Smart bidding

Smart bidding is Google setting your bid for every individual auction using its own prediction of whether that click will convert.

The common strategies are Maximise Conversions, Target CPA and Target ROAS.

All of them learn from your conversion data, so they're only as good as what that data records.

Point one at an account with no conversion history and it has nothing to learn from, so it guesses expensively.

I start new accounts on Maximise Clicks with a cost-per-click ceiling, then move to conversion-based bidding once there are roughly 15 to 30 conversions to work from.

Changing what a conversion is worth is a bidding change rather than a reporting change, so targets need rebasing in the same window.

What this means for you

Smart bidding is genuinely good once it's fed properly. Switching it on too early is one of the more expensive mistakes available in a Google Ads account.

This one sits under Google Ads management.

Related terms

Conversion tracking

Conversion tracking is the code that tells Google which clicks turned into enquiries, so it can bid toward the ones that do.

Cost per lead (CPL)

Cost per lead is your total ad spend divided by the number of genuine enquiries it produced.

Performance Max (PMax)

Performance Max is a Google campaign type that spends 1 budget across Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Display and Discover, choosing the mix itself.

Want to know how this looks on your account?

I'll look at what you've got and tell you where it stands, in the same plain terms.

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