Automatic rules of Google AdWords are a very useful and time-saving for those who manage large campaigns. Google AdWords allow advertisers to create rules that automatically change the parameters of your campaigns based on pre-set conditions. For example, you can set a rule to increase your keyword CPC of 20% every time the average position falls below the fifth and operate automatic rule every Sunday or everyday at a specific time.
Although they may seem like a great discovery, automatic rules are a double-edged sword. On the one hand can be used to automate maintenance and tuning processes, but, on the other hand, if used incorrectly, can completely sabotage campaigns.
In this post I would like to point out some things that you should keep in mind when you set automatic rules in Google AdWords.
You can't make good decisions on statistically insignificant data
We set a rule that runs every day and pauses the keywords with less than 1% CTR.
A keyword gets 100 impressions and clicks 0 ,so the rule will run and the keyword will be paused.
Now imagine a scenario in which the rule was not applied. After a few days the keyword get 1000 impressions and 20 clicks, CTR is therefore 2%. The decision to pause the keyword turned out to be rushed. 100 impressions was an insignificant number to draw conclusions.
One solution would be to add a second condition to the rule, i.e. apply the rule only if the number of impressions over time was considered relevant, such as:
If CTR < 3% and impressions > = 1000, then decrease your maximum CPC of 20%
Note that some automatic rules do not require many impressions. If the measures considered in the rule are the quality score, the position or the average CPC is just include a single condition: > click 1.
Another problem is a lack of understanding of the percentage value.
For example, if you want to use automatic rules to keep the ad on the third position in SERP you might think to increase the 20% CPC whenever the keyword position falls under the 3rd position and decrease of 20% every time above the 3rd.
Now suppose the corresponding maximum CPC in position 3 is € 0.55 and first time the rule runs a maximum CPC is $ 0.5 and the location is 4.
You enable the "CPC Increases" rule:
Increase maximum CPC of 20%. The next time the rule runs a maximum CPC will equal $ 0.6 and the position will be the 2.
So the rule is turned on "CPC Decreases"
Decrease of 20%. The new maximum CPC will be € 0.48. As you can see is lower than the initial $ 0.5. The same rule after 100 steps would change your maximum CPC andaverage position in this way:
Automatic AdWords – CPC rule is not stable
Automatic AdWords rule – average position very variable
As you can see from the graphs the CPC churn and average position is very high. So what is the solution?
How to optimize Google AdWords Automated Rules
The first thing that comes to mind is to lower your maximum CPC to a percentage value less than the increase.
Following the previous example, suppose to increase your maximum CPC of 20% anddecrease of 10%. On the first lap of the rules we get a maximum CPC automatic = € 0.6 and position = 2, in the second stage you get maximum CPC = $ 0.54.
It's almost our objective to position = 3 and CPC maximum = $ 0.55, but the location is still slightly lower than 3 then the maximum CPC rule increases again. In the next step the maximum CPC = € 0.65 and we distance ourselves from the optimal maximum CPC. Therefore this method is not perfect and maintains a considerable variance.
Automatic AdWords-CPC Rule
Automatic AdWords – CPC rule fairly stable
The ultimate solution that comes to mind is to decrease your maximum CPC of a percentage value which would bring it back to what it was before the increase. The calculation is as follows:
% reduction in value = 1-(1/(1 + X))
X = increased value (e.g. 20% = 0.2)
To keep your keyword around the third position, you must create 2 rules:
Rule 1: If the position is less than 3 increases the maximum CPC of 20% | > 100 impressions
Rule 2 If the position is greater than the maximum CPC 3 decrease of 1 – [1/(1. .2)] =0.17. Consider then a percentage reduction of 17% | > 100 impressions
With this formula no matter what percentage you increase your maximum CPC, you can always calculate a percentage value to return to the initial situation. It is not a perfect method as the CPC is not perfectly stable as it will fluctuate between two values, but the changing will be minimal. A permanent CPC is impossible to obtain because your actual CPC is based on real-time auction with competing advertisers,your best bet is to minimize the fluctuations in average position.
Also consider using low percentage values for the increase (and therefore also for the decrease) will lower fluctuations, CPC and average position will actually be more stable.Personally in my rules often use +5% and +4.762%.
AdWords Automatically adjusts CPC – stable
Automatic AdWords rule – little variable Position
These are just two of the possible threats that lurk within AdWords automated rules.The best practice is to test different rules on keyword groups or small ads and see what happens before putting them live on larger groups.
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