Is there still a place for manual bidding in Google Ads?

In the increasingly automated landscape of Google Ads, where "Smart Bidding" strategies use machine learning to optimize bids in real-time, the classic Manual CPC (Cost-Per-Click) Bidding remains a powerful, strategic option for advertisers who demand granular control over their ad spend.

Manual CPC is available since Google Ads started and has resisted all changes and upgrades in Google Ads, from automated bidding to latest AI improvements that decide the bidding.

But how exactly does it work, and in a world dominated by AI, where is this hands-on approach still recommended?

What is Manual CPC Bidding?

Manual CPC bidding is a Google Ads strategy that puts the advertiser firmly in the driver's seat. Instead of relying on Google's algorithms to set bids for you, you manually set the maximum amount you are willing to pay for a click (Max. CPC) on your ad.

How the Auction Works with Manual Bidding

1. You Set the Max. CPC: For every keyword or ad group, you assign a maximum bid. This is the absolute most you are willing to pay for a single click.

2. The Auction: When a user searches for your keyword, an auction occurs. Your Max. CPC, combined with your Ad Quality Score, determines your Ad Rank (your ad's position).

3. The Final Cost: Here's the good news: you rarely pay your full Max. CPC. Google's auction system ensures you are only charged the minimum amount required to hold your ad position and beat the Ad Rank of the competitor immediately below you. This is known as the Actual CPC.

4. Bid Adjustments for Precision: The real power of Manual CPC comes from Bid Adjustments. You can layer percentage increases or decreases on top of your Max. CPC based on key factors:

   • Device: Increase bids for mobile users if they convert better.

   • Location: Bid higher in high-value cities or regions.

   • Time of Day/Day of Week: Increase bids during your business's peak hours.

   • Audience: Adjust bids for users on your remarketing lists who are highly likely to convert.

In essence, you are deciding the value of every single click, allowing for highly strategic budget allocation.

While these bid adjusments are ment to improve results on a particular segmentation of the audience, the main power of manual CPC is that you can set bids as often as you want and set the value as accurate as the results of each keyword has for you.

Attribution is of course very important in decidind what value each keyword brings. Therefore a solid converision tracking must be implemented. Alternativelly, internal attribution using tracking of click ids that allow allocation of value to particular keywords based on recorded click id is the ideal situation.

While most of the time, the ideal scenario does not happend, managers can still do a great job using whatever information they have from the Google Ads interface regarding the keywords, even in case that the converion is not optimal. Quality score, share impression, Click-through-rate and other indicators are useful in deciding what keywords are good and which are not good.