Bid Simulator ( Aka Please jack up all of your bids)

[kg84]

So I have noticed that I can now use the new bid simulator feature on a lot of my clients campaigns.

In theory, this is a cool tool. However, I have seen this tool recommend for many keywords, that rank very well and with optimal campaign budgets, that I should increase my bids by huge amounts (i.e. current bid $2.87 increase to $6.18 = 10 more impressions!! wow) Almost all keywords I check have suggested huge increases like that. If everyone starts listening to this tool bids are going to start tripling in no time....of course that is exactly what Google wants.

[searchengineman]

Has this tool come out of Beta yet?, we only have it on a few accounts.

see Possible *NEW* Beta Feature GOOGLE - New Tool - "Bid Simulator" in GOOGLE old UI. From June 5th.

Searchengineman

[kg84]

I believe it may still be in Beta because I do not have it in all my accts. I realize beta means they are still working out the kinks, but IMO this tool is completely useless.

[SemGeek]

Personally, I think Bid Tools are excuses for poor Paid Search Strategies and tactics. While, I see the value of managing a specific CPC Bid to ensure visibility, the advertiser must be careful to keep a cost-ceiling to maintain a successful ROAS, I would think that in the "Quality Score" world we live in, that bid management would be a thing of the past. I would highly doubt that cost savings are in the interest of the Search Engine.

My 2 cents.

[kg84]

Originally Posted by SemGeek

Personally, I think Bid Tools are excuses for poor Paid Search Strategies and tactics. While, I see the value of managing a specific CPC Bid to ensure visibility, the advertiser must be careful to keep a cost-ceiling to maintain a successful ROAS, I would think that in the "Quality Score" world we live in, that bid management would be a thing of the past. I would highly doubt that cost savings are in the interest of the Search Engine.

My 2 cents.

SemGeek,

I agree. This tool almost seems to be designed to take advantage of those who manage their own campaigns or have generally bad search management practices. Someone who is just worried about being number 1 all the time will look at this and probably say "Well if I got to up my bid $4 to get there, according to the bid simulator, that is what I got to do".

[kg84]

I was just looking at one client's acct....
they are bidding for several keywords that receive good traffic and consistently have had only one other competitor. Google's Bid Simulator says I should up my bid by over $2 and I will double my cost and receive 100 more impressions. This thing is useless.

[Mel66]

Interesting comments - I haven't played around with bid simulator too much, but my initial reaction was similar to what's here. It's cool, but not all that useful.