The document provides an agenda for a presentation on bidding strategies and automation. It includes sections on auditing current assets for bidding, an overview of Google bidding strategies, choosing the right bid, segmenting campaigns and adjusting bids, and implementing an automated bidding strategy script. It also introduces the presenter and scientific digital marketing agency. The presentation aims to help audiences optimize bidding and automation.

2. Agenda
2
1. How to audit your current assets for bidding strategy success
2. An overview of Google bidding strategies
3. How to choose the right bid
4. How to segment your campaign and adjust your bid accordingly
5. Implementing an Automated Bidding Strategy (FREE ready-made script!)
6. Closing Advice on Automation and Bidding

3. About Us
3

4. We’re the best* scientific performance marketing
agency
4
That’s quite a mouthful, but it’s just a way to say that we love numbers and the scientific
method.
We have been running wildly successful international Paid and Brand Media Campaigns
since July of 2016.
* we are the best according to our mums and now that we’ve won an award as the Best small PPC agency in Europe, it’s official: mums are always right.

5. What do we do?
Digital performance.
That’s it.
5

6. Who are we?
6
● A multi-talented team of 32
consisting of Developers, Data
Scientists, and Media Experts.
● Based in Pietrasanta (Tuscany,
Italy), Milan and London.

7. Our philosophy: Paid Media is a science
● With millions of metrics & endless experimentation possibilities: Paid Media is the
pinnacle of mathematical marketing.
● As digital marketing scientists, we have infused the scientific method across all of
our activities.
7

8. Who am I?
● 14y experience in online advertising
● 6.5y at Google between Dublin, NYC & London
● Managed Quarterly $XXM in advertising for
Google as part of the SEM in-house team that
promotes Google’s products (in FB, Bing,
Google, Linkedin etc)
● Advisor for Google’s own equity fund Capital G
● Voted 2nd Most Influential PPC Person in 2019

9. Chapter #1
How to audit your current assets for
bidding strategy success
9

11. 11
Automate or Die

12. 12
What shall we pack?

13. Before Getting Started
13
How do we set up the right bid and how do we identify the right value?
● AdGroup with correct match type and Granular Structure

14. Before Getting Started
14
How do we set up the right bid and how do we identify the right value?
● AdGroup with correct match type and Granular Structure
● Relevant Ads and landing pages

15. Before Getting Started
15
How do we set up the right bid and how do we identify the right value?
● AdGroup with correct match type and Granular Structure
● Relevant Ads and landing pages
● Complete Goals (micro-conversions)

16. Before Getting Started
16
How do we set up the right bid and how do we identify the right value?
● AdGroup with correct match type and Granular Structure
● Relevant Ads and landing pages
● Complete Goals (micro-conversions)
● Complete and correct tracking in place

17. Before Getting Started
17
How do we set up the right bid and how do we identify the right value?
● AdGroup with correct match type and Granular Structure
● Relevant Ads and landing pages
● Complete Goals (micro-conversions)
● Complete and correct tracking in place
● Proper attribution model

18. Set the Acceptance Level
18
● The max number of clicks a keyword may generate without conversions

19. Details
Conversion Rates Don't Vary Much with Ad Position

20. Details
Not everyone agrees

21. “higher positions increase both the click-through
and conversion rates. When advertisements are
served in higher positions, approximately
one-third of new conversions is due to increased
click-through while approximately two-thirds are
due to increased conversion rates.”
Oliver J. Rutz, Randolph E. Bucklin, Garrett P. Sonnier (2012) A Latent Instrumental Variables Approach to Modeling
Keyword Conversion in Paid Search Advertising. Journal of Marketing Research: June 2012, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp.
306-319. (Details)

