How can we help you?
How can we help you?
To help advertisers using Google and Yahoo! Japan optimize bids across devices, you can opt into Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendations that calculate and set the Mobile Bid Adjustment. This feature can be turned on for an entire Marin Account or for specific Bidding Folders. Bid adjustments are calculated based on the difference in performance between mobile and non-mobile traffic, and does not require Marin Bidding Folders to be set to Traffic.
Note: Mobile bid adjustments for Microsoft campaigns are not supported by the feature, but can be manually edited in the platform.
Campaign-level Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation settings for Google and Yahoo! Japan Campaigns can be configured at either the campaign level (which is set once for the entire Marin Client Account) or at the group level, which can be configured from Marin's automated bidding folders.
Go to the Admin tab.
Click on the Optimization sub-tab.
Click on the Mobile Bid Adjustment link in the left-hand navigation and select the desired settings.
These settings will be applied to all Google all Yahoo! Japan Campaigns across the client account.
For added control, users can choose to also opt into group-level mobile bid adjustment recommendations. Groups are opted into platform recommendations at the folder level by following these steps:
Go to the Bidding tab.
Select a folder.
Click on the Mobile Bid Adjustment link in the left-hand navigation and select the desired settings.
Review the Recommendation Goal which is automatically set based on the Folder Target (note: position-based Folders will use Clicks).
These settings will be applied to all Google and Yahoo! Japan ad groups within the selected folder.
Note: The Mobile Bid Adjustment calculation settings (off/preview/traffic) are independent from the Bid Calculation settings (off/preview/traffic) at the folder level. This means that even if the bidding folder is set 'off' or 'preview', if the Mobile Bid Adjustment is set to 'traffic' within that folder, the Mobile Bid Adjustment will be pushed to the publisher.
Note: At this time, the Platform does not support Microsoft Group Mobile Bid Adjustments.
You can also set a given folder or set of folders mobile bid adjustment calculations to Off, Preview, or Traffic in bulk via Folder Bulk Edit.
A mobile bid adjustment can be increased or decreased for a specific Google campaign or Google group through individual edit, multi-edit or bulk edit.
If you need to insert the mobile bid adjustment just for a few campaigns or groups, you could edit those items one at a time by typing in the desired percentage under settings:
Mobile Bid Adjust. Calculation Settings
Preview - Mobile Bid Adjustments are calculated in Marin, but are not pushed to the publisher.
Traffic - Mobile Bid Adjustments are calculated in Marin and pushed to the publisher.
Recommendation Goal
Revenue (Revenue / Clicks) - Choose this setting if you measure efficiency using ROI, ROAS, or Margin.
Conversions (Conversions / Clicks) - Choose this setting if you measure efficiency using Cost-per-Lead.
Clicks (Clicks / Impressions) - Choose this setting if your goal is to maximize clicks.
Confidence Level: The statistical confidence level determines if an ad group has enough click data to calculate its own mobile bid adjustment based on the Days of data to use below. If an ad group does not have enough click data to meet this confidence level, it will use the automated mobile bid adjustment from it’s parent campaign. We typically recommend 85%+.
Days of data to use: This setting determines the data used in automated mobile bid adjustment calculations. A lower amount of days increases the reactivity to market changes, but causes more ad groups to use their parent campaign bid adjustments. A higher amount of days decreases reactivity to market changes, but allows more ad groups to use their own bid adjustments. We typically recommend keeping this setting at 30 days.
If automated mobile bid adjustments are used at the Marin Account level, individual campaigns can be excluded by setting the Mobile Bid Adj. Exclusion setting to On. This can be done in an individual campaigns’ settings page, across multiple campaigns within the Campaigns grid, or via bulk edit.
The following Bidding Rules do not apply to mobile bid adjustments:
Bid Cap
Maximum Bid Change %
Trailing Excluded Dates
The Recommended Desktop Bid Adjustment for a group or a campaign can have a value even if the Recommended Mobile Bid Adjustment in N/A.
