Can you still use Manual CPC bidding in Google Ads?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! In Episode 55 of Inside Google Ads, host Jyll Saskin Gales dives into how to choose the right bidding strategy for your Google Ads campaigns. She discusses the pros and cons of different bid strategies, such as manual CPC, target ROAS, and target impression share. Jyll also shares tips on how to determine which bid strategy is right for your business goals.

Key topics covered in this episode:

• Different bid strategies available in Google Ads
• How to choose the right bid strategy for your business goals
• Tips for using Smart Bidding effectively

Plus, stay tuned until the end of the episode for a new Insider Challenge to solve!

You can get episode transcripts delivered to your inbox each week by signing up for free at https://free.jyll.ca/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=episode55

Google Ads Coaching
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Transcript

My first rule of thumb in Google Ads is if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Every account is so different. Every campaign is so different.

Are there tried and true best practices and strategies and tactics and tips? 

Absolutely. That's why I have this podcast and courses and a newsletter and social media and a successful career as a Google Ads coach.

I will share what I think is the best course of action for your Google Ads based on my experience, but there are always outliers. So don't do something in your account just because someone on the internet says so, even if that someone is me. Do what works for you. 

A little too doom and gloom as an opener? Don't worry. We're going to have fun today. 

I'm your host, Jyll Saskin Gales. I spent six years working for big brands at Google, and now I work for you. 

This is Inside Google Ads, Episode 55: Breaking Bidding Rules. 

Our first question today comes from Gary Singh 8387 on YouTube. And they say, manual CPC is the only strategy that's keeping me in business. Every time I tried Smart Bidding, I got burnt down. $20 is giving me 100 visits where two or three people purchase something. Whereas with Smart Bidding, $20 gives around 20 to 22 clicks if you're lucky with no purchase. 

Okay. Let's do a little math on Gary's numbers. Gary says that when using manual bidding, a $20 budget (I'll assume that's a daily budget) gets 100 clicks and two to three purchases. That means Gary is getting $0.20 CPCs, a 2% to 3% conversion rate, and a $7 to $10 CPA on a purchase. That is completely unheard of!

Gary, if your Google Ads results are that good, why are you only spending $20 a day? You should be printing money! With $0.20 CPCs… I can't even fathom, even on brand, as it's so low. It has to be Display, but then still having a 2% to 3% purchase conversion rate? Not just a lead, like cold hard cash? Those are absolutely outstanding results. 

Now with Smart Bidding, Gary says $20 a day gives him 20 to 22 clicks if he's lucky. Let's say he's not lucky. So 20 clicks, that would be $1 CPCs, and no purchase. Well, assuming the 2% to 3% conversion rate holds, then yeah, we wouldn't expect a conversion rate from 20 clicks because we would need at least 30 to 50 clicks. But even a $1 CPC, that is so, so cheap. And again, practically unheard of in this day and age, even on brand. 

So look, if you're like Gary and you are just a money printing machine on manual CPC, keep at it! Stick with it. Who am I to say anything else?

The thing is though, most of us are not like Gary. Or maybe our accounts looked like Gary's in 2015 and now they don't and you want to get back to 2015. Sorry, those days are long gone. Most of us need to spend more than $20 a day to drive results because CPCs cost us at least $2, not $0.20. And for others, at least $20.

So I do still advise Smart Bidding and sufficient budget to power that Smart Bidding because that's what's going to work for most people in most accounts. Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value, Target CPA and Target ROAS. 

If you're seeing something in your account that you're just like, “I have no idea what to do. I need to fix this.” Then you can book a call with me. We can look at your account together and I'll provide specific recommendations on what you should do and then do it with you. I've worked with more than 10,000 different Google Ads accounts in my career. So trust me when I say I've seen it all.

You can book a Google Ads coaching call with me at jyll.ca. That's J-Y-L-L dot C-A or follow the link in the episode description. 

Our second question today comes from Panakea on YouTube and this person's name is Lubomir. They said, I run a single product Standard Shopping campaign, a supplement for high blood pressure. I use manual CPC. Over the two years the campaign has been running, it generated about 400 purchases. But the problem is that I'm able to get at max 20 conversions in 30 days. So do you think I can switch to Target ROAS automated bidding strategy or should I stay with manual bidding? I would be grateful for your opinion. 

Thanks for your question, Lubomir. My general guidance is to use Smart Bidding when you have at least 30 conversions in 30 days, and to use Target ROAS, more like 50 conversions in 30 days because it needs more data. Not just did a conversion happen or not, but what's the value associated with those conversions? These systems need data to learn. 

Now the thing is, your campaign has been running for more than two years, so you've got plenty of data. As long as your ROAS has been pretty consistent for the last few months, you can absolutely switch to Target ROAS bidding and see if that helps you scale your campaign further.

