Bidding Strategy Types

video_library Video library: Smart Bidding

A bidding strategy can be used as a standard strategy for a single campaign or as a portfolio strategy across multiple campaigns.

In the Google Ads API, all bidding strategies are managed using one or both of the following:

• The campaign_bidding_strategy union field of the Campaign object for standard strategies at the campaign level.

• The BiddingStrategy object for portfolio strategies at the account level.

Any bidding strategy is defined by a single bidding scheme that matches its type and contains the relevant bids.

In the table below, the Valid Contexts column indicates whether a given BiddingStrategyType and its matching bidding scheme can be used in the context of standard or portfolio strategies.

BiddingStrategyType	Bidding scheme	Valid Contexts	Description
COMMISSION	Commission	Standard	Works only with Hotel campaigns.
ENHANCED_CPC	EnhancedCpc	Portfolio	Focus on clicks: Use maximum CPC bids.
MANUAL_CPA	ManualCpa	Standard	Lets advertiser set the bid per advertiser-specified action. This type of strategy is only available for Local Services campaigns.
MANUAL_CPC	ManualCpc	Standard	Focus on clicks: Use maximum CPC bids. enhancedCpcEnabled is defaulted to true.
MANUAL_CPM	ManualCpm	Standard	CPM (Cost-per-thousand impressions). Works only with Display Network Only campaigns. Using this bidding scheme with Search campaigns results in OperationAccessDeniedError.OPERATION_NOT_PERMITTED_FOR_CAMPAIGN_TYPE.
MANUAL_CPV	ManualCpv	Standard	Manual cost per view (CPV).
MAXIMIZE_CONVERSIONS	MaximizeConversions	Standard	Maximize conversions using an optional target CPA. Works with Search campaigns only.
MAXIMIZE_CONVERSION_VALUE	MaximizeConversionValue	Standard	Maximize conversion value using an optional target ROAS.
PAGE_ONE_PROMOTED	PageOnePromoted	Portfolio	Target search page location. No longer available. Use TARGET_IMPRESSION_SHARE instead.
PERCENT_CPC	PercentCpc	Standard	Percent cost per click (CPC).
TARGET_CPA	TargetCpa	Portfolio	Target cost per acquisition (CPA): Must meet eligibility requirements. For standard target CPA behavior, use MaximizeConversions with a target CPA.
TARGET_CPM	TargetCpm	Standard	Target cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM).
TARGET_IMPRESSION_SHARE	TargetImpressionShare	Portfolio Standard	Target impression share.
TARGET_OUTRANK_SHARE	TargetOutrankShare	Portfolio	Target outranking share. No longer available. Use TARGET_IMPRESSION_SHARE instead.
TARGET_ROAS	TargetRoas	Portfolio	Target return on ad spend: Must meet eligibility requirements For standard target ROAS behavior, use MaximizeConversionValue with a target ROAS.
TARGET_SPEND	TargetSpend	Portfolio Standard	Maximize clicks.

Errors result if you try to use a bidding scheme in the wrong context, for instance:

• Using a portfolio-only bidding scheme in the context of a standard strategy generates a BiddingError.INVALID_ANONYMOUS_BIDDING_STRATEGY_TYPE error.

• Using a standard-only bidding scheme in the context of a portfolio strategy generates a BiddingStrategyError.BIDDING_STRATEGY_NOT_SUPPORTED error.

Bidding strategy recommendations

The Google Ads API provides several recommendation types which can help you optimize your campaign bidding strategies. For example, the MAXIMIZE_CONVERSIONS_OPT_IN type recommends using the maximize conversions bidding strategy for your campaigns. In cases where the campaign would be budget-constrained at the current budget with the new bidding strategy, the recommendation also provides a suggested new budget amount.

One benefit of using recommendations for bidding optimization is that the Recommendation provides predicted metrics that you can use to estimate how performance might change as a result of applying the recommendation. These predicted metrics can be compared to the baseline metrics using values directly from the impact field of the recommendation.

For additional recommendation types and guidance on working with recommendations in the Google Ads API, visit the Optimization score and recommendations guide.