22. “conversion rates across all sixteen ad positions
we investigated follow a relatively stable
distribution, with the exception of the first two
ads.”
Liu, Z., Jansen, B. J. and Simon, Z. (2011), Investigating the effect of results ranking in sponsored search. Proc. Am.
Soc. Info. Sci. Tech., 48: 1–10. doi:10.1002/meet.2011.14504801071 (dettagli)
Liu, Z., Jansen, B. J. and Simon, Z. (2011), Investigating the effect of results ranking in sponsored search. Proc. Am.
Soc. Info. Sci. Tech., 48: 1–10. doi:10.1002/meet.2011.14504801071 (dettagli)

23. “Click-to-conversion rates for keywords
generally fall according to rank. However,
conversion rates for low volume keywords may
actually increase at lower ranks.”
The Atlas Rank Report—Part II: How Search Engine Rank Impacts Conversions By Nico Brooks, Director of Research and
Development—Atlas OnePoint

24. “Decent bidding rank not only has positive
influence on online retailers’ click rates and
conversion rates, but also improves customer’s
reservation price.”
International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management United Kingdom Vol. V, Issue 9, September 2017
Licensed under Creative Common Page 1 http://ijecm.co.uk/ ISSN 2348 0386 JOINT OPTIMIZATION STRATEGY FOR
BIDDING AND PRICING OF ONLINE FASHION RETAILER UNDER BIDDING RANKING,Xu Qi & Fei Kai Details

25. Why is it difficult to measure?
25
● Tautology: higher positions
= Better QS
= Better Landing Page Experience
= Better Conversion Rate
● Avg. Position = not reliable enough
Average position doesn’t reflect an ad’s actual position on
the page, but rather represents the order an ad shows up
against other ads in the auction

26. Analyze Average Position
26
In order to have a higher granularity:
Dimensions > Hour of the day with 1 day time range

27. Chapter #2
An overview of Google bidding strategies
27

28. Even if most clicks come from top positions
28

29. Target CPA
29
● sets bids to help get as many conversions as possible at or below the target
cost-per-action (CPA) you set

30. Target ROAS
30
● helps you get more conversion value or revenue at the target return-on-ad-spend
(ROAS) you set

31. Maximize Conversions
31
● automatically sets bids to help get the most conversions for your campaign while
spending your budget

32. Enhanced CPC
32
● Google has the right to increase or decrease your bid amount based on the
likelihood of driving the sale

33. Manual CPC Bidding
33
● Good for control-conscious
● Keyword level bids override AdGroup level (more control)

34. Maximize Clicks
34
● Maximizes number of clicks given a certain budget
○ Ideal for those mainly interested in traffic

35. Target Impression Share
35
● Ideal for brand awareness, it helps you reach as many people as possible
a. Target Top of Page Rate
b. Target Absolute Top of Page Rate

36. Chapter #3
How to choose the right bid
36

38. How much is a click worth?
38
● Target CPA * CR
● Conversion Value * Probability a click becomes a conversion
… but where does this magical formula come from?

39. Bidding Model is Simple
39
Max CPC = the highest amount that you're willing to pay for a click on your ad
● If Max CPC > Target CPA * CR Bid Less
● If Max CPC < Target CPA * CR Bid More
● If Max CPC > Target CPA * CR Bid Less
● ...

40. Example
40
● We are an e-commerce of time machines
● Sale price: $1000
$1000

41. Example
41
● So far we have sold 3 time machines
● Investing $500 in GAds

42. 42

43. From CPA to CPC: HOW?
43
CPA = Cost / Conversions
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conversions = CR * Clicks
$500 = 100 * $5
3 = 3% * 100

44. From CPA to CPC: HOW
44
CPA = Cost / Conversions
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conversions = CR * Clicks
So
CPA = (Clicks / CPC) / (CR * Clicks)
CPA = CPC / CR
$500 = 100 * $5
3 = 3% * 100

45. From CPA to CPC: HOW
45
CPA = Cost / Conversions
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conversions = CR * Clicks
So
CPA = (Clicks / CPC) / (CR * Clicks)
CPA = CPC / CR
$500 = 100 * $5
3 = 3% * 100
CPA = 100 * $5 / 3% * 100
CPA = $5 / 3%

