Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison, posted a video Q&A on the upcoming bidding update coming on August 17th. As you know, these bidding changes are causing a big stir within the PPC industry and Ginny wanted to answer some questions in a video format.
Ginny answered three questions in this 5 minute video:
(1) What exactly is changing & why?
(2) What should you expect after this rolls out?
(3) What actions should I take?
I am honestly not sure if these responses will be enough, I think the PPC folks are still super concerned to see what happens to the data after August 17th.
Here is the video followed by what she wrote on X:
(1) What exactly is changing & why?
Campaigns that are limited by budget and over-achieving their targets will see performance adjust to their set targets.
This more closely aligns bids and targets, and the system will aim to achieve your CPA or ROAS target – regardless of whether a campaign is limited by budget (this already how campaigns with unconstrained budgets work).
That will also hold when making budget changes, where advertisers have often experienced performance fluctuations as the campaign adjusts to a different target.
(2) What should you expect after this rolls out?
Performance should be more stable and predictable when making budget changes.
If you adjust the target in the campaign that is budget capped to its current average performance, you should expect to see similar conversion volume or conversion value. After a brief recalibration, the system will keep maximizing conversion volume or conversion value similar to the average performance that the campaign has been achieving.
If you take no action, the system will aim to find conversions or conversion value at the average target set in the campaign. That may mean entering different auctions than you previously competed in in order to achieve that higher ROAS or the lower CPA target.
In campaigns where the budget is not constrained, the target is already your spend and efficiency control (e.g. raising your ROAS target may lower spend as it seeks to find greater efficiency).
In budget constrained campaigns, the target will now be your efficiency lever.
What actions should I take?
- Review campaigns that are limited by budget and see if there is a gap between the set target and the actual CPA or ROAS.
- Determine whether to adjust targets to align with the business goals.
- We've rolled out notifications and a tool in accounts to help you review these campaigns and make any updates.
Remember when to take the full conversion cycle into account when evaluating your current average target performance.
Forum discussion at X.
