Smart Bidding strategies tend to prioritise maximising conversions within existing traffic patterns. This can lead to a degree of “comfort” – the algorithm efficiently targets users who are already likely to convert, but may not actively seek out high-value segments.
Bidding Exploration is an AI-powered feature specifically designed to address this limitation. It encourages the algorithm to explore a wider range of user segments and auction dynamics.
By temporarily lowering the effective ROAS target by 10%, it allows the algorithm to experiment with bids on auctions it might otherwise avoid.
What Is Search Bidding Exploration?
A key challenge in paid media has been that Google’s Smart Bidding strategies often focus on high-intent or “warm” opportunities—those that are most likely to convert based on past behaviour. It can limit the potential to achieve broader bid strategy goals.
Search Bidding Exploration beta addresses this gap by actively seeking out additional traffic sources that might not fit within the typical conversion patterns, thus expanding your reach and increasing your chances of discovering new audiences.
Who Is The Target Audience?
Search advertisers who are currently using tROAS bidding, have adopted broad match keywords and are eager to scale their performance even further.
These advertisers are looking for innovative ways to expand their reach, diversify their traffic sources, and achieve higher returns from their campaigns by pushing beyond the typical parameters set by traditional bidding strategies.
Why Advertisers Often Struggle to Diversify Their Traffic
Many advertisers face a common challenge when it comes to diversifying their traffic sources.
- The “Safe Bet” Syndrome: Advertisers often rely heavily on keywords and user segments that have consistently driven strong performance in the past. These “safe bets” provide a predictable and reliable source of conversions, meeting ROAS targets with minimal risk.
- The “Low Traffic” Trap: Conversely, queries with lower traffic volumes often present a challenge. Due to limited data, it’s difficult for the bidding algorithm to accurately predict their ROAS performance.
This uncertainty can make the algorithm hesitant to increase bids on these queries, leading to continued low traffic and limited growth opportunities.
What If We Could Offer More Flexibility to ROAS Bidders?
What if there were a way to give the bidding system more flexibility in identifying valuable opportunities beyond the typical high-conversion queries?
The Exploration beta is specifically designed to address this challenge. By temporarily adjusting the ROAS target, it empowers the algorithm to take calculated risks and explore new opportunities within paid media campaigns.
This controlled exploration allows the algorithm to uncover hidden pockets of conversion volume within low-traffic queries.
Key Benefits Of Search Bidding Exploration
Campaigns that have implemented Bidding Exploration have seen a significant 45% increase in both traffic diversity and conversions, according to Google’s internal global data.
However, it’s important to note that this data is based on campaigns operating with an allowable 10% lower ROAS. This highlights the importance of a controlled and measured approach to exploration.
Here are the top benefits:
- Increased Traffic Diversity: Bidding Exploration identifies new sources of traffic and broadens the scope of potential customers. By targeting more diverse audience segments, advertisers can tap into untapped opportunities and reach a wider range of users.
- Increased Clicks & Conversions: When combined with unrestricted budgets, Bidding Exploration helps drive more clicks and conversions. With the flexibility to expand beyond typical high-intent traffic, this feature maximises campaign reach and performance, potentially leading to increased conversions.
- Scaled Performance: The algorithm can capitalise on high-value traffic sources more efficiently. This can lead to a significant increase in conversions while maintaining or even improving overall campaign profitability. Scaled performance through Bidding Exploration ensures that campaigns continue to evolve and improve the ROI.
How Bidding Exploration Works
Bidding Exploration enhances your Smart Bidding strategy by increasing bids on queries where simulations suggest that performance and traffic diversity can be improved. The feature identifies opportunities to adjust bids dynamically to capture additional traffic from previously untapped or less conventional queries.
Enabling Exploration in Campaign Settings
For eligible, allow-listed customers, the option to enable Bidding Exploration will appear within the Search campaign settings. This feature is particularly effective when used in conjunction with broad match targeting and/or Dynamic Search Ads (DSA).
Budget Limitations and Warnings
As part of the setup process, if your campaign is constrained by budget, a warning will appear, notifying you of potential limitations. This ensures you’re aware of the need to adjust your budget if you want to fully capitalise on the expanded reach and traffic diversity that Bidding Exploration offers.
If you have an unrestricted budget, you’ll have the flexibility to fully explore and capture more traffic from new and diverse queries.
Tracking and Reporting with Bidding Exploration
Once Bidding Exploration is enabled, you can track its impact in the Bid Strategy Report, which will indicate when Exploration was active for your campaigns. This report gives you a detailed look at how the feature is driving performance, and you can monitor key metrics to assess its effectiveness.
Additionally, the report will include three new query diversity metrics that highlight the number of impressions, clicks, and conversions.
By integrating Bidding Exploration into your campaigns, you can enhance campaign reach, and drive higher engagement and conversions—all while maintaining a data-driven approach to performance management.
What to Expect During and After Bidding Exploration
Pre-Exploration
Before activating Bidding Exploration, your campaigns operate under typical Smart Bidding rules, where the focus is on meeting your Target ROAS goals. In this phase, the bidding algorithm prioritises high-performing queries that have historically generated conversions within your specified ROAS target.
The system will lean towards targeting audiences and search queries that are familiar and have delivered predictable results. The focus here is on ensuring stable performance but with limited reach beyond what’s already known to convert well.
Exploration Phase
During the Exploration phase, the bidding strategy undergoes a shift. The system temporarily loosens its ROAS constraints to allow the algorithm to explore low-traffic queries. This phase is designed to gather valuable insights into new sources of traffic that could potentially convert at a sustainable rate in the future.
This phase is an essential part of discovering fresh traffic that could drive long-term value. While this exploration may lead to some variations in immediate ROAS performance, it helps the system uncover new audience segments, which could significantly enhance the scale and diversity of your campaign.
Post-Exploration
Once the Exploration phase concludes, the bidding strategy returns to its previous, more restrictive ROAS constraints. By now, the system has gathered valuable insights into high-potential traffic sources, and it can optimise future bids based on the additional insights gathered during the Exploration phase.
The new sources of traffic discovered during this time can help scale performance, leading to a more diverse set of conversions while keeping the bidding strategy aligned with the original ROAS targets.
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