Multi Bidder - Single Account

Optimizing keyword bids is one of the most important activities when managing Google Ads accounts. Keyword bids have a direct impact on the placement of an advertisement (how high does it rank in Google Search) as well as its cost. Advertisers often develop their own unique customized bidding strategies that help them meet their goals.

Automated Rules is a powerful Google Ads feature that allows advertisers to modify bids of keywords meeting a certain criteria, and do so on a schedule. Often, advertisers end up creating a large number of Automated Rules, and they become quite difficult to manage.

Multi Bidder offers functionality similar to that of Automated Rules based on a spreadsheet. Each row in a spreadsheet is in effect equivalent to an entire Automated Rule. Managing 100 rules—a difficult task in Google Ads—becomes a lot easier.

The spreadsheet above demonstrates a single rule that

Look at statistics for THIS_WEEK_SUN_TODAY.
Finds all keywords in Campaign #1 that received more than 1 impressions and whose CTR is greater than 25%
Increases their bids by 10%, while not exceeding $1.40.

How it works

The following columns in the spreadsheet must stay in place: Action, Argument, and Stop limit. Other columns can be added or removed as needed. A large number of columns may be used. The following are all valid examples of column names, and corresponding cell values:

Column: CampaignName STARTS_WITH '?', cell value: Indonesia_
Column: Conversions >= ?, cell value: 4
Column: Status IN [?], cell value: 'ENABLED', 'PAUSED'

? symbol in the column name gets replaced with the value in the corresponding row. Check documentation for KeywordSelector for a complete set of supported columns.

Action is one of the following:

Multiply by - multiplies the keyword bid by the Argument. 1.1 will increase the bid by 10%. 0.8 will decrease it by 20%.
Add - adds the Argument to the keyword bid. 0.3 will increase the bid by $0.30 (assuming the account is in USD). -0.14 will decrease it by $0.14.
Set to First Page Cpc - sets the keyword bid to the first page cpc. Argument is ignored.
Set to Top of Page Cpc - sets the keyword bid to the top of page cpc. Argument is ignored.

Stop Limit is used to cap the bid changes that the script is making. If the changes to the bid is positive, the bid won't become larger than Stop Limit. If the change is negative, the bid won't become smaller than Stop Limit. For instance, if the keyword bid is presently $2.00, and you're increasing it by 25% with a Stop Limit of $3.00, the bid will become $2.50. If however the Stop Limit is set at $2.30, the bid will become $2.30 as well.

Results column is auto-generated by the script. It will contain any errors an execution may have encountered, or an indication of the number of keywords the script fetched and attempted to change. Note that "attempted change" may not mean "actual change": if you try to give a keyword a negative bid, it won't work. Make sure to check the execution logs to see exactly what the script did. Note that Results column is the last column in the spreadsheet that will be read in. Should you add any conditions after the Results column, they won't apply.

Scheduling

Most commonly used scheduling options for bidding rules are Daily or Weekly. Be mindful of how the schedule frequency will interplay with the statistics date range you have selected. Since Google Ads statistics can be delayed by up to 3 hours, avoid scheduling your script Hourly.

In some cases, it may not make sense to schedule the script at all. Do what makes sense.

Setup

Setup a spreadsheet-based script with the source code below. Use the Multi Bidder template spreadsheet.
Don't forget to update SPREADSHEET_URL in code.
Make sure to preview the script before executing it.
Consider whether to schedule the script.

Open the template spreadsheet.
Make a copy of the spreadsheet and save it:
- In the spreadsheet, menu, select "File -> Make a copy".
- Enter the new spreadsheet name, click "OK".
In Google Ads, navigate to Scripts.
Create a new script and give it a name; authorize the script.
Copy-paste source code into the script (see below).

Replace

var SPREADSHEET_URL = "[YOUR_URL]";

with

var SPREADSHEET_URL = "https://docs.google.com/...";

Use the URL of the spreadsheet created in step 2.

Save the script, click "Close".
If necessary, schedule the script.

Source code

// Copyright 2015, Google Inc. All Rights Reserved.
//
// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
// You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
//     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.

/**
 * @name Multi Bidder
 *
 * @overview The Multi Bidder script offers functionality similar to that of
 *     Automated Rules based on a spreadsheet. See
 *     https://developers.google.com/google-ads/scripts/docs/solutions/multi-bidder
 *     for more details.
 *
 * @author Google Ads Scripts Team [adwords-scripts@googlegroups.com]
 *
 * @version 1.0.3
 *
 * @changelog
 * - version 1.0.3
 *   - Replaced deprecated keyword.getMaxCpc() and keyword.setMaxCpc().
 * - version 1.0.2
 *   - Added validation of user settings.
 * - version 1.0.1
 *   - Improvements to time zone handling.
 * - version 1.0
 *   - Released initial version.
 */

var SPREADSHEET_URL = 'YOUR_SPREADSHEET_URL';

var spreadsheetAccess = new SpreadsheetAccess(SPREADSHEET_URL, 'Rules');

var totalColumns;

function main() {
  // Make sure the spreadsheet is using the account's timezone.
  spreadsheetAccess.spreadsheet.setSpreadsheetTimeZone(
      AdsApp.currentAccount().getTimeZone());
  spreadsheetAccess.spreadsheet.getRangeByName('account_id').setValue(
      AdsApp.currentAccount().getCustomerId());

  var columns = spreadsheetAccess.sheet.getRange(5, 2, 5, 100).getValues()[0];
  for (var i = 0; i < columns.length; i++) {
    if (columns[i].length == 0 || columns[i] == 'Results') {
      totalColumns = i;
      break;
    }
  }
  if (columns[totalColumns] != 'Results') {
    spreadsheetAccess.sheet.getRange(5, totalColumns + 2, 1, 1).
        setValue('Results');
  }
  // clear the results column
  spreadsheetAccess.sheet.getRange(6, totalColumns + 2, 1000, 1).clear();

