A bid adjustment is a percentage increase or decrease in your bids. Bid adjustments allow you to show your ads more or less frequently based on where, when, and how people search. For example, sometimes a click is worth more to you if it comes from a smartphone, at a certain time of day, or from a specific location. You can also adjust your bids based on how your ads perform, helping to improve your return on investment (ROI). Spending on individual clicks may vary as your bids increase or decrease according to the adjustments you've set, but your overall average daily budget won't change.
In this article, you’ll learn about the different types of bid adjustments and their requirements, how multiple adjustments interact, and what options are available for different types of campaigns.
Before you beginAll bidding strategies are compatible with all campaign types. Learn more about target CPA, target ROAS, maximize clicks bidding strategies, and how to add or remove a bid adjustment.
How bid adjustments workSay you've got a campaign that performs well on mobile devices with a max CPC bid of $1 USD. To show your ad to more customers on mobile devices, you increase your bid by 20% for searches on mobile devices, resulting in a final bid amount of $1.20 USD. Here's the math:
Starting bid: $1 USD
Mobile adjustment: $1 USD + ($1 USD x 20%) = $1.20 USD
Resulting bid for searches on mobile devices: $1.20 USD
In another example, let’s say you have a $1 USD bid and would like to decrease it. To adjust it to $0.80 USD, select Decrease by 20%.
How to view your bid adjustmentsIn your Google Ads account, you can view bid adjustments from the page menu on the left:
Use device bid adjustments to show your ad more or less frequently for searches that occur on specific devices: computers, tablets, or mobile devices.
Where you can use themUse location bid adjustments to show your ad more or less frequently to customers in certain countries, cities, or other geographic areas. You can also use location asset targeting to set different bids for customers who are located around your business.
Where you can use themUse ad scheduling bid adjustments to increase or decrease your bids for campaigns that show only on certain days or during certain hours. To do this, you’ll first need to set up a custom ad schedule.
Where you can use themNote: Top content bid adjustments are no longer available.
Targeting methods (advanced) Remarketing lists for Search ads (advanced)You can set bid adjustments for remarketing lists in your ad groups if you’d like to show ads to people on these lists. For example, you could increase your bid by 25% for those who previously viewed your website in the last 30 days. If you don’t yet have a remarketing list set up, review About Google Ads remarketing lists for search ads.
Where you can use themYou can increase your bid for mobile devices to show call interaction ads more frequently for mobile phone users. Interaction bid adjustments influence how often you show call assets and call-only ads to users. The flexibility of adjusting your bids for certain interactions gives you more control over how often they appear with your ad and how potential customers connect with your business.
Where you can use themYou can adjust your bid to target potential customers of either gender and/or in certain age ranges and incomes. Demographic bid adjustments determine how often your ads show to the preferred audience to make the most of each impression. Learn more About demographic targeting
Where you can use themScroll to the right to view the entire table.
Tip: With Smart campaigns and App campaigns, Google AI adjusts bids seamlessly to maximize performance based on your advertising goals.
Automated biddingThis chart outlines the bid adjustment types that are supported by each automated bid strategy (scroll to the right to view the entire table).
* = Treated as a target adjustment
Note: In cases where -100% adjustments aren't possible, Smart Bidding strategies will still consider targeting and exclusions for each bid adjustment type.
Multiple bid adjustmentsWhen you set more than one bid adjustment in your campaign, those adjustments are typically multiplied together to determine how much your bid will increase or decrease. However, multiple device and location bid adjustments behave differently.
Keep in mind that combined bid adjustments can't exceed a 900% bid increase. For example, a $1 USD bid with a device increase of 900% combined with a location increase of 900% will result in a bid of only $10 USD. The lowest possible bid adjustment when combining multiple bid adjustments is -90%.
Say you're running a campaign that targets the U.S. and is scheduled to run all days of the week. And, you've set an ad group max CPC bid of $1 USD. You decide to increase your bid by 20% for California, and decrease your bid by 50% for Saturday. Your resulting bid for a search that occurs in California on a Saturday will be $0.60 USD. Here's the math:
Starting bid: $1 USD
California adjustment: $1 USD + ($1 USD x 20%) = $1.20 USD
Saturday adjustment: $1 USD x $1.20 USD x 0.50 = $0.60 USD
Resulting bid for searches in California on Saturday: $0.60 USD
Resulting bid for searches in California on Sunday through Friday: $1.20 USD
Resulting bid for searches in other states on Saturday: $0.50 USD
Resulting bid for searches in other states on Sunday through Friday: $1 USD
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