When it comes to implementing effective and worthwhile search marketing, automation can be a blessing sent from above. There are so many networks that require constant management in order to see any positive effect, and their functionalities are growing in complexity.
Automation enables marketers to focus on each of the different sectors, while also analysing deeply the results of what they’re doing. This also applies to PPC, where more time can be spent strategising like only a human can! While computers do the mundane aspect of account management.
One time-consuming area of PPC is managing your bids. It is often more profitable for a computer to manage these on your behalf, especially if you are overseeing larger accounts. When using Google AdWords, it is possible to opt for ‘Automated Bid Strategies’. This is available at keyword, ad group and campaign level. You can also use their ‘smart bidding’, which is an advanced way of amending your bids based on various real-time signals such as the time of day, language, operating system, device or location of the end-user. This helps to target the bids more specifically, and ensures greater focus.
Within Google AdWords, there are a few different types of smart bidding. This includes Target ROAS, where you can target users for a greater conversion value depending on a target return-on-ad-spend. Alternatively, you could opt for enhanced CPC, in which Google seeks out ad auctions that have a greater chance of converting. This then raises what your maximum CPC bid is automatically.
You can additionally set bids with a target cost per acquisition, which will help push how many conversions you get. Also, Google can use historical data and evaluate this against contextual signals to find an optimal CPC bid on your behalf. These can all help to automatically boost your PPC success. You will find it is possible to do ‘Bulk Operations’ in AdWords, including ‘Bulk Edits’ and ‘Bulk Uploads’. This can all help to speed up the process.
You can also get automated account alerts, which means you don’t need to keep manually checking in on every account to look for something of importance. This is especially helpful when it comes to identifying anomalies or problems in the performance of an account, particularly if you are managing a high volume of these. With Google, there is an Account Anomaly Detector as part of the AdWords Script. This will offer either hourly or daily reviews of your account performance, depending on your settings, and will then alert you to this information automatically. Likewise, you can also turn all of this into automated PPC reports thanks to Google Analytics API. It couldn’t be easier or more time-saving.