46. From CPA to CPC: HOW
46
CPA = Cost / Conversions
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conversions = CR * Clicks
So
CPA = (Clicks / CPC) / (CR * Clicks)
CPA = CPC / CR
CPC = CPA * CR
$500 = 100 * $5
3 = 3% * 100
CPA = 100 * $5 / 3% * 100
CPA = $5 / 3%
5$ = CPA / 3%

47. From CPA to CPC: HOW
47
CPA = Cost / Conversions
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conversions = CR * Clicks
So
CPA = (Clicks / CPC) / (CR * Clicks)
CPA = CPC / CR
CPC = CPA * CR
What does it mean? The click value
equals the conversion value times the
probability a click becomes a conversion

48. 48

49. From ROAS to CPC: How?
49
ROAS = Conv Value / Cost
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conv Value = AOV * CR * Clicks

50. From ROAS to CPC: How?
50
ROAS = Conv Value / Cost
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conv Value = AOV * CR * Clicks
$500 = 100 * $5
$3000 = $1000 * 3% * 100

51. From ROAS to CPC: How?
51
ROAS = Conv Value / Cost
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conv Value = AOV * CR * Clicks
So
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
$500 = 100 * $5
$3000 = $1000 * 3% * 100

52. From ROAS to CPC: How?
52
ROAS = Conv Value / Cost
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conv Value = AOV * CR * Clicks
So
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
$500 = 100 * $5
$3000 = $1000 * 3% * 100
ROAS = ($1000 * 3% * 100) / (100 * $5)

53. From ROAS to CPC: How?
53
ROAS = Conv Value / Cost
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conv Value = AOV * CR * Clicks
So
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
CPC = Avg Ticket * CR / ROAS
$500 = 100 * $5
$3000 = $1000 * 3% * 100
ROAS = ($1000 * 3% * 100) / (100 * $5)

54. From ROAS to CPC: How?
54
ROAS = Conv Value / Cost
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conv Value = AOV * CR * Clicks
So
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
CPC = Avg Ticket * CR / ROAS
$500 = 100 * $5
$3000 = $1000 * 3% * 100
ROAS = ($1000 * 3% * 100) / (100 * $5)
CPC = $1000 * 3% / ROAS

55. From ROAS to CPC: How?
55
ROAS = Conv Value / Cost
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conv Value = AOV * CR * Clicks
So
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
CPC = AOV * CR / ROAS
ROAS = 1 / Target Margin
CPC = AOV * CR * Target Margin
$500 = 100 * $5
$3000 = $1000 * 3% * 100
ROAS = ($1000 * 3% * 100) / (100 * $5)
CPC = $1000 * 3% / ROAS

56. From ROAS to CPC: How?
56
ROAS = Conv Value / Cost
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conv Value = AOV * CR * Clicks
So
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
CPC = Avg Ticket * CR / ROAS
ROAS = 1 / Target Margin
CPC = AOV * CR * Target Margin
$500 = 100 * $5
$3000 = $1000 * 3% * 100
ROAS = ($1000 * 3% * 100) / (100 * $5)
CPC = $1000 * 3% / ROAS
ROAS = 1 / Target Margin
CPC = $1000 * 3% * Target Margin

57. From ROAS to CPC: How?
57
ROAS = Conv Value / Cost
Cost = Clicks * CPC
Conv Value = AOV * CR * Clicks
So
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
ROAS = AOV * CR * Clicks / Clicks * CPC
CPC = AOV * CR / ROAS
ROAS = 1 / Target Margin
CPC = AOV * CR * Target Margin
What does it mean? The click value
equals the conversion value times the
probability a click becomes a conversion