Marin’s automated mobile bid adjustments feature calculates a Recommended Desktop Bid Adjustment which is used in the effective mobile bid adjustment calculations. This can be seen in the Bid Details Page of a keyword and in the Settings History of a group, campaign, or Folder. This Recommended Desktop Bid Adjustment is an internal Marin setting, and is not the same as Google’s Desktop Bid Adjustment setting.
Depending on the confidence level that has been set or lack of data, the engine may fail the significance test resulting in a recommended mobile bid adjustment to go to "N/A." However, the recommended desktop bid adjustment will display the last calculated value. This is expected behavior -- the recommended mobile and desktop bid adjustment will continue using the last calculated value.
Below we'll answer some common questions about this feature.
How Are Device Bid Adjustments Calculated?
MBAR calculates separate adjustments only for mobile. Desktop & Tablet are considered one device with adjustment pushed as part of the bid. You can find this in the Boost section on the Bid Details Page.
The infographic below explains how mobile bid adjustment recommendation works for an example campaign:
How Will Bids Be Calculated With The Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation Calculation Enabled?
With this setting enabled, bidding will be a three step process. Step 1 will occur as long as bidding is turned on. Steps 2 and 3 will only occur if the Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation Calculation is enabled and a campaign has sufficient data.
Why Do We Calculate A Desktop Adjustment When MBAR Is On?
All device adjustments are applied on top of a "basic bid" that we calculate at the keyword level. This bid is calculated based on the data for all devices. It then becomes necessary to apply an adjustment for either mobile or desktop + tablet in order to arrive at the appropriate bid.
What Are The Off, Preview, And Traffic Settings On The Calculations Drop-Down Menu?
If Off is selected, no Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendations are calculated.
If Preview is selected, the system will calculate Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendations and display them on the campaign and group settings pages, Campaigns reporting grids, and Keyword Bid Details pages.
If Traffic is selected, the system will calculate and display Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendations, then push them to the publishers each day.
What Is The Difference Between The Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendations Settings On The Optimization Tab Vs. The Folder Settings Pages?
The settings on the Admin > Optimization tab will be used to control campaign-level mobile bid adjustment recommendations for all Google and Yahoo Japan campaigns. The folder-level settings are applied to all Google and Yahoo! Japan ad groups within the folder.
Where Does The Desktop Adjustment In A Group's Bid Settings Come From, And How Do You Adjust It?
The Desktop Bid Adjustment (DBA) comes from the campaign-level bid adjustment (when we have Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation [MBAR] set to Traffic at the Account Level. If you want to use a group-level DBA, you will have to either turn off MBAR or turn on Folder-level MBAR.
What Metrics Can Be Used To Determine The Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation?
For the campaign recommendation settings configured at the client level, users can specify that the system calculate the Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation based on Click-Through-Rate (CTR), Conversion Rate, or Revenue-Per-Click. For the group recommendation settings configured at the folder level, the metric used to determine the mobile bid adjustment recommendation is automatically set based on the folder revenue model, and will be either Click-Through-Rate, Conversion Rate, or Gross Profit-Per-Click.
Note: You must be tracking Revenue in order to use the Revenue-Per-Click MBAR setting, but you can use other settings that do not require Revenue. Similarly, you must be tracking Conversions in order to use the Conversion Rate MBAR setting, but you can use other settings that do not require Conversions.
Should I Use The Campaign-Level Recommendations Or Group-Level Recommendations?
If you are using platform automated bidding, it is suggested that you configure mobile bid adjustment recommendations within your folders. If you configure the mobile bid adjustment recommendation within your folders it will be configured at the ad group level. Configuring the mobile bid adjustment recommendation within your folders will ensure that mobile bid adjustment recommendations align with your bidding goals, and will give you more targeted recommendations using group-level data.
As a fallback, you should also activate campaign-level recommendations at the Marin account level. This will ensure that groups using mobile bid adjustment recommendations within the bidding folders but which don't have enough data can leverage campaign-level mobile bid adjustment recommendations.
Does The Adjustment Work For Both Google And Yahoo! Japan?
