{"id":101613,"date":"2021-11-29T12:33:03","date_gmt":"2021-11-29T12:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/corp\/?p=101613"},"modified":"2025-03-30T09:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-30T09:00:09","slug":"ppc-bidding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.similarweb.com\/blog\/marketing\/sem-ppc\/ppc-bidding\/","title":{"rendered":"How To Create The Best Keyword Bidding Strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ever been to an auction? A bunch of people sit around while an auctioneer displays different items for sale. The auctioneer could start the bidding at $100 to see if anyone is willing to pay that price for a rare piece of art, for example. If multiple people want the piece, they can bid higher, offering $200, $300, or even more until no one else is willing to pay any higher. \u201cSold!\u201d the auctioneer yells, usually with a bang of his gavel, and the highest bidder takes home the artwork. It\u2019s exciting for all, but especially for the winning bidder, who may have gotten a good deal on a very valuable item.<\/p>\n

Keyword bidding is similar, but instead of bidding on art or antiques, you bid on keywords that you think will drive valuable leads to your website. It\u2019s an important part of any PPC strategy<\/a> and requires careful thought to ensure you get the best leads for the best price.<\/p>\n

What is keyword bidding?<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019ve done your research, you know which keywords bring quality leads to your website. Now you need to decide how much you\u2019re willing to pay for clicks coming from those keywords.<\/p>\n

Every time someone types in a search, Google runs an auction to determine which ads to display on the search engine results page (SERP). Unlike the art auction, this auction takes a few milliseconds and you don\u2019t need to be there to place your bid.<\/p>\n

A keyword bid is the maximum you\u2019re willing to pay for that keyword in an auction. When the auction occurs, Google (our auctioneer, in this case) considers all the open bids for the keyword and chooses which ad to display. Usually, the winner won\u2019t pay their maximum bid amount, rather they\u2019ll pay just one cent above the second-highest bidder. Of course, you only pay if the searcher clicks on your ad. This is why Google also considers relevance when choosing an auction winner because a lower bid winner with a click is better than a higher bid winner without a click.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You may have different bids for each of your keywords depending on the value a click provides. For example, let\u2019s say you have a company that sells coffee beans in New York. You might have one bid for broader keywords like \u201ccoffee beans\u201d and a higher bid for a higher-intent keyword like \u201cbuy coffee beans in new york.\u201d The higher-intent keyword is more likely to lead to a sale, so you\u2019d be willing to pay more for a click. Is this clicking yet?<\/p>\n

As you create your strategy, it\u2019s also important to note negative keywords. These are keywords that may have multiple meanings or words that don\u2019t lead to any sales. For example, the coffee bean company might use \u201crestaurant\u201d as a negative keyword so searchers looking for a restaurant that serves coffee won\u2019t see the ad selling coffee beans.<\/p>\n

How can you determine your keyword bidding strategy?<\/h2>\n

Your keyword bidding strategy depends on the purpose of your PPC campaign. If you\u2019re seeking more exposure, you might be willing to bid higher at the expense of profit. No matter your purpose, you need to calculate your keyword bids.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Automated bid strategy<\/h2>\n

With an automated bid strategy, Google automatically sets bids based on the ad\u2019s likelihood to result in a click or a conversion. There are several types of automated bidding strategies that can help you increase clicks, visibility, and conversions. With automated bid strategies, Google learns as it bids and uses the information it learns to improve its bidding for future auctions.<\/p>\n

This smart bidding system factors in a range of auction-time signals such as device, location, time of day, remarketing list, language, and operating system to understand the unique context of every search. Using a feature called \u201cauction-time bidding,\u201d Google sets a specific bid for every auction.<\/p>\n

When you choose an automated bid strategy in your Google Ads Console, you will choose a goal for your campaign. Goals may include:<\/p>\n