How do these platforms handle keyword research and bid suggestions?

Keyword research and bid suggestions are crucial components of a successful paid search campaign, and many third-party platforms handle these elements in different ways. Here's how some of the most prominent platforms tackle keyword research and bid suggestions:

1. Kenshoo (now Skai)
Keyword Research: Skai provides tools to help identify high-potential keywords using historical performance data, trends, and competitive intelligence. It integrates with data sources from Google Ads, Bing Ads, and social platforms, helping advertisers discover new keywords and opportunities based on audience behavior, interests, and market trends.

Bid Suggestions: Skai uses machine learning and predictive algorithms to suggest bids based on a campaign's goals (e.g., maximizing conversions, return on ad spend, etc.). It adjusts bids in real-time based on performance, making sure the bids align with the optimal cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-acquisition (CPA) for your goals.

2. Marin Software
Keyword Research: Marin integrates with Google Ads and other search engines to provide keyword recommendations. The platform analyzes historical data, competitor performance, and keyword search volume trends to suggest high-performing keywords. It also provides keyword grouping suggestions to improve targeting.

Bid Suggestions: Marin uses data from multiple channels to suggest optimal bids for keywords and campaigns. The bid suggestions are based on historical performance, competitor analysis, budget allocation, and your campaign goals. It also offers an "automated bid strategy" feature, which dynamically adjusts bids to improve ROI based on live performance metrics.

3. WordStream (by LOCALiQ)
Keyword Research: WordStream's "Keyword Research Tool" offers suggestions based on various metrics, including search volume, competition, and relevance. It helps you discover long-tail keywords, negative keywords, and keyword opportunities across multiple platforms, including Google, Bing, and Facebook.

The tool also includes a "Free Keyword Tool" that analyzes your website and suggests high-potential keywords based on your business, competitors, and industry trends.

Bid Suggestions: WordStream's "Smart Bidding" tool provides bid recommendations based on keyword performance and your budget. It suggests automated bids that align with your set goals (like maximizing clicks or conversions). The tool also helps optimize bids for specific keywords to maximize ROI by identifying keywords with the highest potential.

4. The Trade Desk
Keyword Research: While The Trade Desk is more focused on programmatic advertising and display campaigns, it offers keyword targeting capabilities for search-based ads and integrates with Google Ads for this purpose. However, its primary strength lies in audience targeting and behavioral insights, rather than traditional keyword research.

Bid Suggestions: The Trade Desk provides bid suggestions through its "Auto Bid" feature. The platform uses machine learning and real-time data to adjust bids across a variety of channels and formats (e.g., display, video, and search). The algorithm considers factors such as bid history, ad placement, audience engagement, and budget constraints to suggest bids for various campaigns.

5. Adobe Advertising Cloud
Keyword Research: Adobe Advertising Cloud combines keyword research with audience segmentation to help advertisers identify the best-performing keywords. It leverages AI-powered algorithms to discover keyword opportunities based on historical performance and trends. The platform also integrates with Google Ads and Bing to offer suggestions for relevant keywords.

Bid Suggestions: Adobe uses automated bidding strategies to provide bid suggestions, especially through its integration with Google Search Ads 360 and Display & Video 360. The platform leverages AI and machine learning to optimize bids in real-time, ensuring that campaigns remain aligned with goals like conversions, ROI, or brand awareness.

6. Sizmek (by Amazon)
Keyword Research: Sizmek's keyword research capabilities are generally integrated with its broader search advertising platform, allowing advertisers to discover and refine keyword lists based on historical performance data, competitor research, and audience insights. It helps identify high-value keywords with the best conversion potential.

Bid Suggestions: Sizmek uses automated bidding to suggest optimal bid amounts based on campaign objectives. It analyzes data from various sources, including previous campaigns, to suggest bids that align with your goals (e.g., conversion maximization, brand visibility). It can adjust bids in real-time based on performance metrics like engagement, conversion rate, and competition.

7. Choozle
Keyword Research: Choozle allows advertisers to target keywords and audiences across various channels, including search, display, and video. It leverages data from Google Ads and other sources to provide keyword suggestions and group keywords for optimized targeting.

Bid Suggestions: Choozle offers automated bid optimization, adjusting bids in real-time based on campaign performance. It recommends bids based on performance data, helping advertisers maximize conversions and minimize costs. The platform can also suggest bids for different segments or audience types.

8. DoubleClick (now Google Marketing Platform)
Keyword Research: Google Marketing Platform's Search Ads 360 (formerly DoubleClick Search) provides keyword research tools that integrate directly with Google Ads and Bing Ads. It allows advertisers to discover new keywords, analyze competitor performance, and optimize keyword targeting. The platform provides keyword suggestions based on search trends, volume, and historical campaign performance.

Bid Suggestions: Google's Smart Bidding technology automatically adjusts bids for each keyword or ad group based on real-time data and performance goals. Search Ads 360 can suggest bid adjustments based on historical performance, predicted conversion value, and budget constraints.

9. AdRoll
Keyword Research: AdRoll focuses primarily on display and retargeting ads rather than traditional search campaigns, but it allows keyword targeting and provides keyword suggestions based on audience behavior and previous interactions. It leverages data from across your campaigns to help you identify keyword opportunities.

Bid Suggestions: AdRoll offers automated bidding capabilities that optimize bids based on campaign goals like conversions, return on ad spend (ROAS), or impressions. The platform adjusts bids in real-time, ensuring that campaigns are competitive and cost-efficient.

Common Features Across Platforms for Keyword Research and Bid Suggestions:
AI and Machine Learning: Most of these platforms use AI-driven algorithms to suggest bids and keywords based on historical performance data, trends, and audience insights.

Real-Time Bid Adjustments: Automated bidding and bid suggestions are adjusted in real-time, ensuring that bids remain competitive and aligned with performance goals (e.g., conversions or ROI).

Competitive Intelligence: Many platforms offer competitive intelligence features, where bid suggestions and keyword recommendations are made based on your competitors' performance in the market.

Integration Across Channels: Keyword research and bid suggestions are often unified across multiple platforms (Google Ads, Bing Ads, social channels) to provide a holistic strategy for cross-channel optimization.

Customizable Bid Strategies: Most platforms allow you to customize automated bidding strategies to align with your specific goals, such as maximizing clicks, conversions, or impressions.

In summary, these platforms typically provide a combination of automated bid suggestions, keyword discovery tools, and performance-based optimizations to help advertisers maximize campaign efficiency across multiple channels. The use of machine learning and AI is becoming more common to ensure that bid adjustments are constantly optimized based on real-time data.