58. Campaigns - Roadmap
58
Brand Long Tail Terms
Misspellings
Categories
Sub-Categories
Generics
RLSA
Remarketing
FB Lookalikes
GDN
Placements
Video
Placements
Topic, Affinity,
In-Market GDN
DSA
GSP
Video Discovery
& YT In Stream
IGNORANCE
LEARNING
INTENT
(Low Priority) (Medium Priority) (High Priority)

59. What we need to estimate CPC
59
1) Understand the value of what we sell:
● If we start from ROAS: Target Margin* AOV
● Or the Target CPA
2) Conversion Rate

60. What we need to estimate CPC
60
1) Understand the value of what we sell:
● In a ROAS model: Margin % * AOV
● In a CPA model: Target CPA
2) Conversion Rate
EASY
Wait a
second

61. How to measure Conversion Rate
61
● Define the correct conversion window
● Default: 30 days post click + 1 day post view

62. Time Windows: Method #1
62
● Connect a Google Spreadsheet to Google Ads (Script or Super Metrics)
● Create reports to extract data and conversions
● Set a daily data extraction
● Inside Google Sheet Script Control X + Control V (link)

63. Results - Example
63

64. Time Windows: Method #2
64
New Interface

65. Time Windows: Method #2
65
New Interface

66. Conversion rate on low volume terms
66
For low volume terms , conversion rate should be approximated
Easiest solution: expand the timeframe

67. 67
Clustering on low volume terms
Keyword Clusters (typically at Campaign Level):
● Brand vs Non Brand
● High intent (eg how to, price,..)
● Match Type
● Query Length

68. Chapter #4
How to segment your campaign and adjust
your bid accordingly
68

69. ● Remarketing list
● Audience (Demo)
● Time
● Device
Other segments:
● Language
● Location
● Query or Placement
● Network
Segments to increase granularity
69

70. ● At campaign level
○ Compare the performance of a segment with the campaign
performance
○ To modify the bid in:
■ CPA: 100 × ((conversion rate of a segment / avg. campaign
conversion rate) -1)
■ ROAS: 100 × ((conv. value per click of a segment / avg. campaign
conv. value per click) -1)
How to calculate the segment adjustments
70

71. ● It’s enough to use Bid Adjustement
Device
71

72. ● In GA > Audience > Mobile Overview
Example
72

73. Example
73

74. Example
mobile
desktop
tablet
74

75. Example
mobile
desktop
tablet
CR Mobile 2.55% / CR Desktop 5.33% = 0.47%
75

76. Example
mobile
desktop
tablet
CR Mobile 2.55% / CR Desktop
5.33% = 47%
76

77. Example
77

78. Example
78

79. Example
CR Mobile 16.81% / CR Desktop 42.18% = 39%
79

80. ● It’s enough to use Bid Adjustement
GEOs
80

81. ● Brainlabs
Bid 24/7 script
81

82. ● Script
● Suggestion: Modify the bid early in the morning and use forecasts for the day
Weather
82

83. ● Script
TV Coordination

84. Chapter #5
Implementing an Automated Bidding
Strategy
84

85. ● Connect a Google Spreadsheet to Google Ads (Script or Super Metrics)
● Calculate bid
● Upload with script
Example of Automation

86. Chapter #6
Closing Advice on Automation and Bidding
86

87. Checklist
● Define Max CPC (using the formulas we showed)
● Test different models to calculate conversion rate. Areas to test:
○ Lookback windows
○ Keywords Clusters (typically at Campaign Level)
■ Brand vs Non Brand
■ Match Type
■ Query Length
● Bid testing (script)
● Implementa bid adjustments within segments

88. ● 3 Advanced Tips For Bid Adjustments In Google Enhanced Campaigns
(Search Engine Land) here
● The Definitive Framework for Bidding in AdWords - Hero Conf London 2016
(Wijnand Meijer) here
● Hero conference 2016 - advanced bidding (Chris Haleua) here
● The complete AdWords Audit Part 13: Bid Management (Brad Geddes) here
Further details

89. 89
gianluca@boosterboxdigital.com