Manual Bidding Strategy – Everything to Know About

Table of Contents

What is Manual Bidding Strategy?

– Manual Cost-Per-Click (CPC) bidding lets you set your own maximum cost-per-click (CPC) for your ads.
– Falls into the category of PPC which stands for Pay-per-Click.
– The key distinction between Manual Bidding and Automated Bidding is that with Automated Bidding Google sets the bids for you and with Manual bidding you set the bid. 

Pros And Cons Of Manual Bidding Strategy

Pro’s

Con’s

  • Easiest bid strategy
  • Advertisers set their own bids manually at the keyword level. 
  • Best for folks who are thinking to start testing with Google Ads
  • No delay in changes
  • You start by setting a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) bid for your entire ad group (called your default bid), but you can also set separate bids for individual keywords or placements. For example, if you’ve found that certain keywords are more profitable, you can use manual bidding to allocate more of your advertising budget to those keywords.
  • Requires time investment to look at the performance
  • Manual bidding can be under-informed. In other words – might be a disconnect from other Google systems such as AI and ML
  • Leverage fewer data points
  • No Automation
  • The larger the account, the larger the challenge
  • Chance for inefficiencies
  • Bidding can eat up your time
  • Limited segmentation options

About the Author

Zabi Niazi - Director of Search Marketing SEM and SEO

Hands-on execution & Revenue-focused digital marketer with expertise in Design & Operations centered around people, processes & technology engineering a Demand-Gen Engine capable of delivering innovative experiences that tell the brand story and map to the buyer's journey generating awareness, acquisition, retention, and advocacy.