Last week, Google Ads Liason answered common questions and misconceptions about value-based bidding.

Ginny Marvin went to LinkedIn and Twitter Platforms for a week-long series of posts explaining the ins and outs of value-based bidding.

Last week, Marvin wrapped up the series by answering common questions from advertisers that she’s been asked over the years.

Read on to learn more about Google’s move to value-based bidding.

Day 1: Basics of value-based bidding

Marvin laid out the basics of value-based bidding on day one of the posts.

What is value-based bidding (VBB)?

• VBB strives to maximize conversion value within your budget and optional ROAS target
• It is optimized for auctions where a high conversion value is predicted
• It’s designed to deliver a higher total value of conversions but lower conversion volume compared to the Maximize conversions/Target CPA (tCP)A bid strategy.

Who should use value-based bidding?

In Marvin’s experience, Google has seen VBB success for businesses of different sizes and conversion cycles:

• lead generation
• online sales
• mortar

Marvin also stated:

The key to using VBB is setting values ​​for the conversions you are tracking and feeding the correct first-party data into Google Ads. You define the value you want to maximize, e.g. B. Revenues, profit margins, lifetime value, etc.

To wrap up day one, Marvin answered a few questions about conversions and how they affect using VBB.

In order to use VBB, most campaigns require at least 15 conversions in the last 30 days.

Google also recommends optimizing for bottom-funnel conversions if you want to maximize conversion value.

Setting values ​​for value-based bids

Day two of the week-long series was all about campaign inputs and settings. Marvin addressed the following questions.

Can VBB optimize value and volume?

• If you have value goals, you should use VBB. ROAS targets are your leverage to increase or decrease the likelihood that your ads will participate in the auction. The higher your goal, the fewer auctions your ads are likely to reach.
• You can use bid simulators to see the impact lower ROAS targets can have on increasing reach and volume.

How do I minimize volume loss when switching to target ROAS (tROAS)?

Marvin explained that advertisers switching to tROAS should initially expect lower volume when switching from conversion-based bidding.

Expect lower volume as the algorithm optimizes for the most valuable customers rather than the most conversions within your goals.

Advice from Marvin on switching bid strategies:

Make sure the bidding system has learned from your values ​​and that your tROAS matches historical performance to ensure conversion quality.

Day 3: Inform and evaluate performance

Day 3 focused on answering questions about how Google uses your data for real-time bidding.

Doesn’t Google understand the meaning of the values ​​I’m submitting to bid?

Marvin clarified that Google only interprets your values ​​as a benchmark to make decisions that will help you achieve your goals.

She also mentioned that Google continues to innovate ways to share data, such as: B. Enhanced conversions for secure leads.

Will my conversion value data be used to help my competitors?

• Google’s bid algorithm models rely on highly aggregated advertiser data to continuously learn and improve predictions.
• Google never shares your conversion metrics or conversion volume with other advertisers.

How long should I wait to measure tROAS performance?

Marvin recommended giving the bid strategy two weeks or three conversion cycles before being evaluated to give the strategy enough time to learn and adapt. It may take longer to ensure you have enough conversion data to evaluate.

Day 4: Answering questions from advertisers

The week-long value-based bidding series saw high engagement on both LinkedIn and Twitter.

Many advertisers pitched in with their questions, Marvin wanted to answer the most common questions.

What are the best practices for using multiple conversion actions with different values?

• You can use multiple conversion actions with different values. Google’s best practice is to upload actual conversion values ​​that align with your business goals.
• All conversion actions included in the “Conversions” column are used as the basis for the Maximize conversion value/Target ROAS bid strategy.

What is the best practice for assigning values ​​to offline conversions for lead generation?

Marvin answered this question with the following quote:

If your goal is to differentiate conversions based on how valuable they are to your business, please rank them against your business results whenever possible.

Can I use tROAS to optimize profit or another KPI?

• Yes, that’s why Google allows advertisers to use tracking metrics that align with their business goals, such as profit metrics.
• Advertisers can import data on LTV, profit margins, gross merchandise value, etc. into Google Ads to optimize the metrics that matter most to your business.

Summary

Ginny Marvin did a great job with advertisers on value-based bidding last week. Not only did she explain how the strategies work, but she also answered many common questions that marketers still had.

You can find the entire threads of the weekly series on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Featured image: Tetiana Yurchenko/Shutterstock