Tips to Stop Overbidding on Google Ads in 2024
We know if you’re investing in Google Ads the goal is to rank the highest when potential customers are searching topics related to your business. And keeping that top position can have a huge impact on the success of your PPC campaigns overall. Generally speaking, the average CTR for Adwords ads drops significantly between the first three positions, so to ensure the best results, you want to bid high enough to ensure the highest positions for your ads.
However, bidding too high can drain your advertising budget, and overbidding can be a major problem. Your ad spend can be stretched and your campaigns can perform better in the long run if you ensure that your bidding strategy is aggressive enough to keep your ads in high-performing positions, but not too aggressive that it eats up your budget too quickly.
Stop Overbidding on Google Ads
The other day, I had a conversation with a client about how my Google Ads bidding strategy often goes against some of Google’s near-constant recommendations. You might have noticed that Google can be somewhat forceful in its bidding advice and make it seem like raising bids and budgets is the only way to succeed. This simply isn’t true. It is more important to be strategic with your bids.
At first glance, the idea of overbidding seems logical - the higher the bid, the better the ad placement, and consequently the more clicks and conversions. However, this strategy can quickly spiral out of control. Overspending on bids often results in a high cost-per-click (CPC), eating into your budget without guaranteeing a proportional increase in conversions.
Let’s dive into a couple of key factors to analyze when deciding your bids and what is most important to you.
Look At Your Competition
It is so important to honestly look at the competition for impression share in your market. What companies are you competing against and how does your Google Ads budget compare? Are there smaller competitors that you can easily outbid? Are there larger corporations with larger monthly budgets? In a lot of cases I find it helpful to identify the bigger corporations that are going to outbid everyone to gain that absolute top position no matter the cost, and concede that spot to them. Instead, I’ll shoot for second place knowing that I’ll still be positioned at the top of the page, but I’m bidding much lower to get there. This helps me get more clicks for my client which leads to more conversions.
Look At The Overall Health Of Your Campaign
Google’s algorithms consider a variety of factors beyond bid amounts, such as ad relevance and landing page experience when determining ad rank. Focusing solely on bids neglects these crucial elements, potentially leading to lower ad positions despite higher bids. Make sure that you’re taking the time to optimize your ad text to help bolster your ad relevance. Incorporate the available assets like images, business name, and logo to help the ad performance. Keep the customer journey in mind when connecting the dots between what they’re typing into their search bar that triggers your ads, what they’re seeing in your ads, and the information they’re finding on the website.
In conclusion, while the temptation to overbid on Google Ads is understandable, a more nuanced approach is essential for sustainable success. Prioritize the quality of clicks over quantity, continually optimize your campaigns, and strike a balance between bids and overall campaign performance. By doing so, you can navigate the competitive landscape that is Google Ads.
