Google’s Ads Liaison Gives Explainer On Value Based Bidding

Ginny Marvin, Google’s Ads Liaison, posted a Twitter thread with an explainer on Google Ads value-based bidding, VBB. Ginny wrote, “We’ve had lots of questions & heard some misconceptions about value-based bidding (VBB) recently. This week, I’ll be sharing info & resources about VBB & answering any questions you’ve got at the end of the week.”

So Ginny will be posting more, so I will just continue to update this thread with what she wrote, but here is part one:

(Q) What’s value-based bidding?

(A) VBB seeks to maximize conversion value within your budget & optional ROAS target. It optimizes for auctions predicted to deliver high conversion value. VBB is designed to return a higher total value of conversions but lower conversion volume vs. maximum conversion/tCPA bidding.

(Q) Who should use VBB?

(A) VBB works for lead generation, online sales & brick and mortar businesses of varied sizes and conversion cycles. The key to using VBB is setting values for the conversions you’re tracking & feeding the right first-party data into Google Ads. You define the value you want to maximize, such as sales revenue, profit margins, lifetime value, etc. Here is more on using proxy values next, but here’s more on conversion values & how to set them.

(Q) What does setting a target ROAS do?

(A) If you set an optional Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) target, it will optimize towards getting as much conversion value as possible at that target. Target ROAS is available for single campaigns or a portfolio strategy across multiple campaigns.

(Q) Are there conversion minimums to use VBB?

(A) If you’re tracking conv values, you can use max conv value bidding. With tROAS, most campaign types need at least 15 conversions in the past 30 days. Check out the “Before you begin” section here.

(Q) What if I don’t have enough bottom-funnel conversions?

(A) Google recommends optimizing for your lowest-funnel conv action, but you can use a higher-funnel conv action if value measurement is an issue. Also, consider simplifying campaign structures, shared budgets & portfolio strategies.

There is more to come tomorrow, so I will keep adding more and more to this post as Ginny Marvin posted them on Twitter.

Forum discussion at Twitter.