In today’s crazy-competitive world of online ads, it’s not enough to just chase clicks or rack up views.
What really matters is making your ads work smarter — bringing in real value like sales, profit, and loyal customers.
That’s where value-based smart bidding comes in. Think of it like teaching your ads to think for themselves — to go after what actually grows your business, not just what looks good on paper.
In this guide, we’ll break down the different types of smart bidding strategies and show you how to use them to get the best bang for your buck.
Understanding Value-Based Bidding: The Foundation
Before we get fancy with strategies, let’s get the basics straight. Value-based bidding is like leveling up from “every sale is the same” thinking.
Instead of treating all conversions equally, it gets smart — realizing that a $500 sale isn’t the same as a $50 one, and a super-interested lead is way more valuable than a random click.
Think of it like running a lemonade stand: if one customer buys 10 cups and another buys one, who do you focus on? Exactly — the big spender.
That’s what value-based bidding does using machine learning. It figures out which clicks actually matter and adjusts your bids in real time.
Google found that advertisers using this approach boost their total conversion value by around 14% — without spending more.
Why? Because the system does what no human could: it reads endless data signals in milliseconds to make smarter choices every single time.
Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): The Revenue Optimizer
Target ROAS is like your personal money coach for ads — it helps you spend smarter, not harder.
Perfect for online stores and brands that can track revenue clearly, this strategy tells Google’s algorithm, “Hey, for every $1 I spend, I want $4 back.”
Then the system works its magic, adjusting bids to chase the clicks most likely to bring in high-value sales.
How Target ROAS Works
Imagine you’re running a sneaker shop online.
You tell the system, “I want to earn four bucks for every dollar I spend.”
Google then studies patterns — who clicks, what time they shop, where they are — and decides which ad spots are worth splurging on and which ones aren’t.
When to Use Target ROAS
This works best if you’ve got solid data (like 50+ conversions in the last month), track how much each sale is worth, and have clear profit goals.
Basically — if your stuff sells at different prices, this strategy rocks.
Best Practices for Target ROAS
Don’t go crazy creating sky-high goals initially.
Begin at a realistic goal that’s comparable to your existing results, allow the system to learn for a week or two, and then drive higher.
It’s like training a new team member — let it figure out your business before anticipating record-breaking wins.
Maximize Conversion Value: The Volume-Focused Approach
If Target ROAS is about efficiency, Maximize Conversion Value is all about going big.
Instead of aiming for a specific return, this strategy says, “Let’s get as much value as possible with the money we’ve got.”
It’s perfect for when you just want to make the most revenue your budget can handle — no handbrakes, no overthinking.
The Maximize Conversion Value Advantage
Think of it like a big sale at your store.
You don’t want to stop once you’ve made a certain profit — you want to keep selling while the crowd’s hot.
That’s exactly what this strategy does.
Google’s algorithm goes all-in on high-value clicks and keeps chasing them as long as there’s money left in your ad budget.
It’s a total powerhouse during shopping seasons or promos when you want to grab every possible dollar.
Optimal Use Cases
This strategy shines when:
- You’re launching a new campaign and don’t have much data yet
- Your profit margins are flexible
- You’re running seasonal or promo campaigns where volume is king
- You’re ready to scale fast and bring in serious revenue
Setting Up for Success
Here’s the deal — since this strategy spends your full budget to go after valuable conversions, you’ve got to keep an eye on your daily spend so you don’t blow through cash too fast.
You can also add an optional ROAS target as a “soft goal” to keep things balanced.
Think of it like giving your system a general direction but letting it run free to grab as many wins as it can.
Target ROAS with Portfolio Bidding: Cross-Campaign Optimization
Portfolio bidding is like giving your ads a team strategy instead of letting each campaign play solo.
Instead of managing campaigns one by one, you let the algorithm see the bigger picture and optimize across multiple campaigns at once.
It gets that sometimes different campaigns work together to drive real business results.
The Portfolio Advantage
Imagine running a chain of lemonade stands. One stand crushes sales on weekday mornings, another rocks weekends.
Portfolio bidding is like having a smart manager who shifts staff and supplies where they’re needed most, in real time.
Your campaigns get that same kind of dynamic treatment — budget flows to wherever it’s performing best, exactly when it matters.
When Portfolio Bidding Makes Sense
Use this strategy if you:
- Run multiple campaigns targeting similar audiences or products
- Have seasonal ups and downs across product lines
- Want to simplify reporting and optimization
- Have enough overall conversions for the system to learn effectively
Implementation Strategy
Start smart: group campaigns with similar goals and conversion values.
Don’t mix brand campaigns with non-brand campaigns that behave totally differently — that’s like putting a chess player and a soccer player on the same team and expecting miracles.
Begin with 2-3 related campaigns, watch how the system learns, and expand gradually once it’s performing well.
Enhanced CPC with Value Rules: The Hybrid Approach
Think of Enhanced CPC with value rules as training wheels for smart bidding.
It’s not fully automatic, but it lets the algorithm nudge your manual bids up or down based on which clicks are likely to convert — and value rules teach it which conversions matter most.
Why Consider Enhanced CPC
This strategy gives you control while still letting machine learning help.
Your bids stay in your hands, but the system can adjust them (up to 30%) to get better results.
It’s like having a co-pilot who knows when to push the gas or hit the brakes.
Transition Strategy
Many advertisers start here before going full automation.
You can test the waters, see how the algorithm reacts to your data, and once you’re confident, step up to Target ROAS or Maximize Conversion Value without feeling like you’re jumping off a cliff.
Advanced Considerations: Conversion Value Rules
No matter which value-based bidding strategy you pick, conversion value rules are like giving your ads a superpower.
They let you assign different “worth” to conversions depending on the situation, so the algorithm knows what really matters.
Common Value Rule Applications
For example, a new customer might be more valuable than a returning one, or a sale in one city could be worth more because those customers spend more over time.
Some businesses even tweak values based on product margins, making sure the system goes after profit, not just raw revenue.
Think of it like telling your team, “Focus on the players who score the most points.”
Technical Implementation
Setting this up takes planning and solid data tracking. You’ll need your website or app to pass the right info to your ad platform.
Test everything carefully — otherwise, your “superpower” could backfire and the algorithm might chase the wrong goals.
Choosing the Right Strategy for Your Business
Picking the best strategy depends on your business, data, and goals.
Online stores with lots of sales and varying prices usually crush it with Target ROAS or Maximize Conversion Value.
Lead gen businesses can win too by giving different “worth” to each type of lead based on past results.
Picture as choosing the ideal game strategy: you want your team to execute it, fair tracking of who gets points, and remaining chill when getting used to the system.
Play one campaign and simply do it, observe how it goes, and scale up once you understand the system works.
Conclusion: Embracing the Future of Automated Bidding
Value-based smart bidding is the upgrade your ad game needs — it stops you from chasing clicks and starts chasing real business wins: revenue, profit, lifetime value.
Think of it as the middleman between game tickets and actual money — the objective shifts.
To make it succeed, you still require decent conversion tracking, attainable goals, sufficient data, and patience while the system recalibrates (give it time like a new employee).
Pick the strategy that matches your goals — efficiency (Target ROAS), volume (Maximize Conversion Value), or account-wide smarts (portfolio bidding) — and start small, test, then scale.
Embrace the tech now and you’ll be ahead; the real question is which strategy fits your business best.