  var row = spreadsheetAccess.nextRow();

  while (row != null) {
    var argument;
    var stopLimit;
    try {
      argument = parseArgument(row);
      stopLimit = parseStopLimit(row);
    } catch (ex) {
      logError(ex);
      row = spreadsheetAccess.nextRow();
      continue;
    }
    var selector = AdsApp.keywords();
    for (var i = 3; i < totalColumns; i++) {
      var header = columns[i];
      var value = row[i];
      if (!isNaN(parseFloat(value)) || value.length > 0) {
        if (header.indexOf("'") > 0) {
          value = value.replace(/\'/g, "\\'");
        } else if (header.indexOf('\"') > 0) {
          value = value.replace(/"/g, '\\\"');
        }
        var condition = header.replace('?', value);
        selector.withCondition(condition);
      }
    }
    selector.forDateRange(spreadsheetAccess.spreadsheet.
        getRangeByName('date_range').getValue());

    var keywords = selector.get();

    try {
      keywords.hasNext();
    } catch (ex) {
      logError(ex);
      row = spreadsheetAccess.nextRow();
      continue;
    }

    var fetched = 0;
    var changed = 0;

    while (keywords.hasNext()) {
      var keyword = keywords.next();
      var oldBid = keyword.bidding().getCpc();
      var action = row[0];
      var newBid;

      fetched++;
      if (action == 'Add') {
        newBid = addToBid(oldBid, argument, stopLimit);
      } else if (action == 'Multiply by') {
        newBid = multiplyBid(oldBid, argument, stopLimit);
      } else if (action == 'Set to First Page Cpc' ||
          action == 'Set to Top of Page Cpc') {
        var newBid = action == 'Set to First Page Cpc' ?
            keyword.getFirstPageCpc() : keyword.getTopOfPageCpc();
        var isPositive = newBid > oldBid;
        newBid = applyStopLimit(newBid, stopLimit, isPositive);
      }
      if (newBid < 0) {
        newBid = 0.01;
      }
      newBid = newBid.toFixed(2);
      if (newBid != oldBid) {
        changed++;
      }
      keyword.bidding().setCpc(newBid);
    }
    logResult('Fetched ' + fetched + '\nChanged ' + changed);

    row = spreadsheetAccess.nextRow();
  }

  spreadsheetAccess.spreadsheet.getRangeByName('last_execution')
      .setValue(new Date());
}

function addToBid(oldBid, argument, stopLimit) {
  return applyStopLimit(oldBid + argument, stopLimit, argument > 0);
}

function multiplyBid(oldBid, argument, stopLimit) {
  return applyStopLimit(oldBid * argument, stopLimit, argument > 1);
}

function applyStopLimit(newBid, stopLimit, isPositive) {
  if (stopLimit) {
    if (isPositive && newBid > stopLimit) {
      newBid = stopLimit;
    } else if (!isPositive && newBid < stopLimit) {
      newBid = stopLimit;
    }
  }
  return newBid;
}

function parseArgument(row) {
  if (row[1].length == 0 && (row[0] == 'Add' || row[0] == 'Multiply by')) {
    throw ('\"Argument\" must be specified.');
  }
  var argument = parseFloat(row[1]);
  if (isNaN(argument)) {
    throw 'Bad Argument: must be a number.';
  }
  return argument;
}
function parseStopLimit(row) {
  if (row[2].length == 0) {
    return null;
  }
  var limit = parseFloat(row[2]);
  if (isNaN(limit)) {
    throw 'Bad Argument: must be a number.';
  }
  return limit;
}
function logError(error) {
  spreadsheetAccess.sheet.getRange(spreadsheetAccess.currentRow(),
      totalColumns + 2, 1, 1)
  .setValue(error)
  .setFontColor('#c00')
  .setFontSize(8)
  .setFontWeight('bold');
}
function logResult(result) {
  spreadsheetAccess.sheet.getRange(spreadsheetAccess.currentRow(),
      totalColumns + 2, 1, 1)
  .setValue(result)
  .setFontColor('#444')
  .setFontSize(8)
  .setFontWeight('normal');
}

function SpreadsheetAccess(spreadsheetUrl, sheetName) {
  Logger.log('Using spreadsheet - %s.', spreadsheetUrl);
  this.spreadsheet = validateAndGetSpreadsheet(spreadsheetUrl);

  this.sheet = this.spreadsheet.getSheetByName(sheetName);
  this.cells = this.sheet.getRange(6, 2, this.sheet.getMaxRows(),
      this.sheet.getMaxColumns()).getValues();
  this.rowIndex = 0;

  this.nextRow = function() {
    for (; this.rowIndex < this.cells.length; this.rowIndex++) {
      if (this.cells[this.rowIndex][0]) {
        return this.cells[this.rowIndex++];
      }
    }
    return null;
  };
  this.currentRow = function() {
    return this.rowIndex + 5;
  };
}

/**
 * Validates the provided spreadsheet URL
 * to make sure that it's set up properly. Throws a descriptive error message
 * if validation fails.
 *
 * @param {string} spreadsheeturl The URL of the spreadsheet to open.
 * @return {Spreadsheet} The spreadsheet object itself, fetched from the URL.
 * @throws {Error} If the spreadsheet URL hasn't been set
 */
function validateAndGetSpreadsheet(spreadsheeturl) {
  if (spreadsheeturl == 'YOUR_SPREADSHEET_URL') {
    throw new Error('Please specify a valid Spreadsheet URL. You can find' +
        ' a link to a template in the associated guide for this script.');
  }
  return SpreadsheetApp.openByUrl(spreadsheeturl);
}

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