In Episode 40 of this podcast, the October 31st, 2024 episode, I shared a story of a coaching client with a very small budget who was able to use Target ROAS successfully. The key for that client was patience, and more data. The first month we switched to Target ROAS, their ROAS actually dropped. But then in month two, it rose. Month three, it rose again. It went way higher than it had ever been with manual bidding, and we hit a ROAS of nearly four on a very small Shopping budget with just a handful of conversions a month. 

If you're concerned, you could try implementing the bid strategy switch as an experiment, but this is only worth it if you're spending enough, because when you create an experiment in Google Ads, you are effectively creating two separate campaigns: your control campaign and your experiment campaign. So unless you have like at least $50 a day in this campaign and preferably more like $100 a day or more in this campaign, I would not recommend doing an experiment, either just stay with manual CPC if it's working for you, or switch to Target ROAS and give it a full two months to determine whether it's working or not for you. 

Are you still not sure which bid strategy you should use or whether you should switch bid strategies? It's one of the many things we can decide on together on a coaching call. Book a call with me to get my eyes and my brain on your account. You can book a Google Ads coaching call with me on my website, jyll.ca. That's J-Y-L-L dot C-A or follow the link in the episode description. 

Our final question today comes from Ruchi Shah on Instagram and they say, why do people still opt for Target Impression Share and does it work for them? For example, personal injury lawyers. 

Look, any bid strategy can work for you. The key is how you define “work.” Is it working?

For some business owners hitting a certain conversion volume goal or revenue goal means it's working.

For some, hitting a certain efficiency goal, a certain CPA or ROAS means it's working.

For others, ensuring their ad is above their competitor’s ad when they Google themselves means it's working.

So people who use Target Impression Share either don't know any better, or their goal, their definition of “it's working” is to have high visibility in search results. 

If visibility is your goal, Target Impression Share is absolutely the right bid strategy for you. It's just, in my experience, even if a business owner says, “Yeah, I want visibility,” at the end of the day, when they pay the bills, they're going to ask, “Well, how much money did we make from that?”

So if that's what you're going to ask, you need a Smart Bidding strategy: Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value, Target CPA or Target ROAS. 

Today's Insider Challenge is this. Can you name every single bid strategy that you can use today in Google Ads? And I'll go so far as to say, feel free to Google it or ask ChatGPT, whatever you like. Open book question. Name every bid strategy you can use today in Google Ads. How many are there? I'll share my answer next episode. 

The beauty of the Insider Challenge is there's usually no right or wrong answer, just an opportunity to stretch your brain on real life Google Ads problem solving. 

But for this one, I think I know the right answer. I'll be curious if we come to the same conclusion!

Last Episode's Challenge was this. I asked you to pay attention to the next few video ads you saw and not skip them. And I wanted you to specifically observe the creative and the targeting. 

I'll share: the first YouTube ad I saw after recording that episode was an ad for SEMrush. It was an In-feed placement on the YouTube homepage. 

Let's talk about creative. In the first two seconds, it showed two business people holding a giant piece of corn while going up an escalator. And the text on screen and voiceover both said, “Grow your agency like never before.” Right off the bat, it captured my attention with this incongruous imagery with the corn, and it used both sight and sound to reinforce the message that this is for agency owners. I'm not an agency owner, but in the name of the Insider Challenge, I kept watching. Importantly, that would appeal to their target audience of agency owners, and not appeal to their not target audience of not agency owners. 

Now going to six seconds, that was just the first two seconds. Over the next four seconds, since this was an In-feed placement, I spoke about those last episode if you missed it, there was no “skip ad” button, but normally that would come up at the six second mark. So in that time, the voiceover said, “With SEMrush for Agencies, Find and Win New Leads with Impressive Pitches.” And in that time, it showed a few screenshots of the product so I could see what it would be like to use.

Fast forward to the end, it said “Grow Your Agency Faster with Award-winning Tools.” And then it was a call to action to try SEMrush for free. 

So creatively, I'd give this ad an A+. It hits all those YouTube best practices: grabbing attention early, branding often throughout, creating connection - I'd say that was kind of the weakest point, it was more of a functional than a “making me feel something” kind of ad, but highly relevant for that target audience - and then directed to a clear action at the end of “try it for free.”

This is a two month old unlisted video with 250,000 views. So we know SEMrush is putting some serious money behind it. 

Now let's talk about targeting. Why did I see this ad? I clicked the three dots and Google said it was based on my age, time of day or location, and “Google's estimation of your interests based on your activity while you're signed into Google.” This tells me that SEMrush is using audience targeting and specifically targeting me either because of my interest in SEO and SEM, or my interest in business tools or business software. Alternatively they're using some kind of custom interest.

Overall, though, it was a well-targeted, well-executed ad. Kudos to SEMrush. 

If you didn't do that challenge yet from the last episode, I encourage you to give it a try. It's a great way to get your feet wet with video ads, even if you're not yet running video ads. 

I'm Jyll Saskin Gales and I'll see you next time Inside Google Ads.