A solid bidding strategy is great—but what if you could outsmart even the best with the right approach and tools? No jokes here, just a reality check. What exactly is a bidding strategy? How do you select and refine one to fit your goals? And most importantly, how do you track its success?
In this guide, we’ll uncover hidden pitfalls, tackle common challenges, and gain expert insights from Adsterra’s Head of CPA and Head of CPM Departments.
Let’s start!
Understanding Bid Strategy
A bid strategy is a well-planned approach that helps advertisers determine how much to invest in ad placements or user actions. It acts as a roadmap for optimizing ad spend while ensuring bids align with specific goals, budgets, and expected results.
Bid strategies are essential for competing effectively in digital advertising, whether on platforms like Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook, or ad networks like Adsterra. By leveraging the right strategy, advertisers can maximize their reach, improve ROI, and secure high-value traffic.
Different Bid Strategies
There are several ways to structure your bidding approach, each impacting the overall performance of your ad campaign.
Key bidding strategies include automated and manual bidding, smart bidding, ad spend optimization, manual CPC and CPM bidding, and other pricing models tailored to specific goals.
Advertisers can also refine their strategy with bid adjustments, predictive analytics, keyword-based bids, and multi-campaign approaches. The best results often come from combining different strategies across various ad platforms.
Now, let’s break down the core methods for both automatic and manual bidding.
Cost-per-click (CPC): Advertisers pay when a user clicks on the advert. It works great to gain traffic for your offer on a website or landing page and is measured by clicks.
Cost-per-mille (CPM): Advertisers pay a cost per thousand impressions their ads get. Here, users’ actions are not the focus. It’s effective for brand awareness campaigns and ads’ visibility.
Cost-per-acquisition (CPA): Advertisers pay for every user’s action. It can be an app installment, sign-up, purchase, form fill-in, etc. It’s applicable when your bid-based strategy focuses on conversions.
Target return on ad spend (ROAS): Advertisers aim at a targeted return on advertising. It works well in niches where the conversion value bidding can be easily calculated.
As you gain experience, switching to automated bidding can streamline your efforts. Powered by advanced algorithms, automated strategies optimize bids in real-time, saving time while improving efficiency. It’s a smart move for scaling your campaigns without constant manual adjustments.
Define Your Goals – Are you focusing on brand awareness, clicks, conversions, or specific user actions? Your strategy should align with your objectives.
Analyze Competitors – Leverage competitive analysis tools to fine-tune your bids and stay ahead. Many platforms allow you to bid just slightly higher than your competition for a winning edge.
Manage Your Budget Wisely – Keep track of both your overall campaign budget and daily spend. Some platforms offer automated budget caps to maintain control.
Understand Your Audience – Optimize your creatives, messaging, targeting, and traffic sources to connect effectively with your ideal users.
Evaluate Ad Platforms – Each platform has unique bidding tools and capabilities—use them strategically to enhance your approach.
Test, Optimize, Repeat – Data-driven advertising thrives on continuous improvement. Analyze results, refine targeting, and tweak bids to maximize performance over time.
By applying these principles, you can craft a bidding strategy that adapts to your needs and drives better results.
To get started on an actual ad campaign, you need the following:
Let’s dive into the must-have tools we recommend, explore their features, and see how they can enhance your bidding strategy.
SMART CPM
Thanks to smart technologies, blind bidding is a thing of the past. Now, you have real-time data at your fingertips to make informed decisions. With strategic bidding, you can outbid competitors by just a fraction — without overpaying. This approach leverages the second-price auction algorithm, ensuring you secure high-value traffic at the most efficient cost.
EXPERT TIP FROM HEAD OF CPM AT ADSTERRA:
CPA GOAL
CPA Goal is a cutting-edge tool designed to maximize conversions while keeping CPM or CPC costs in check. Advertisers can fine-tune their traffic selection and set conversion targets within their budget—transforming quantity into quality while avoiding unnecessary ad spend.
With custom rule-setting, you can automatically filter traffic in real-time. If a placement no longer meets your criteria, it’s instantly removed, ensuring your budget is spent only on high-performing sources.
EXPERT TIP FROM HEAD OF CPA AT ADSTERRA:
CUSTOM BID
This powerful tool enhances your bidding strategy by providing real-time data for smarter decision-making. Within your Adsterra account, you can enable S2S (server-to-server) tracking, which collects key performance metrics essential for running high-impact ad campaigns.
Once activated, Adsterra will monitor ad placements, delivering valuable insights on performance. This allows you to assess which placements are worth scaling and where to allocate more budget strategically.
With these automation tools, you can fine-tune your bidding strategy, optimize ad placements, and maximize ROI - without overspending on budget or time, even in competitive, high-cost niches with long customer lifetime value (LTV).
Rising Costs – Competitive bidding can drive up prices, making it harder to maintain your target cost. Regular testing and optimization will help balance your ROI.
Algorithm Changes – Updates are inevitable, but staying informed and adapting quickly—like a skilled surfer adjusting to the waves—will keep your strategy effective.
Ad Creative Performance – Ensure your ads are structured into well-organized groups so you can test multiple variations and identify the best-performing creatives for higher CTR.
