Google has announced Smart Bidding Exploration, its biggest update to bidding in over a decade. This new tool helps marketers expand their universe of conversions by looking beyond past performance and short-term goals to capture previously missed opportunities.
Finding Untapped Conversion Potential
Marketers often focus on high-performing, reliable queries that consistently meet their ROAS targets. For example, a mortgage lender typically bids successfully on obvious terms like "mortgage" or "home loan" when advertising on Search. However, this approach can leave valuable opportunities unexplored.
With Smart Bidding Exploration, the same lender can now expand its reach to bid on less obvious but potentially highly valuable queries more frequently, such as "how to buy a home". This capability allows Google AI to identify new, qualified leads that advertisers would otherwise miss.
Building on Existing AI Capabilities
This new tool builds upon existing features like AI Max for Search campaigns, which ensures advertisers remain eligible for relevant, intent-driven searches. Smart Bidding Exploration complements this functionality by actively pursuing high-performing searches from a wider range of unique categories within a campaign.
Impressive Performance Results
Campaigns using Smart Bidding Exploration are seeing significant improvements in their performance metrics:
- 18% increase in unique search query categories with conversions
- 19% increase in overall conversions*
These results demonstrate how exploring beyond traditional bidding approaches can unlock new conversion opportunities and drive greater campaign success.
*Based on Google's internal data
