Bidding Strategy Types

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:

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.
FIXED_CPM FixedCpm Standard A manual bidding strategy for a fixed cost-per-thousand impressions.
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_CPV TargetCpv Standard Target cost-per-view (CPV).
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:

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.