Low Conversion Rates (CR) – Even with a solid bidding approach, a poorly optimized landing page can hurt conversions. Focus on persuasive copy, strong CTAs, and fast page load times.
Budget Mismanagement – Avoid overspending by monitoring your bids consistently—daily, weekly, or based on major industry events. Strategic pacing is key.
Targeting Limitations – Before launching a campaign, explore all targeting features your ad platform offers. Many platforms allow free registration, so you can assess their capabilities in advance.
EXPERT TIP FROM HEAD OF CPA AT ADSTERRA:
- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) – This metric helps you assess revenue generated per dollar spent, ensuring your bidding efforts are profitable.
- Quality Score – Platforms like Google Ads evaluate ad and keyword relevance, helping you gauge the effectiveness of your campaign.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) – A high CTR indicates that your ad resonates with your audience, making it a strong indicator of relevance.
- Conversion Rate (CR) – This metric tracks how many users take the desired action, revealing the overall effectiveness of your bidding approach.
By leveraging these and other key performance indicators (KPIs), you can continuously refine your bid strategy for better results.
Conclusion
Experiment with different bidding approaches and ad creatives to optimize conversions. Explore various advertising platforms like Google Ads, social media channels, and ad networks to see what works best for your campaigns. By consistently testing and fine-tuning your strategy, you can achieve a high ROI and meet your KPIs.
Adsterra offers a range of powerful tools to help its partners succeed, including access to 248+ GEOs, premium traffic from 36K+ publishers, 3-level anti-cheat security, and 20+ targeting options for precise and effective bidding.
If you have any questions or need further guidance, feel free to reach out to our Partner Care support team via live chat - we’re happy to help!
In this guide, we’ll uncover hidden pitfalls, tackle common challenges, and gain expert insights from Adsterra’s Head of CPA and Head of CPM Departments.
Let’s start!
Understanding Bid Strategy
A bid strategy is a well-planned approach that helps advertisers determine how much to invest in ad placements or user actions. It acts as a roadmap for optimizing ad spend while ensuring bids align with specific goals, budgets, and expected results.
Bid strategies are essential for competing effectively in digital advertising, whether on platforms like Google Ads, Bing Ads, Facebook, or ad networks like Adsterra. By leveraging the right strategy, advertisers can maximize their reach, improve ROI, and secure high-value traffic.
Different Bid Strategies
There are several ways to structure your bidding approach, each impacting the overall performance of your ad campaign.
Key bidding strategies include automated and manual bidding, smart bidding, ad spend optimization, manual CPC and CPM bidding, and other pricing models tailored to specific goals.
Advertisers can also refine their strategy with bid adjustments, predictive analytics, keyword-based bids, and multi-campaign approaches. The best results often come from combining different strategies across various ad platforms.
Now, let’s break down the core methods for both automatic and manual bidding.
Cost-per-click (CPC): Advertisers pay when a user clicks on the advert. It works great to gain traffic for your offer on a website or landing page and is measured by clicks.
Cost-per-mille (CPM): Advertisers pay a cost per thousand impressions their ads get. Here, users’ actions are not the focus. It’s effective for brand awareness campaigns and ads’ visibility.
Cost-per-acquisition (CPA): Advertisers pay for every user’s action. It can be an app installment, sign-up, purchase, form fill-in, etc. It’s applicable when your bid-based strategy focuses on conversions.
Target return on ad spend (ROAS): Advertisers aim at a targeted return on advertising. It works well in niches where the conversion value bidding can be easily calculated.
Manual vs. Automated Bidding: Which One Should You Choose?
If you're new to bidding strategies, experimenting with both manual and automated bidding can be a great starting point. With manual bidding, you have full control over your ad spend, allowing you to adjust bids, set target costs, and fine-tune your campaign based on performance.As you gain experience, switching to automated bidding can streamline your efforts. Powered by advanced algorithms, automated strategies optimize bids in real-time, saving time while improving efficiency. It’s a smart move for scaling your campaigns without constant manual adjustments.
How to Choose or Develop the Right Bidding Strategy
When selecting or refining a bidding strategy, advertisers should consider several key factors to ensure optimal performance: Define Your Goals – Are you focusing on brand awareness, clicks, conversions, or specific user actions? Your strategy should align with your objectives. Analyze Competitors – Leverage competitive analysis tools to fine-tune your bids and stay ahead. Many platforms allow you to bid just slightly higher than your competition for a winning edge. Manage Your Budget Wisely – Keep track of both your overall campaign budget and daily spend. Some platforms offer automated budget caps to maintain control. Understand Your Audience – Optimize your creatives, messaging, targeting, and traffic sources to connect effectively with your ideal users. Evaluate Ad Platforms – Each platform has unique bidding tools and capabilities—use them strategically to enhance your approach. Test, Optimize, Repeat – Data-driven advertising thrives on continuous improvement. Analyze results, refine targeting, and tweak bids to maximize performance over time.By applying these principles, you can craft a bidding strategy that adapts to your needs and drives better results.
How does bidding strategy work?
