Let Microsoft Advertising manage your bids with bid strategies

Let Microsoft Advertising manage your bids with bid strategies

Learn how Microsoft Advertising can handle bidding for you using bid strategies such as enhanced CPC, maximize clicks, maximize conversions, and target CPA.

The bid strategy you choose tells us how you want to manage the bids for your campaign. With manual bid strategies, you manually set your bids. With auto-bidding strategies, Microsoft Advertising automatically adjusts your bids in real time to meet your performance goals using our deep analysis of patterns in searches, clicks, and conversions. Whichever bid strategy you use, Microsoft Advertising will always respect your budget limit.

See below for information about auto-bidding strategy statuses and a list of frequently asked questions about them.

How would you like Microsoft Advertising to manage your bids?

Microsoft Advertising can manage the following types of bids:

Manual bid strategies

• Manual CPC
• Manual CPI
• Manual CPM
• Manual CPV

Auto-bidding strategies

• Cost per completed view (CPCV)
• Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)
• Cost per sale (CPS)
• Enhanced CPC
• Maximize clicks
• Maximize conversions
• Maximize conversion value
• Target CPA
• Target impression share
• Target ROAS

Cost per completed view (CPCV)

With CPCV, we optimize your bids based on the cost you want to pay per completed view of a ad. You set the amount you want to pay per completed view of your ad. Then, Microsoft Advertising automatically finds traffic based on your targeting to show ads to potential customers who are likely to view your ad to completion. Please note that CPCV is the only bid strategy available for Premium Streaming.

Cost per thousand impressions (CPM)

With CPM, we optimize your bids based on the cost you want to pay per thousand viewed video impressions. You set the amount you want to pay per thousand viewed video impressions. Then, Microsoft Advertising automatically adjusts your bids in real time to maximize your video reach. Please note that CPM is the only bid strategy available for online Video ads.

Cost per sale (CPS)

Cost per sale (CPS) bid strategy is an incremental opportunity for Shopping campaigns, where you only pay for a sale that happens within 24 hours of a click on your product ad. You set the target cost per sale that you want used to maximize conversions.

It takes up to 72 hours for a CPS Shopping campaign to start delivering. Until the campaign is live, the delivery status will show as "In review".

Sales for CPS Shopping campaigns are recorded in sales count column, rather than the conversion column. To view the sales count, simply add the Sales column in the Campaigns grid.

Enhanced CPC

Enhanced cost per click (CPC) is the default bid strategy setting when you create a new campaign. With enhanced CPC, you set your ad group and keyword bids, and Microsoft Advertising automatically adjusts your bids in real time to increase your chances for a conversion. Your bid will go higher on searches that are more likely to convert and lower on searches less likely to convert (up or down, this change will be made after we apply any bid adjustments you have set). Over the long haul, though, we will try to make sure that your average CPC is not higher than your bid.

If you haven't optimized your campaign yet, enhanced CPC should reduce your cost per conversion and increase your total conversion count while respecting your current budget.

Manual CPC

With the manual CPC bid strategy, Microsoft Advertising uses these bids every time.

Manual CPI

With the Manual CPI bid strategy, you set the maximum value of installs for your App Ads campaign. Microsoft Advertising will set your bids that are lower than your defined CPI value.

Manual CPM

With manual cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) bids, you set the actual cost you want to pay per 1,000 viewed impressions. A viewed impression is counted when more than 50% of the ad pixels are in the user's view and the ad is viewed for at least second.

Manual CPV

With the manual cost-per-view (CPV) bid strategy, you set the highest amount that you'd like to pay per view or per click on a Video ad.

Maximize clicks

With maximize clicks, Microsoft Advertising automatically sets your bids in real time to get as many clicks as possible within your budget.

Microsoft Advertising will always respect your overall budget limit; but if you want greater control over your bids while using maximize clicks, you can also set a maximum CPC (cost per click). This is an optional limit you can set to make sure that Microsoft Advertising never charges more than a certain amount for each individual click. Maximum CPC campaigns do not support bid landscape functionality.

You cannot change bids for keywords that are using maximize clicks. This means that automated rules and third-party bid management tools will not affect these keywords. With maximize clicks, Microsoft Advertising will have full and final control over optimizing your bids. That said, any bid adjustments you have set (or that you set in the future) can be used to inform your maximize clicks automated bids.When using the auto bidding function, you can only set the bid on the campaign level. The auction bid for every keyword is calculated by the backend model in real-time.

Tips for using maximize clicks with Microsoft Shopping campaigns

• Shopping campaigns that use maximize clicks should be kept at the highest priority.
• Avoid creating overlapping product offers in multiple Shopping campaigns that use maximize clicks.

