Google’s Automated Bidding strategies promise to handle all the heavy lifting.

You set a goal—like Maximize conversions or Maximize clicks—and you watch Google do its thing to bring you the results you want.

Easy, right?

Spoiler alert

if you set your campaign to anything other than Manual CPC when you first create it, you’re not going to get the results you’re looking for.

Here’s why:

• Automated bidding relies on historical data to make optimization decisions. If you set your goal to Maximize conversions, Google needs to know who has converted historically, and at what costs. Without historical data, Google will be running blind.
• You have more control when using Manual CPC. You can set your own bids and optimize them based on performance and your campaign goals. This will also feed Google’s understanding of what you’re looking for, making the transition to an automated strategy a much smoother one.

The takeaway?

For Google’s Automated Bidding Strategies to work properly, it needs historical data.

Once you’ve fed the algorithm your data—at least 30 conversions worth—then you can experiment with an automated bidding strategy.

Until then, you’re going to have to put in the work yourself.

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