Yes, the system will calculate campaign-level and group-level mobile bid adjustments recommendations for all Google Campaigns and all Yahoo! Japan Campaigns in the client account with sufficient data when the client-level settings are activated.
Which Metric Should I Use When Enabling Campaign-Level Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendations?
Note: Using Revenue-Per-Click or Conversion Rate as the metric for the Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation Calculation may cause a decrease in mobile traffic if mobile traffic has a lower Conversion Rate or Revenue-Per-Click. Make sure to review device performance data before enabling this setting.
Which KPI Will Be Set For My Folders?
Your folder-level mobile bid adjustment recommendation KPI will be set automatically based on your folder maximization goal.
Maximization Goal Mobile Bid Adj. KPI
Note: If your folder is targeting a position goal, the KPI will be Click-Through Rate (CTR).
Will A Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation And Multiplier Be Calculated For All Groups And Campaigns?
When client-level recommendations are enabled, the platform will calculate a mobile bid adjustment recommendation and desktop adjustment recommendation for each campaign with sufficient data. When a given folder is opted in mobile bid adjustment recommendations, a recommended bid adjustment will be calculated for each group in the folder with sufficient data.
If a group's mobile bid adjustment recommendation is populated, the group will ignore the campaign-level mobile bid adjustment recommendation and desktop adjustment recommendation. If a group in a folder with the mobile bid adjustment recommendation enabled does not have sufficient data, it will use the average of all groups in that folder to calculate the mobile bid adjustment and desktop adjustment recommendation. If there is still not enough information at the aggregate group level in order to calculate the mobile bid adjustment recommendation, the campaign-level mobile bid adjustment recommendations will be leveraged.
How Will The System Determine If A Campaign Or Group's Data Is Statistically Significant?
The user can set a confidence level between 80% and 99%. The Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation will only be calculated for campaigns or groups in which the statistical confidence that mobile and desktop perform differently is greater than or equal to the user-specified confidence level. The confidence level can be set in the Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation Calculation settings under the Optimization tab (campaign-level) or under the Folder Settings page (group level).
How Much Data Will Be Used?
The user can specify that the algorithm look at the past 14 days, 30 days or 60 days. It should be noted that using fewer days will generally reduce the data’s statistical confidence. This can also be configured in the Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation section of the Optimization sub-tab.
What Are Other Specifications Of This Feature?
The Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation will never be set below -90%, which would risk shutting off mobile traffic. If the calculated recommendation is lower than -90%, it will default to -90%.
The system will observe account-level excluded dates but not folder-level excluded dates when calculating the Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendations.
Which Settings Do Not Apply To Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation?
The following settings do not apply: Folder Bid Cap, Dampening. Trailing Date Exclusion applies for folder-level settings only.
Is There A Way To Exclude Certain Groups Or Campaigns From Platform Recommendations?
Yes, there is. You can use the Campaign Mobile Bid Adjustment Recommendation Exclusions feature to achieve this.
Please read our Mobile Bidding article for more information.
The Recommended Mobile Bid Adjustment Is Displayed As "N/A" In The Group Settings History. What Does This Mean?
This might also be displayed as Delete: Trafficking Mobile Bid Adjustment for Groups in the Activity Log.
This happens sometimes in low-volume ad groups when there's not enough data for the optimization engine to calculate a recommended Mobile Bid Adjustment.
If this happens, you can try one of the suggestions below.
Marin Has Been Deleting My Mobile Bid Adjustments And Reverting The Value To N/A. What Causes This?
When the MBAR reverts to N/A in your settings history, it simply means that there is not enough data for the optimization engine to calculate a recommended Mobile Bid Adjustment for the group.
If this is happening, we recommend turning of MBAR at the campaign level and use the same recommendation at the group level. If you're concerned about trying this in your low volume groups, you can either lower the confidence level or increase the look-back period on the MBAR settings page.
Keep in mind, though, that longer look-backs will make the MBAR calculations less reactive to market performance changes. We recommend keeping your confidence level at 85% or above.