Maximize conversions

With maximize conversions, Microsoft Advertising automatically sets your bids in real time to get as many conversions as possible within your budget.

Microsoft Advertising will always respect your overall budget limit, but if you want greater control over your bids while using maximize conversions, you can also set a maximum cost per click) (CPC). This is an optional limit you can set to make sure that Microsoft Advertising never charges more than a certain amount for each individual click.

You need to have conversion tracking (either a UET tag + an active conversion goal, or offline conversions) set up in order to use the maximize conversions bid strategy. We recommend giving the bid strategy enough time to accumulate at least 30 conversions before evaluating its performance.

You cannot change bids for keywords that are using maximize conversions. This means that automated rules and third-party bid management tools will not affect these keywords. With maximize conversions, Microsoft Advertising will have full and final control over optimizing your bids. That said, any bid adjustments you have set (or that you set in the future) can be used to inform your maximize conversions automated bids.

See Best practices for maximize conversions below.

Maximize conversion value

Maximize conversion value focuses on optimizing high-value conversions and the total sales value of your campaign. We'll automatically set your bids in real time to maximize total conversion value within your budget. If you have specific return on investment (ROI) goals, you can choose to add a Target ROAS (return on ad spend). To learn more about Target ROAS, please see below.

Target CPA

With Target cost per acquisition (CPA), you set your budget and your target 30-day average CPA, and Microsoft Advertising automatically sets your bids in real time to get you to this average. Some conversions may cost more than your target and some may cost less, but Microsoft Advertising will try to make sure your average cost per conversion is in line with your target.

Microsoft Advertising will always respect your overall budget limit, but if you want greater control over your bids while using target CPA, you can also set a maximum CPC (cost per click). This is an optional limit you can set to make sure that Microsoft Advertising never charges more than a certain amount for each individual click.

You need to have conversion tracking (either a UET tag + an active conversion goal, or offline conversions) set up in order to use the target CPA bid strategy. We recommend giving the bid strategy enough time to accumulate at least 30 conversions before evaluating its performance.

You cannot change bids for keywords that are using target CPA. This means that automated rules and third-party bid management tools will not affect these keywords. With target CPA, Microsoft Advertising will have full and final control over optimizing your bids. That said, any bid adjustments you have set (or that you set in the future) can be used to inform your target CPA automated bids (while still striving to achieve your target CPA).

See Best practices for Target CPA below.

Target impression share

With Target impression share, you set your budget, where you want ads to appear, and your target impression share. Then, Microsoft Advertising automatically sets your bids.

Microsoft Advertising will always respect your overall budget limit, but if you want greater control over your bids while using target impression share, you can also set a maximum cost per click (CPC). This is an optional limit you can set to make sure that Microsoft Advertising never charges more than a certain amount for each individual click.

Target ROAS

With Target return on ad spend (ROAS), you set your budget and your target 30-day average ROAS, and Microsoft Advertising automatically sets your bids in real time to get you to this average.

Microsoft Advertising will always respect your overall budget limit; but if you want greater control over your bids while using target ROAS, you can also set a maximum CPC (cost per click). This is an optional limit you can set to make sure that Microsoft Advertising never charges more than a certain amount for each individual click.

You need to have conversion tracking (either a UET tag + an active conversion goal, or offline conversions) set up and have positive revenue tracked in order to use the target ROAS bid strategy. We recommend giving the bid strategy enough time to accumulate at least 30 conversions before evaluating its performance.

You cannot change bids for keywords that are using target ROAS. This means that automated rules and third-party bid management tools will not affect these keywords. With target ROAS, Microsoft Advertising will have full and final control over optimizing your bids. That said, any bid adjustments you have set (or that you set in the future) can be used to inform your target ROAS automated bids (while still striving to achieve your target ROAS).

Comparing bid strategies

Share a portfolio bid strategy with other campaigns

Portfolio bid strategy manages bidding across multiple campaigns that are all working toward the same goal. A campaign can either have its own bid strategy or it can share a portfolio bid strategy with other campaigns.

In a portfolio bid strategy, we automatically adjust your bids to balance under- and over-performing campaigns that share the same strategy, whether to maximize conversions, clicks, target impression share, or other performance goals. Portfolio bid strategies could be a great option for advertisers who want to make sure their entire budgets are spent efficiently.

