyword tools to identify search volume and competition. Importance of Ad Quality Score Determines ad placement and cost-per-click (CPC). Influenced by expected click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. Aligning Bidding Strategy Keyword-Relevant Bidding: Adjust bids based on keyword performance. Quality Score Optimization: Improve ad relevance and landing pages. Segmentation: Group keywords by relevance for targeted bidding.

Spend smarter, not more! Choose a bidding strategy—like CPC or ROAS—based on your campaign goals, ensuring every dollar is optimized for results.

Start with the fundamentals: Understand your goals (CPC, CPA, ROAS) and budget. Then, choose between manual and automated bidding. It's as simple as that!

It is very important to understand the basics of what a bidding strategy is: Manual CPC: Gives you full control over your bids, so you can do more fine-tuning. Enhanced CPC: Automatically adjusts manual bids based on the potential to convert. Target CPA: This sets bids to help get as many conversions as possible at the target cost per acquisition. Target ROAS: Bids are optimized for maximum return on ad spend. Maximize Conversions: Automatically sets bids to get the most conversions within your budget. Maximize Clicks: This automated bid strategy tries to get you the most clicks within your budget.

Bidding Strategy Basics What is it? Your bidding strategy is how you tell the ad platform (like Google Ads or Bing Ads) how much you're willing to pay for each click or impression of your ad. Why does it matter? It directly impacts your ad's visibility, how often it's shown, and how much you spend. Common types: Manual Bidding: You set bids for each keyword or ad group. Gives you the most control but requires constant monitoring. Automated Bidding: The platform adjusts your bids based on your goals (e.g., maximizing clicks, conversions, or target return on ad spend).

Dans une campagne Google Ads pour un client dans le secteur du e-commerce, nous avons défini des enchères spécifiques pour chaque groupe d’annonces en fonction de la compétitivité des mots clés et de notre budget global. Cela a permis de mieux contrôler les dépenses publicitaires et d’assurer une compétitivité optimale dans les enchères.

For a growing or established brand, a keyword strategy would require segregating brand and generic/non-brand keywords. Maintaining brand presence on search, especially for a growing brand, is crucial to stand out from competitors. But use them carefully and weed out any existing customers by negating keywords like "login", "customer support", etc. Non-brand keywords can be expensive, but important for scaling your search marketing. Depending on the purchase journey of your product/service, you'd want to leverage non-brand keywords across awareness and consideration campaigns. Additionally, you may also want to consider conquesting keywords to capture market share from competitors. They can get expensive without dedicated landing pages.

Keyword strategy involves selecting and organizing keywords to target the right audience. It starts with thorough research to identify relevant, high-volume search terms that potential customers use. These keywords are then grouped into themes or ad groups to create focused ad campaigns. Negative keywords are also important to exclude irrelevant traffic. A strong keyword strategy ensures that your ads reach the right people, improving click-through rates and overall ad performance by aligning with user intent.

An advanced approach to refining your keyword strategy is through A/B testing, which helps identify the most effective keywords based on actual performance data. You can set up two campaign variants to test different keyword groupings: one using broad match to capture a wide audience and another using exact match for more targeted reach. Monitor conversions and click-through rates from each group to identify which strategy delivers the best mix of quality traffic and volume. Based on the results, gradually adjust your spending towards the more successful strategy, thereby improving your campaign’s efficiency and effectiveness.

Depending on your goal, choose one of the following: 1. skag - single keyword ad group 2. stag - single theme ad group 3. ibag - intent based ad group If you want more control and limited test - skag. If you want to have keyword theme, like keyword + colour, then use stag. If you want to capture specific intent, for example high-intent - keywords that capture people who are problem and solution aware and often are comparing solutions then you go for ibag structure. Chose which match types you are going to run. For controlled version - exact matches only For expanded version - exact + phrase match For ad group that has enough data you could go broad + smart bidding.

A solid keyword strategy involves: Research: Tools, such as Google Keyword Planner, for finding proper keywords. Segmentation: Group Keywords into Tightly Themed Ad Groups. Match Types: Use different match types: broad, phrase, and exact, to control what searches trigger your ads. Negative Keywords: Constantly add to the list of negative keywords to avoid irrelevant traffic. Long-Tail Keywords: Deal with long, more specific keywords—usually with less competition and cheaper.

Nail your keywords by knowing your audience! Use relevant, high-intent keywords that align with your ad goals. Remember, the right keywords attract the right clicks!

