Auction-time bidding is a feature in Google Ads that allows advertisers to make data-driven bidding decisions. The new technology uses contextual signals and machine learning to determine the optimal bid for each ad. This helps advertisers make better bidding decisions and achieve better performance. The new technology can also be used with Floodlight conversions, which can help marketers better leverage first-party data and bid on queries.
Unlike traditional auction strategies, Auction Time bidding automatically takes advantage of user-specific signals. This method constantly adapts to changing auction environments, and thus is more responsive to consumer trends. Auction time bidding is still a new technology, and it can take up to two weeks before it is fully calibrated. However, once it is calibrated, it can achieve ROAS adjustments above a threshold of about 20%.
Google claims that its system uses a full suite of user data. This data set grows daily. While most of this data is available to all advertisers via bid adjustment modifiers, some data points are available only to publishers at auction time. These include browser and operating system information. However, Google hasn’t yet published the results of these tests.
Auction-time bidding works best when used in conjunction with Google Analytics. It allows advertisers to target conversion sources based on their own DFC. For example, the Floodlight conversion tracking allows conversion sources to be grouped by campaign type. It also supports custom Floodlight variables. However, it cannot be weighted like Google Ads conversion tracking does.
ATB is a new feature in Google Ads and introduces a new level of automation and real-time optimisation. It is built upon Google’s machine-learning technology and has been shown to provide uplifts of 15-30%. The benefits of using ATB in Google Ads are significant for advertisers.
With Auction-time bidding, Google analyzes account history, Floodlight conversions, and other signals to make bid adjustments. It also uses contextual signals and identifies the best keyword bids. Those bid adjustments can help your campaign achieve its ROI target. It is available for Google Search campaigns and is in open beta for Google Shopping campaigns.
Adding auction-time bidding to your campaigns will require a new bidding strategy. If you haven’t tried it before, it’s best to create a test campaign that has high conversions, high click volume, and a good overall performance. You can do this by creating a new campaign in Google Ads and adding it to Search Ads 360.
Using this new method of bidding, brands can better target their ads based on context and intent. Companies can use the data collected by Floodlight to determine which queries to bid on. This data also allows advertisers with detailed Measurement Plans to directly match bid strategies to conversions. As a result, their ads will show up in relevant search results.
For your bid strategy to be effective, you must tag your website with the appropriate conversion tags. This will enable Google Ads auction-time bidding. In addition, you can also use Floodlight conversions to track your conversions. However, make sure you don’t set the max CPC bid too low. A good rule of thumb is to set your max CPC at 20% or 50% more than your current bid. This will work well for most advertisers.
