With the recent announcements of the new Floodlight tag and CPA and ERS options in DoubleClick Search V3 (DS3) bid strategies, we wanted to take a step back and look at a powerful feature in position bid strategies: Monthly spend target.
When you create a bid strategy with a Target average position goal, you have the option of setting a Monthly spend target. This feature is very useful if you want to set a spend target for a set of keywords and are looking to optimize the cost so you get the maximum number of clicks in return. And as the DS3 bid strategy system changes bids multiple times a day, DS3 makes frequent adjustments to ensure optimal use of your spend.
If you set a monthly spend target:
- DS3 will attempt to maximize the total clicks for the bid strategy’s keywords while staying within the position range. To maximize overall clicks for keywords in the position range, keywords with a lower average CPC will get higher priority in using the spend. This priority usually results in a better position.
- If, as the month goes on, the total spend of keywords is trending to go over or under the spend target, DS3 will adjust the bids within the position range to get closer to the target. However, if DS3 needs to exceed the target to remain at the lowest position in the position range, it will do so. Similarly, DS3 will spend less than the target if needed to not go beyond the top position. The monthly spend target on a bid strategy is not a strict budget. DS3 will not set bids for keywords lower than the minimum strategy bid, nor will it allow keywords to fall below the defined position targets, even if that means exceeding the spend target.
Tip: If you don’t want to exceed the monthly target, set the lowest position in the range to 99.0 (for example, 3.5 : 99.0). A value of 99 indicates an open-ended range. In the example, DS3 will attempt to achieve up to a position of 3.5, but it will drop to the minimum strategy bid in an effort to stay within the budget (even if the keyword has no impressions and, therefore, no position).
If you don’t set a monthly spend target, DS3 will continue to increase bids for the bid strategy’s keywords (while staying within the minimum and maximum strategy bids) until their average position reaches the top of the position range.
Monthly spend target is just one of many bid strategy features that allow you to optimize bids automatically. Learn more in the Help Center.
Posted by Xiaodong of the DS3 Optimization team
