[Inside AdWords] The Bid Simulator reaches a new level

[Inside AdWords crew]

A few weeks ago, we announced the launch of Estimated Top Impressions in the bid simulator. Today we’re announcing another improvement: the ability to view bid simulations across keywords in an ad group at once. With this launch, we hope to give you a faster and more scalable way of making bidding decisions across keywords in aggregate.

The ad group level bid simulator provides simulations for two types of changes: 1. Applying a single bid to all the keywords in the ad group. 2. Updating the ad group default bid (this only impacts those keywords that do not have their own keyword-level CPC bid and use the ad group default bid).

If you’re like many advertisers and manage your bids at the keyword-level, it may be worth taking a look at ad group level bid simulations: You could be surprised to find out that, in some cases, you could have achieved similar or better results had you managed your bids by using a single ad group default Max CPC bid.

Let’s take a closer look at an ad group where this is the case:

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The highlighted row shows that, for the past seven days, the ad group received 339 clicks, costing a total of $182.37. Beneath this row, you can see simulations for the potential clicks, cost, and impressions that the ad group could have received had the keywords all used a single Max CPC bid.

In this case, if all keywords in the ad group had used a Max. CPC bid of $0.53, the ad group could have received an additional 49 clicks (for a total of 398) for about the same cost ($182). Thus, if clicks from all keywords in the ad group are equally valuable to the advertiser, it would make sense to set a single bid of $0.53 to all the keywords.

Note: For this type of bid simulation, look to see if the yellow dot is above the green line in the chart to the right of the table. If it is, this indicates that you may be able to get more clicks for the same cost.

If a few keywords in an ad group are especially profitable to your business (i.e. they convert at higher conversion rates or at higher values) you may choose to manage them separately by assigning keyword-level Max CPC bids. If this is the case, the bid simulator will display simulations for the remaining keywords in the ad group that use the ad group default bid. If you select a new ad group default bid, this bid will apply to all keywords in the ad group for which you haven’t specified a keyword-level Max CPC.

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Here are two tips to help you get the most out of the bid simulator:

1. Check out ad group level simulations to find out if using a single bid for all the keywords in the ad group could save you time and money.

2. If you view a bid simulation for a specific keyword and do not see click cost estimates, this is likely because the keyword doesn’t receive enough traffic. Consider managing low traffic keywords in aggregate by using the ad group default bid for them by deleting their keyword level bids.

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To see ad group level bid simulations, go to the “Ad groups” tab and look at the “Default Max. CPC” column in our chart icon.

Post Posted by Nathania Lozada, Inside AdWords crew

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Posted By Inside AdWords crew to Inside AdWords at 10/20/2010 09:41:00 AM