What control does manual bidding offer that automated bidding does not?

Manual bidding offers several advantages in terms of control over your campaigns that automated bidding does not provide. While automated bidding systems are designed to optimize bids based on data, trends, and algorithms, manual bidding gives advertisers direct oversight and flexibility to make decisions tailored to specific campaign needs. Here's a breakdown of what manual bidding offers in terms of control that automated bidding lacks:

1. Full Control Over Individual Keyword Bids
Manual Bidding: You can set different bids for each individual keyword, which means you have complete control over how much you're willing to pay for a specific keyword based on its performance, competition, or relevance to your goals.

Automated Bidding: Automated systems adjust bids based on the overall performance of keywords, but you don't have the ability to manually tweak individual keyword bids.

Benefit: This allows you to prioritize high-performing or high-value keywords by increasing bids, while reducing bids on underperforming keywords or those not directly aligned with your objectives.

2. Granular Control Over Ad Group and Campaign-Level Adjustments
Manual Bidding: You can adjust bids at the ad group and campaign level, giving you a more detailed approach to budgeting and bidding strategies. If one ad group performs better than another, you can manually increase the bid for that group and reallocate funds as needed.

Automated Bidding: While automated bidding can adjust bids at the ad group or campaign level based on overall performance, it doesn't allow for the level of detail that manual bidding offers in tweaking specific groups or ad variations.

Benefit: This provides better alignment with specific business goals, ensuring that your budget is being spent where it's most effective.

3. Complete Control Over Bid Adjustments for Devices, Locations, and Demographics
Manual Bidding: You can set bids for specific devices (mobile, desktop, tablet), locations (specific cities, regions, countries), and demographics (age, gender, household income, etc.). If you notice that mobile users or users from certain regions are converting better, you can allocate more of your budget to those segments.

Automated Bidding: Automated systems will adjust bids based on aggregated data, but they might not allow for granular control over individual devices, locations, or demographic segments unless you're using a very advanced custom setup.

Benefit: This level of control enables you to target and bid more effectively on the most profitable audience segments, ensuring your budget is spent efficiently.

4. Real-Time Response to Market Conditions and Competitor Activity
Manual Bidding: You can react immediately to changes in the competitive landscape or shifts in market trends. For example, if a competitor increases their bid on a high-traffic keyword, you can raise your bid in real-time to stay competitive and maintain ad visibility.

Automated Bidding: Automated systems generally work based on historical data and trends, so they may not be able to react quickly enough to sudden market or competitive changes. They may take a few hours or even days to adjust bids based on new patterns or shifts in the auction.

Benefit: Manual bidding allows you to capitalize on timely opportunities or counteract competitor actions without waiting for the system to catch up.

5. Precise Control Over Budget Allocation and Spend Distribution
Manual Bidding: With manual bidding, you have the ability to allocate budget to specific keywords, ad groups, devices, or times of day based on performance. If you notice that certain hours of the day or days of the week perform better, you can manually adjust bids for those times, ensuring your budget is spent during the highest-converting periods.

Automated Bidding: While some automated systems allow for bid adjustments based on time-of-day or budget allocation, they generally optimize the entire budget toward the highest-performing areas automatically, without giving you full control over how it's spent.

Benefit: This precision ensures that your budget is being spent during high-conversion windows and on the highest-performing parts of your campaign, rather than relying on general trends.

6. Flexibility in Adjusting Bids Based on Specific Goals
Manual Bidding: You can set specific bidding strategies based on your immediate or long-term goals. Whether you want to maximize conversions, drive more clicks, or maintain a specific cost-per-click (CPC), manual bidding gives you the freedom to align bids with those goals without relying on preset rules.

Automated Bidding: Automated bidding systems rely on algorithms that aim to optimize based on a set goal (e.g., maximizing conversions), but they don't allow for as much flexibility in adjusting goals and strategies on the fly.

Benefit: Manual bidding ensures that you have full control over how you target specific goals, which is especially useful if you want to switch goals mid-campaign (e.g., from brand awareness to sales-driven objectives).

7. Ability to Pause or Adjust Specific Keywords Immediately
Manual Bidding: You can pause or adjust individual keywords at any time based on real-time performance data. If you notice that a keyword is underperforming or has become irrelevant, you can immediately stop bidding on it or adjust the bid to minimize unnecessary spending.

Automated Bidding: Automated systems will only adjust bids based on patterns and trends. If a keyword is underperforming or irrelevant, the system may take some time to respond, or it may not adjust quickly enough.

Benefit: This control allows you to stop wasteful spending immediately, preventing further budget drain on non-performing keywords.

8. Manual Adjustments for Testing and Experimentation
Manual Bidding: If you're testing new keywords, ad copy, or landing pages, manual bidding gives you immediate control over how much to bid for these new elements based on early performance data. You can quickly increase bids for high-performing experiments and pause low-performing tests without waiting for an automated system to analyze the data.

Automated Bidding: Automated bidding generally requires a longer timeframe to recognize trends and optimize accordingly. New tests may not be immediately adjusted, and it may take a while for the system to respond to new strategies.

Benefit: Manual bidding allows for faster experimentation and optimization based on real-time performance data, which is particularly important during test phases when quick decisions are needed.

9. Control Over Seasonal or Promotional Campaigns
Manual Bidding: For campaigns with a seasonal focus or specific promotional periods (like holiday sales or flash sales), you can increase bids in real-time based on your campaign's needs. If you need to boost visibility for a limited-time promotion, manual bidding gives you immediate control to allocate budget efficiently during high-demand times.

Automated Bidding: Automated systems may not be as responsive during short-term or seasonal spikes unless pre-programmed with specific rules. They might not adjust quickly enough to capitalize on the temporary demand.

Benefit: Manual bidding ensures that you can maximize your budget during key promotional periods and ensure your ads appear when competition is at its peak.

10. Transparency and Insight into Bid Decisions
Manual Bidding: With manual bidding, you can directly observe and control the decisions being made for each keyword, ad group, or campaign. This gives you greater insight into what's happening with your bids at all levels.

Automated Bidding: Automated bidding systems are driven by algorithms, and while they provide reports, it can be harder to fully understand the underlying decisions or how changes are being made to bids. You have to trust the system's optimization without full visibility into the decision-making process.

Benefit: Manual bidding allows you to fully understand why certain adjustments are made, providing transparency and the ability to make data-driven adjustments based on your own knowledge and strategy.

Conclusion
Manual bidding offers a level of control and flexibility that automated bidding systems simply cannot match. It allows advertisers to make precise adjustments to individual keywords, ad groups, locations, devices, and more, and to quickly respond to changes in the competitive landscape or market conditions. While automated bidding is efficient for large-scale campaigns and broad optimization, manual bidding provides an unparalleled level of customization, transparency, and the ability to react in real time. This makes it especially useful for campaigns that require fine-tuned adjustments, strategic oversight, and immediate responses.