Keyword Strategy Basics What is it? The keywords you choose are the search terms you want your ad to show up for. Why does it matter? It determines who sees your ad and its relevance to their search. Key elements: Relevance: Choose keywords that closely match your product or service. Search Volume: Target keywords with enough search volume to generate impressions and clicks. Competition: Factor in the competitiveness of keywords, which can affect bidding costs.

Avec l'expérience, j'ai appris que structurer les mots clés en groupes d’annonces thématiques améliore la pertinence des annonces. Par exemple, pour un client dans le tourisme, nous avons séparé les mots clés relatifs aux vacances d'été et d'hiver, ce qui a augmenté le taux de clics de 15%.

Start with research in keyword planner. Understand different levels of intent vs volume. Use exact match to focus on keywords that align with your product and customer. Use phrase to mine out new keywords. Broad match can be used in some situations where you are looking for ancillary conversions. Review search terms often and add negatives for irrelevant search terms. The right keywords drive quality traffic that converts.

Le choix des mots clés est la base d'une campagne Google Ads Search. Bien les choisir dès le départ conditionne la réussite ou non de la campagne. Et au delà de leur choix, il est important de réfléchir à la correspondance qu'il faut leur donner. J'ai l'exemple actuellement avec un client qui vend aux professionnels des étiquettes alimentaires. Mon client s'adresse donc à des industries de l'agro-alimentaire. Aucun mot clé dans la campagne n'est en large (expression ou mots clés exacts) et une liste de mots clés négatifs a été traitée avant le lancement (étiquette pour vêtements enfants par exemple). Dès les premiers jours de diffusion, un travail d'exclusion dans les termes de recherche va être obligatoire.

Quality Score is a metric used by search engines like Google to measure the relevance and quality of your ads, keywords, and landing pages. It influences both ad rank and cost-per-click (CPC). A high Quality Score means your ad is more relevant to users, leading to lower costs and better ad placement. It's determined by factors like click-through rate, ad relevance, and landing page experience. Improving your Quality Score involves optimizing your ad copy, aligning it with targeted keywords, and ensuring a seamless user experience on your landing page.

To boost your quality score through practical changes, begin with an audit of your campaign’s ad relevance. Update your ad copy to more closely match the search intentions behind your high-value keywords. Incorporate these keywords seamlessly into your ad’s headline and description, ensuring they align well with the content on your landing page. This strategy enhances the relevance of your ads in the eyes of search engines, which can lead to better quality scores. Improved ad relevance not only reduces cost-per-click by improving ad rank but also increases the likelihood of achieving higher click-through rates.

Quality Score depends on: Expected CTR: This basically indicates the expected likelihood that someone will click on your ad. Ad Relevance: How relevant the ad is to what the search entails. Landing Page Experience: How relevant and high quality is your landing page.

Quality Score is king! It’s Google’s way of rating the relevance and quality of your keywords and ads. Higher scores = lower costs and better ad positions. Score high, pay less!

Quality Score Basics What is it? A metric (usually 1-10) assigned by ad platforms that measures the relevance and quality of your keywords, ads, and landing pages. Why does it matter? Higher Quality Scores can lead to lower costs per click and better ad positions. Components: Expected Click-Through Rate (CTR): How likely your ad is to be clicked. Ad Relevance: How closely your ad matches the search query. Landing Page Experience: How relevant and useful your landing page is to users who click your ad.

Un outil très efficace que j'ai utilisé est l’analyse du niveau de qualité des annonces via Google Ads. En optimisant les annonces pour qu'elles correspondent mieux aux mots clés et en améliorant les pages de destination, nous avons réussi à réduire le coût par clic de 20%.

Historical data on impacts your Quality score. If your account has been known to have low CTR on specific keywords, when you add those keywords, Google Ads will have low expected CTR by default. Work on Relevance on all levels - keyword, search term, ad, assets, landing page relevance. If search terms are irrelevant - exclude. If assets or ads have low CTR - remove or/and replace. Compare your landing page content with highest ranking organic ranking pages and see if there are similarities. In general, top ranking organic pages will have the highest relevance to the user based on search term. Look for ideas what might be the deciding factor it is ranked that high and optimize your landing pages.

A higher Quality Score can lead to lower costs and better ad placements. To improve focus on creating highly relevant ads that match user intent using keywords effectively and ensuring a seamless user experience on your landing page. Regularly monitor and tweak your campaigns to maintain a high Quality Score.

Better quality scores mean better returns! Optimize ad relevance, landing page experience, and CTR to boost your quality score, reducing costs while improving ad placement.

