On the 4th October, Google revealed that their paid search advertising tool, AdWords, now has the ability to double your daily budget. Yes, double it!
The news was announced via a brief tweet from the Google AdWords Twitter account and the change was actioned on the very same day it was announced. The tweet was entirely unexpected, as there had been no prior warning from Google about this change and it certainly attracted a lot of attention from advertisers.
The aim of this article is to make sure you are up to date with what Google’s 4th October change means for managing your daily AdWords budget.
What Does This Change Mean For My AdWords Budget?
The change means that if your daily budget is £100 then it could increase up to £200. But don’t worry, you don’t have to jump into AdWords right now and half your daily budget.
Google have confirmed that this change does not mean that you will be charged more than your set monthly budget. You can calculate this by multiplying your daily budget by 30.4 - the average number of days in a month. If your daily budget is £100 then your monthly budget would be £3,040. The AdWords system will keep your spend under the limit on a monthly basis and will even refund the money if it goes over it.
Google released confirmation of what the changes meant for your monthly charging limit:
Why Have Google Made This Change?
It is important to consider that AdWords have always had the ability to overspend on your daily budget. Throughout the day, there will be peaks and troughs in search traffic and therefore, AdWords would increase your bid by up to 20% to capitalise on these fluctuations. The difference now is that the bid increase is no longer restricted to just 20%.
The main aim of AdWords is to match relevant ads to searches so that people continue to use Google as their search engine as they find what they were looking for easily. This is exactly what Google are trying to do by introducing the ability to double your daily budget to maximise clicks from people with a higher potential to convert.
If you’ve set up your ad rotation as ‘optimise’, your ads should appear for more relevant searches to reach people who are more likely to click or convert, optimising your campaigns’ efficiency. To stay within your monthly budget, your ads will be over served on days where people are more likely to click and underserved when they’re not. The idea is that you should see an increased number of clicks on your ad, as it will appear most when traffic levels are high, which should bring new customers to your website.
Impact on Monthly Charges
As previously mentioned, AdWords confirmed that a monthly charge limit is still in place. However, you need to be aware that you may see discrepancies between your monthly and daily budget.
Google state that your monthly charging limit will not be used if you change your daily budget throughout the month. Perhaps your campaign does not last a full month, especially if it’s based on a limited time offer. If you change your budget during the month or pause the campaign then your monthly limit will no longer apply and you may overspend.
What Should You Do Following This Change?
The most important thing to do is to check your AdWords account more regularly, particularly if you make changes to your budget and run short campaigns. This change also affects shared budgets, so make sure you’re checking in regularly to see what is happening with your monthly spend.
Seek Expert Advice
This change is not optional, so there is no way for you to prevent it coming into force and affecting your AdWords campaigns. This means that we will be keeping a watchful eye on all our clients AdWords campaigns to make sure that the budget is being managed properly.
If you’re in any doubt about how the latest changes to AdWords will affect your campaigns, then why not talk to our paid search experts at Innovation Visual? We’ll be happy to discuss your AdWords campaigns and offer advice for making sure you are able to manage your monthly budget.
