Overview
The purpose of the Brand Activator Premium (BAP) bid walkdown process is to reduce the costs of uncontested Google Ads auctions, i.e. those auctions where no competitor ad is present, while keeping most or all search traffic within the Paid Search channel.
Uncontested auctions allow for a cost per click (CPC) that is at that auction's reserve price based on the Ad Rank threshold, sometimes referred to as the minimum bid. BAP allows advertisers to act upon uncontested auctions separate from contested auctions, such as by lowering bids. As long as the bid is above the auction's reserve price, the ad will show and the advertiser can get the ad click at a much lower cost than would otherwise be possible.
Further, by progressively lowering the bid over time for a given search term, the Ad Rank threshold - and thus the reserve price - gradually lowers over time, allowing for a lower and lower CPC. When handled with care, this bid walkdown process can lower CPCs while keeping the ads up at the same frequency as the fully priced bids or close to it. This process effectively retrains Google's algorithm to expect lower and lower costs over time.
The more aggressive the bid walkdown process (i.e, the faster the bid is reduced), the more frequent the ad may fall under the reserve price, thus periodically causing the ad not to show. An aggressive bid walkdown process causes CPCs to fall relatively quickly.
The less aggressive the bid walkdown process (i.e., the slower the bid is reduced), the less frequent the ad will likely be under the reserve price, thus maintaining the frequency with which the ad is served. CPCs will fall relatively slowly with a less aggressive bid walkdown process.
| Walkdown Process | Result |
|---|---|
| More Aggressive | Fast Cost Reduction, Limited Paid Traffic |
| Less Aggressive | Slow Cost Reduction, Maintain Paid Traffic |
In some instances, it may be more desirable to keep ads up 100% of the time than to reduce costs quickly, thus indicating a slower bid walkdown process is in order. In other cases, it may be more desirable to reduce costs quickly, thus indicating a faster bid walkdown process.
BAP Low-Bid Campaign Bid Strategy
This document assumes that one or more BAP low-bid campaigns have already been created. If not, please refer to our article How To Create Brand Activator Premium Low-Cost Campaigns or contact your Adthena Account Manager for guidance.
For most implementations, we recommend setting the bid strategy for the BAP low-bid campaign to Manual CPC to allow the most control and simplicity. Over time ads will show with a CPC of $0.01, or the minimum CPC in the local currency. Thus, there is generally no benefit to using other bid strategies or even the Enhanced modifier to the Manual CPC bid strategy.
That said, it is entirely feasible to use other bid strategies and to apply downward pressure on costs within the BAP campaign using those strategies.
For example, a campaign using a tCPA bid strategy could have the Target CPA slowly reduced over time, mimicking what would be done with CPC bidding. Similarly, a tROAS bid strategy could have its Target ROAS increased over time, thus requiring greater and greater return on spend, again mimicking the impact of CPC bid reductions. In some cases, Smart Bid strategies may have an optional Max CPC that can be reduced in the same way as a Manual CPC bid.
For purposes of this document, we will assume the use of a Manual CPC bid strategy. Other bid strategies can have similar methods applied to them using whichever lever is most appropriate.
BAP Low-Bid Campaign Budget Considerations
It is important that the BAP low-bid campaigns have enough budget to serve ads. If an BAP campaign is limited by budget, that means that when BAP suppresses the BAU ad for a given search term, the low-bid ad will be unable to serve, meaning no ad will show.
In a budget constrained environment, giving budget precedent to the BAP campaign will yield better results, as each click from the BAP campaign will be cheaper, thus allowing more clicks and corresponding business to be generated from that limited budget.
If it is truly not possible to prevent the BAP low-bid campaign from being limited by budget, then best practice is to reduce bids in the BAP campaign until the total cost is within the available budget. This will allow more clicks from the available budget. It will also increase downward pressure on Google's reserve price for that search term, eventually allowing the ad to show at that reduced CPC.
The Initial Bid
BAP low-bid campaigns can have keyword level bids. The initial bid and subsequent walkdown process is determined by the goal: maximize cost reduction, maximize paid traffic, or a balance.
If the goal is to maximize paid traffic, then the initial bid should be set to the current average CPC for that keyword. This will result in a lower CPC in the BAP campaign than is seen in the Business As Usual (BAU) campaign, while in most cases allowing the ads in the BAP campaign to continue running at their current frequency.
If the goal is to maximize cost reduction, then the initial bid can be set to $0.01 or the minimum in the local currency.
