Marketers jittery as Google ditches nhanced CPC bidding strategy

Google Ads will be discontinuing its Enhanced Cost-Per-Click (eCPC) bidding strategy for search and display ad campaigns in the coming months, the company recently announced. In October 2024, new search and display ad campaigns will no longer be able to select Enhanced CPC as a bidding strategy.

Marketers, who have long relied on this bidding strategy to fine-tune their campaigns and optimise performance, are expressing concerns about losing manual control over their ad spend. This shift marks a significant departure from the traditional approach to paid search advertising, where marketers had a more direct influence on their bidding strategy.

For the uninitiated, eCPC is a bidding strategy that allows advertisers to set a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) for their ads. Google's algorithm then uses this information to determine the optimal bid in real-time, based on factors such as ad quality, landing page experience, and the likelihood of a click.

This approach has been popular among marketers because it offers a balance between automation and control, allowing them to set a maximum bid while letting Google's algorithm optimize for performance.

According to digital experts, the deprecation of eCPC means that advertisers will no longer be able to set a maximum CPC for their campaigns. Instead, they will need to rely on Google's automated bidding strategies, such as Maximise conversions, Maximise conversion value, or Maximise Clicks. “While these strategies offer their own benefits, they also raise concerns about a potential loss of control,” a senior fintech marketer said.

He added that one of the primary concerns is the lack of transparency in automated bidding strategies. “While Google provides some insights into how these algorithms work, it can be difficult to understand exactly how their bids are being determined and why they fluctuate. This lack of visibility can make it challenging to track and measure campaign performance,” the person said.

Magicbrick’s Prasun Kumar also added that this move will have an impact on the brands’ overall Google Ads strategy since eCPC has been widely used for the optimisation of large-scale campaigns including DSAs. “It has been a useful tool to drive daily efficiencies in the hundreds and thousands of campaigns set up and has helped in better deliveries at controlled CPLs. In the wake of eCPC being phased out, campaigns will now depend on rigorous manual optimisation & bidding strategies for effective outcomes,” Kumar mentioned.

Tejas Maha, Group Head, White Rivers Media agrees that concerns around potential cost spikes or losing manual control are valid. However, he added that with advanced machine learning now leading optimization, the long-term gains far exceed any short-term hurdles. “Agencies that adapt quickly will not just manage—they’ll thrive, seizing this moment to drive better results and unlock new growth,” Maha mentioned.

Speaking of the further effect on agencies, Sajal Gupta, Chief Executive, Kiaos Marketing also pointed out, that now that it will be Google’s algorithms optimising everything, the work of agencies will reduce. “The agency in this case becomes just an ad scheduler. Their role will become more strategic and less operational,” he said.

Experts feel that with eCPC, marketers could fine-tune their bids at the campaign, ad group, and keyword level. “Automated bidding strategies, on the other hand, often operate at a broader level, limiting the ability to make granular adjustments. This can be problematic for businesses that need to target different audiences or products with varying levels of profitability,” the digital marketing head of an FMCG brand said.

Gupta also agreed that while there might be benefits of the AI-driven outcome, the control of the campaign will go away. “Now you are going to be using this AI-driven sort of a model, which is going to be totally under how people are responding to the ad, the AI is going to optimise the campaign. So there will be a black box for me as an advertiser, I wouldn't know exactly what is being done, but I'm getting the output,” he said.

Marketers are also worried about the potential for overspending with automated bidding strategies. “If the algorithm misjudges the value of a particular conversion or click, it could lead to higher-than-necessary bids, resulting in increased costs. This is particularly concerning for businesses with tight marketing budgets,” one of them said.