Google provides the ability to adjust bids on a device level. This means we can set bid levels for individual device types like desktops, tablets, and smartphones. We can choose to advertise only on a single device or we can select certain increase/decrease percentages for specific devices.
Need for Device Bid Adjustments
To optimize the performance of our campaign and to get more conversions it is necessary to do device bid adjustments. It is necessary to monitor the change every 14 days or even we can update it weekly depending on the volume.
Where we can use device bid adjustments?
- Campaigns
- Ad groups
What is the range of device bid adjustments?
- The device bid adjustments range varies from -100% to +900%
- Device bid adjustments can’t exceed a 900% bid increase. If we set a +900% device bid for a certain device then the resulting bid is ten times the original bid amount.
- Setting device bid adjustment by -100% will opt out a device for the selected campaigns or ad groups. Based on the combination of number of conversion, cost per conversion from certain device we can increase or decrease the bid level to focus right people which lead to better conversion.
What is multiple device bid adjustments?
Multiple device bid adjustments works as follows. Consider we have set a device bid adjustments for a campaign and an ad group within a same campaign; the ad group bid adjustment alone will be used to determine the bid.
On the other hand if we have set a device bid adjustments for a campaign by -100% and as well we have set a device bid adjustments for an ad group in the same campaign by +50%, then the ad group level device bid adjustments won’t be used.
What is the goal of using device bid adjustments?
The ultimate goal is to increase more conversions to the better performing devices. By increasing or decreasing the bid value of certain devices we can achieve better performance of the campaign.
Device bid adjustments based on industry
Setting up a device bid adjustments varies on the industry that our ads are focusing as well as the ad types. It is necessary to set up the website easily accessible for all device users.
App promoting ads, call only ads, ads for food delivery, online ticketing runs better on smart phones. It also depends on where our customer is from. For example may be our targeting customers will spend more time on smart phones, they may travel through any public transport in a daily life. Those people mostly rely on smart phones for any product shopping or booking services.
On the other hand if our targeting customers spend more time on office or they may be business professionals they mostly rely on desktops and tablets. So device bid adjustment vary based on the customer’s activity.
How does it work?
By analyzing the values of conversion, cost per conversion we can increase or decrease the bid level of better performing devices.
Consider a campaign runs better on desktop which is we are getting high conversion compared to smart phones and tablets; we can increase the bid for desktop by certain percentage so that we can show our ads to more desktop users.
For example, the initial bid for a Keyword is $2 USD. Increase desktop device bid by 20%. So the resulting max bid for searches on desktop is $2.40 USD. For smart phones and tablets the max bid value remains the same as $2 USD.
How manual device bid adjustments works?
Consider the reported data of performance by device. Here the reported conversion value of smart phones is not the actual value as it tracks only the online conversions. To obtain better results from device bid adjustments it is necessary to get the exact conversion value of devices.
| Device | Cost | Reported conversion | Reported CPC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smart phones | $90 | 6 | $15 |
| Desktop | $120 | 12 | $10 |
| Tablet | $70 | 4 | $17.5 |
| Total | $280 | 22 | $13.33 |
Instead of taking reported conversion into account take full value conversion. Full value conversions not only tracks online conversions in addition it tracks offline activities. So we can get the exact conversion value of devices. Full value conversion for smart phone is 10.
Device bid adjustment ratio = (Total full value CPC/Device full value CPC)
Device bid adjustment change = (Device bid adjustment ratio – 1) * 100
| Device | Cost | Reported conversion | Full value conversion | Full value CPC | Device Bid Adj. change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smart phones | $90 | 6 | 10 | $9 | + 48% |
| Desktop | $120 | 12 | 12 | $10 | + 33% |
| Tablet | $70 | 4 | 4 | $17.5 | -23% |
| Total | $280 | 22 | 21 | $13.33 | – |
Key takeaways
- To get a finer result from device bid adjustments make a decision based on the number of conversion as well as the cost per conversion for a specific device.
- Thus device bid adjustment helps to target the right customers at the right time which in turn increases Return on Investment. In turn, customers can also easily get access to relevant search results.