Learn more: Portfolio bid strategies: Auto-bidding for performance goals

Set a campaign's bid strategy

You can set the bid strategy at the campaign level. To change a campaign's bid strategy:

Set a maximum CPC (cost per click)

To set a maximum CPC, your campaign must use one of the follow bid strategy types: Maximize conversions, Target CPA, or Target ROAS. If your campaign uses one of these bid strategies, follow these steps:

Best practices for maximize conversions and Target CPA

• Requirements: In order to turn on maximize conversions or Target CPA, your campaign:
  • Must have conversion tracking (either a UET tag + an active conversion goal, or offline conversions) set up. We recommend giving the bid strategy enough time to accumulate at least 30 conversions before evaluating its performance.
• How to make sure maximize conversions and Target CPA work optimally: Maximize conversions and Target CPA need time to work. For best results, keep this timeline in mind:
  1. Getting set up: 30 days — We recommend having at least 30 conversions in the previous 30 days. When setting up Target CPA, we suggest basing your target on your actual CPA from the previous 30 days. For new campaigns, we suggest basing your target on your account's performance.
  2. Learning period: 1-2 weeks — Our platform usually needs two weeks to acquaint itself with your campaign. Avoid changing budgets or conversion goals during this period, as this may cause the learning period to start over. We recommend not evaluating the bid strategy's performance based on these two weeks.
  3. Run campaign: 2-4 weeks — Let your campaign run for two to four weeks after the learning period (avoiding changing budgets or conversion goals, as this may cause the learning period to start over) and then start evaluating the bid strategy's performance. Keep your conversion goal window in mind while evaluating performance.
  4. Evaluate and adjust: Going forward — Review the campaign's performance since the learning period is aggregate and make adjustments as needed. For Target CPA, we recommend keeping adjustments within 20%, up or down.
• Timing of conversions: When conversions occur more than seven days after the associated clicks, it's harder for maximize conversions and Target CPA to make effective bids. If most of your conversions occur more than seven days after the associated clicks, we recommend not using maximize conversions or Target CPA.
• Offline conversions: If you don't or can't upload offline conversions on a daily basis, we recommend not using maximize conversions or Target CPA. For best results, upload offline conversions within two days of the conversion.

Auto-bidding strategy delivery statuses

There are two auto-bidding strategy statuses that may appear in the Delivery column of the campaigns grid:

• Limited by auto-bidding target

  This status means that your campaign could gain additional opportunities by adjusting the target for Target ROAS and Target CPA bid strategies. For Target ROAS, this status means that we recommend you lower the target. For Target CPA, this status means that we recommend you increase the target. This will adjust your acceptable target range so that we can find new opportunities that align with your performance goals.

• Performance limited by budget

  This status means that your campaign's performance is limited by the budget you've set and so it isn't performing as well as it could if you increased the budget. We suggest that you apply our recommended campaign budget by following these steps: From the navigation menu on the left, select Campaigns. In the Delivery column of the campaigns grid, hover over your auto-bidding status for the appropriate campaign and select Apply the recommended Campaign budget.

Frequently asked questions about auto-bidding strategy statuses

If my campaign's auto-bidding status says “Limited by auto-bidding target," does this indicate that there's something wrong with my campaign's optimization?

No, this status does not indicate that anything is wrong with your campaign's optimization. The purpose of this status is simply to inform advertisers that we have high confidence in the campaign's ability to gain additional opportunities by adjusting the target for Target ROAS and Target CPA bid strategies. For Target ROAS, this status means that we recommend you lower the target. For Target CPA, this status means that we recommend you increase the target. It does not indicate any issues with the campaign optimization.

My campaign is meeting/exceeding the Target CPA or Target ROAS. Why do I still see the “Limited by auto-bidding target” status?

Even if your campaign is meeting or exceeding its target, it can still benefit by adjusting the target to gain additional opportunities. For Target ROAS, we recommend you lower the target. For Target CPA, we recommend you increase the target. This will adjust your acceptable target range so that we can find new opportunities that align with your performance goals for cost per acquisition and return on ad spend.

I have adjusted my campaign's target based on Microsoft Advertising's recommendation for the “Limited by auto-bidding target” status (i.e., increasing the target for Target CPA and lowering the target for Target ROAS). Why do I still see the “Limited by auto-bidding target” status?

You may still see this status for two reasons:

• Not enough time has passed since changing the target. In which case, the status will be updated the next day.
• If more than a day has passed and you see the same status, it's because we still see additional opportunities that can be gained by further adjusting the target (i.e., increasing the target for Target CPA and lowering the target for Target ROAS).

Is it required/highly recommended to adjust the target (i.e., increasing the target for Target CPA and lowering the target for Target ROAS) every time I see the “Limited by auto-bidding target” status for my campaign?

Changing or updating the target is based on your discretion and specific business goals. With this status, we recommend that you adjust the target based on our high confidence in the campaign's ability to gain additional opportunities. However, we don't recommend frequent target changes unless they are aligned with the advertiser's business goals.

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