Your bidding strategy and keyword strategy need to work together. For example, broad match keywords work best with smart bidding strategies so that the bidding algorithm can take full advantage of the search signals. If you're using manual or automated bidding strategies then phrase or exact match are a much better fit.

Keyword Bid Adjustments: Increase the bid on high-performance keywords and decrease it on lesser-convertible keywords. Match Type Bidding: You can allocate more budget to exact match keywords that are directing your targeting precisely to your audience. Seasonal Bidding: Modify your bids for seasonal keywords to show very strongly during peak times of the year. Device and Location Adjustments: Keyword performance across different devices and locations can be used to make bid adjustments

Match made in marketing heaven! Use high-bid for high-intent keywords and lower bids for broader terms. Optimize for what brings in the best ROI.

Aligning Your Bidding Strategy with Your Keyword Strategy High-Value Keywords: Allocate more budget to keywords that are more likely to convert or bring in high-quality leads. Match Bidding to Intent: Adjust bids based on keyword intent. For example, keywords indicating purchase intent ("buy now") might warrant higher bids than informational keywords ("how to"). Seasonal Adjustments: Modify bids based on seasonal trends or fluctuations in demand.

To align your bidding strategy with your keyword strategy, you need to see which themes / intents of search queries are generating what results Conversion volume, Conversion value, Impression share wise. Decide how you will handle your search terms related to brand, partners and competitors. For example search terms containing competitor names may require isolating those keywords in separate campaign, setting different smart bidding targets, creating dedicated ad copies and landing pages to even begin to compete.

Lorsque l'on pilote une campagne en smart bidding, il n'est pas possible d'ajuster les enchères pour chaque mot clé. Cela serait également impossible à gérer humainement et ça risquerait de déstabiliser l'algo. Il faut construire sa campagne en groupe de mots clés (une offre - donc une catégorie de mots par campagne), associée à une page de vente ( qui ne propose qu'un seul produit ou service). Avec cette structure, il conviendra de choisir la stratégie d'enchère la mieux adaptée au groupe de mots clés de la campagne, et à la nature de l'intention de recherche. La stratégie d'enchère sera différente qu'il s'agisse de mots clés de prospection (audience froide) ou d'intention (audience chaude).

Bid where it counts most! Allocate higher bids to high-performing, high-intent keywords, while reducing spend on broad terms that may not convert as well.

Aligning Your Bidding Strategy with Your Quality Score Reward High Scores: Consider raising bids for keywords with high Quality Scores, as they're likely to perform better and cost less per click. Improve Low Scores: For keywords with low Quality Scores, focus on improving ad relevance, CTR, and landing page experience before increasing bids.

Quality score is not the most important metrics, in most cases 7/10 and above indicates that your targeting and bidding are working just fine. However, less than 7 may tell us that your ads are not relevant for the search terms you capture or they have very low Ad rank, which places your ads at low positions in the auction, which results in low CTR and hits your Exp. CTR scores. Lastly, if your ad is irrelevant, it is likely that people are landing on page that is not something they expected as well. Test different bidding limits, ads, negatives, landing pages to improve quality and relevance.

Optimize Ads and Landing Pages: High-quality scores cut your CPC, so make sure you refresh your ads and landing pages regularly with relevancy and user-friendliness. Automated Bidding: Implement strategies like Target CPA or Target ROAS with Smart Bidding which factors in Quality Score in their algorithms for optimization. Quality Score-Based Bid Adjustments: Give a priority of budget on keywords that hold a higher quality score and thus bring the best ROI.

A higher Quality Score means cheaper clicks! Focus on creating high-quality ads and landing pages to improve your score, then adjust your bids accordingly. Save more, earn more!

Focus on enhancing ad relevance and landing page experience. Higher Quality Scores can lower your cpc so allocate more budget to higher performing keywords. Conversely, adjust bids on lower-scoring keywords or work on improving their Quality Scores. This alignment helps you achieve better ad placements at a lower cost, ensuring your budget is used efficiently.

Keywords + Quality Score = Perfect synergy! Use relevant keywords that boost your Quality Score. High relevance leads to better scores and ad performance. It’s a win-win!

Ad Group Segmentation: Make sure every ad group is tight themed so as to enhance ad relevance and Quality Scores. Continuous Testing: A/B test different ad copies and landing pages to find the best combinations that boost Quality Score. Relevance and Intent: Implement keywords according to intent in a bid to maintain relevance to the user and ad content for high ad relevance; Quality Scores will improve as well. Landing Page Optimization: Improve the landing page content, speed, and mobile friendliness for a better user experience and hence Quality Scores.