On May 31, we added CPA and ERS bid strategies to DoubleClick Search V3 (DS3). Now we’ve added another powerful option to our suite of bid strategy goals: Floodlight tag bidding.
Floodlight tag bidding addresses the needs of companies that offer a complex mix of products with varying profit margins. It optimizes your keyword program based on the type of conversion. You can set a CPA goal for each conversion type (for sales tags, you also have the option of setting an ERS goal). You can even mix CPA and ERS goals within the same bid strategy. You may want to assign aggressive goals to higher margin conversion types, and conservative goals to lower margin conversion types.
For example, an advertiser that runs a travel website offers services for Car Rentals, Hotel Rooms, Airfare Tickets, and Cruise Packages. The advertiser may assume that keywords related to Car Rentals would always result in Car Rental conversions. However, what if a customer searches on car rentals and clicks on an ad to enter the website, but then ultimately changes his/her mind and buys a cruise package?
- Without Floodlight tag bidding: You can’t account for the different types of conversions that a set of keywords can produce. The keyword car rentals receives credit for the conversion on a cruise package, but all conversions for that keyword will be treated the same. You can only create one goal for all conversions.
- With Floodlight tag bidding: You’ll be able to set a different goal for each type of conversion (or Floodlight tag). You can analyze the profit margins and expected returns for all Floodlight tags. For a set of keywords that includes car rentals, you may want to set a higher CPA for conversions on cruises than on car rentals.
Now that DS3 offers all the bid strategy goals in the current version of DoubleClick Search, the bid strategies in advertisers that are upgraded to DS3 will automatically be moved. If your advertisers were upgraded before June 7, you can use the labels that were added to keywords to re-create the Floodlight tag bid strategies.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about Floodlight tag bidding and other bid strategy goals. Also, sign up for a DS3 webinar for training on bid strategies and more.
Posted by Patrick, Technical Writer