If the goal is to balance cost reduction with maintaining paid traffic, then the initial bid can be set to half the current average CPC for that keyword.
| Goal | Initial Bid at Keyword Level |
|---|---|
| Maximize Cost Reduction | $0.01 or minimum in local currency |
| Balanced | Half of current average CPC |
| Maximize Paid Traffic | Current average CPC |
Regardless, once the initial bids have been set and BAP is active, the BAP campaign(s) should be monitored for a period of one week to confirm that the ads are showing at the desired frequency. In the unlikely event the ads are not showing as frequently as desired, the BAP bid can be raised by 10% per day until this is achieved.
Note that metrics such as Search Impression Share (SIS) can become less predictable when BAP is operating, as the negative keywords that BAP uses impact the eligibility of a given keyword in a given auction, which is the basis for SIS and some reports such as those in Auction Insights. Therefore, we recommend that absolute values such as Impressions and Clicks be used to track success.
The Bid Walkdown Process
Once the initial bid has been set and the ads are seen running at their desired frequency for a period of one week, the bids within the BAP campaign can be gradually reduced.
The specifics of the bid walkdown process depend on the team's goal. If the goal is to maximize paid traffic, then bids should be reduced in increments of no more than 5%. If the goal is to balance maintaining paid traffic with more rapid cost reduction, then the bids should be reduced in increments of no more than 10%.
| Goal | Bid Reduction Increment |
|---|---|
| Maximize Paid Traffic | 5% |
| Balanced | 10% |
Note that the goal can be adjusted at any time and different goals can be applied towards different keywords if desired.
BAP bids can be reduced every 3-7 days based on the volume of impressions that the keyword is receiving in the BAP campaign. Keywords receiving less than 1000 impressions per day should be updated no more frequently than every 7 days, while keywords receiving more than 10,000 impressions per day can be updated every 3 days.
| BAP Keyword Impression Volume | Bid Update Frequency |
|---|---|
| < 1000 per day | Every 7 or more days |
| 1001 to 10,000 per day | Every 5 days |
| > 10,000 per day | Every 3 or fewer days |
If the percentage bid reduction would be less than $0.01 or the smallest unit in the local currency, then the reduction should be $0.01 or the smallest unit in the local currency.
Simplified Method: Apply the bid reduction on all keywords on a weekly cadence.
Examples of Walking Down the Bids
These examples show the timing of bid reductions when using a Maximize Paid Traffic goal versus Balanced goal.
Maximize Paid Traffic
This example shows a bid reduction of 5% every 7 days.
| Day | Bid |
|---|---|
| 0 | $1.00 (Initial Bid) |
| 7 | $0.95 |
| 14 | $0.90 |
| 21 | $0.86 |
| 28 | $0.82 |
In this example, bids are reduced 18% in the first month. It will take 14 weeks - just over one quarter - to cut bids in half.
Balanced
This example shows a bid reduction of 10% every 7 days.
| Day | Bid |
|---|---|
| 0 | $1.00 (Initial Bid) |
| 7 | $0.90 |
| 14 | $0.81 |
| 21 | $0.73 |
| 28 | $0.66 |
In this example, bids are reduced 34% in the first month. It will take 7 weeks to cut bids in half.
What If Ad Delivery Frequency Falls?
In the unlikely event ad delivery frequency falls to an undesirable level during the bid walkdown process, simply increase the bid to the level where ad delivery was last at its desirable level to eliminate the immediate problem. Then hold the bid at that level for a week or two, which will allow the retraining of the Google algorithm to "catch up", at which point the bid walkdown process can be restarted.
If this happens repeatedly, simply increase the number of days between bid reductions and/or lower the size of each bid reduction, e.g. to 3% instead of 5%.
Actual Results - Case Study Briefs
A successful bid walkdown should result in significantly lower costs with minimal impact to ad delivery. Here are some examples of what real teams have achieved.
25% Lower CPC ($3.08 to $2.31), Click Share Remained Above 95%
This large US-based company was spending well over USD$1MM per month on brand. They began their bid walkdown process in late February and temporarily paused bid walkdowns in late March to allow time to confirm performance.
Over a 7-week period, using a Maximize Paid Traffic walkdown goal, costs were reduced by 25% with no impact on ad delivery (Click Share remained above 95%) or down-funnel metrics.
23% Lower CPC ($0.62 to $0.48), Impression Share Remained Steady
This large multinational company was spending USD$1MM per month on brand in the US. They began their bid walkdown process in early April.
Over a 3-week period, using a Maximize Paid Traffic goal, costs were reduced by 23% with no impact on Search Impression Share, which remained at 92%.
54% Lower CPCs ($2.82 to $1.31), 4% More Daily Ad Clicks
This US-based company was spending USD$1MM per month on brand in the US. They began their bid walkdown process in mid December.
Over a 4-month period, using at first a Balanced walkdown goal and later a Maximize Paid Traffic goal, costs were reduced by 54% with no loss in ad clicks.