In a recent update, Google has made an announcement that the Enhanced CPC (Cost Per Click) bidding strategy will no longer be available. This will streamline bidding options and encourage advertisers to adopt more advanced bidding strategies that leverage machine learning. This will also create changes by shifting toward better automation and efficiency which allows marketers to focus on achieving the campaign goals.
What’s the update about?
According to Google Ads, the company plans to discontinue its Enhanced Cost-Per-Click (eCPC) bidding strategy for search and display ads.
The Enhanced Cost-Per-Click (eCPC) bidding strategy in Google Ads aims to generate more conversions by automatically raising and lowering your bids based on data collected about your conversions, thus preventing spent dollars from being wasted on unconvertible clicks. This method allows you to maximize your advertising budget while still reducing wasted advertising expenditures.
Watch out for these dates
From the beginning of October 2024, enhanced CPC will no longer be available as a bidding strategy for new search and display ads. Using Enhanced CPC all the remaining search and display ad campaigns will be automatically migrated to manual CPC bidding from the March 2025.
If advertisers don’t update their campaigns before the deadline, their bidding strategy will automatically switch to manual CPC. However, existing eCPC campaigns will keep running normally until March 2025.
What happens to Display Campaigns
Until now, the advertisers who runs the display campaigns with the Maximize Clicks strategy and Enhanced CPC enabled is not affected.
From March 2025, these campaigns will automatically transition to the Maximize Clicks bidding strategy.
What is the reason behind this change?
Enhanced Cost Per Click (ECPC) was introduced by Google Ads in 2010. This is the first Smart Bidding strategy for Google Ads. In the past few years, the company has developed more advanced machine learning-based bidding options that include Maximize Conversions with an optional target CPA and Maximize Conversion Value with an optional target return on investment.
As Google emphasizes in its announcement, this change is part of their effort to develop improved bidding strategies. As reported by the tech giant, these newer automated bidding options often provide comparable or better results than enhanced cost-per-click advertising.
This is what Google expressed to advertisers,
“These strategies have the potential to deliver comparable or superior outcomes. As we transition to these improved strategies, search and display ads campaigns will phase out Enhanced CPC.” – Google
Here’s how advertisers should take this,
As a result of this update, Google is continuing its push toward more sophisticated bid strategies driven by artificial intelligence. It is anticipated that advertisers presently relying on Enhanced CPC will need to evaluate their options and possibly adapt their campaign management strategies in the coming months. This change may require some initial adjustments, but it will also allow advertisers to explore and leverage Google’s more advanced bidding strategies, which may lead to an improvement in campaign performance.
If you are having a hard time putting these types of updates to your client’s campaign get help from a Google Ads expert who has years of experience in the field.