Here is an example of how to make it work within Adsterra. You can register an Advertiser’s account for free without a deposit to have a look around first, which is not a bad strategy on its own.To get started on an actual ad campaign, you need the following:
- Sign up or log in as an Advertiser.
- Click Create campaign.
- Implement bid targeting settings (aka modifiers) like operating system, device, country, region, or even city, traffic source, etc.
- Choose a pricing model (CMP, CPA, CPC).
- Choose suitable ad formats from Social Bar Ads, In-Page Push, Popunder, and Interstitial.
- Apply S2S Tracking of your choice and get a postback for granular monitoring of your ad campaigns.
- Apply helping tools like Smart CPM, Custom Bid, CPA Goal, etc.
- Go flexible with blacklists, whitelists, and graylists since traffic can change.
- In a few days, stop your campaign and run a report. Make sure to measure the CTR, sign-ups, and conversions. Optimize bids and overall strategy accordingly.
How to Implement a Bid Strategy Effectively
Adsterra provides its partners with essential tools to streamline bidding and traffic acquisition. Once you handle a few key technical aspects, automation can take over, making your strategy more efficient and less time-consuming.Let’s dive into the must-have tools we recommend, explore their features, and see how they can enhance your bidding strategy.
SMART CPM
Thanks to smart technologies, blind bidding is a thing of the past. Now, you have real-time data at your fingertips to make informed decisions. With strategic bidding, you can outbid competitors by just a fraction — without overpaying. This approach leverages the second-price auction algorithm, ensuring you secure high-value traffic at the most efficient cost.
EXPERT TIP FROM HEAD OF CPM AT ADSTERRA:
CPA GOAL
CPA Goal is a cutting-edge tool designed to maximize conversions while keeping CPM or CPC costs in check. Advertisers can fine-tune their traffic selection and set conversion targets within their budget—transforming quantity into quality while avoiding unnecessary ad spend.
With custom rule-setting, you can automatically filter traffic in real-time. If a placement no longer meets your criteria, it’s instantly removed, ensuring your budget is spent only on high-performing sources.
EXPERT TIP FROM HEAD OF CPA AT ADSTERRA:
CUSTOM BID
This powerful tool enhances your bidding strategy by providing real-time data for smarter decision-making. Within your Adsterra account, you can enable S2S (server-to-server) tracking, which collects key performance metrics essential for running high-impact ad campaigns.
Once activated, Adsterra will monitor ad placements, delivering valuable insights on performance. This allows you to assess which placements are worth scaling and where to allocate more budget strategically.
With these automation tools, you can fine-tune your bidding strategy, optimize ad placements, and maximize ROI - without overspending on budget or time, even in competitive, high-cost niches with long customer lifetime value (LTV).
Common Bid Strategy Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Navigating the bidding process comes with its challenges, but being prepared can help you stay ahead. Here are some common things you might face - along with effective solutions to tackle them: Rising Costs – Competitive bidding can drive up prices, making it harder to maintain your target cost. Regular testing and optimization will help balance your ROI. Algorithm Changes – Updates are inevitable, but staying informed and adapting quickly—like a skilled surfer adjusting to the waves—will keep your strategy effective. Ad Creative Performance – Ensure your ads are structured into well-organized groups so you can test multiple variations and identify the best-performing creatives for higher CTR. Low Conversion Rates (CR) – Even with a solid bidding approach, a poorly optimized landing page can hurt conversions. Focus on persuasive copy, strong CTAs, and fast page load times. Budget Mismanagement – Avoid overspending by monitoring your bids consistently—daily, weekly, or based on major industry events. Strategic pacing is key. Targeting Limitations – Before launching a campaign, explore all targeting features your ad platform offers. Many platforms allow free registration, so you can assess their capabilities in advance.EXPERT TIP FROM HEAD OF CPA AT ADSTERRA:
Measuring the Success of Your Bid Strategy
To effectively track and refine your bid-based strategy, focus on key performance metrics that provide valuable insights:- Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) – This metric helps you assess revenue generated per dollar spent, ensuring your bidding efforts are profitable.
- Quality Score – Platforms like Google Ads evaluate ad and keyword relevance, helping you gauge the effectiveness of your campaign.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR) – A high CTR indicates that your ad resonates with your audience, making it a strong indicator of relevance.
- Conversion Rate (CR) – This metric tracks how many users take the desired action, revealing the overall effectiveness of your bidding approach.
By leveraging these and other key performance indicators (KPIs), you can continuously refine your bid strategy for better results.
Conclusion
Experiment with different bidding approaches and ad creatives to optimize conversions. Explore various advertising platforms like Google Ads, social media channels, and ad networks to see what works best for your campaigns. By consistently testing and fine-tuning your strategy, you can achieve a high ROI and meet your KPIs.
Adsterra offers a range of powerful tools to help its partners succeed, including access to 248+ GEOs, premium traffic from 36K+ publishers, 3-level anti-cheat security, and 20+ targeting options for precise and effective bidding.
If you have any questions or need further guidance, feel free to reach out to our Partner Care support team via live chat - we’re happy to help!
