What are the advantages and disadvantages of manual bidding in Bing Ads?

Manual bidding in Bing Ads (Microsoft Advertising) allows advertisers to set individual bids for their keywords or ad groups, giving them full control over how much they are willing to pay for each click. While manual bidding can be highly effective for certain types of campaigns, it also has its challenges. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of using manual bidding in Bing Ads:

✔️ Advantages of Manual Bidding in Bing Ads
1. Full Control Over Bids
You decide what to pay: With manual bidding, you have complete control over each keyword's bid, allowing you to fine-tune how much you are willing to spend per click.

Tailored strategy: You can set different bids for each keyword or ad group based on its importance, competition, and performance, giving you a highly personalized approach.

2. Better Control Over Budget
You can closely monitor how much you're spending on specific keywords or ad groups and adjust bids accordingly.

Prevent overspending on keywords that don't perform well or don't align with your goals.

3. Precision for Niche Keywords
For long-tail keywords or low-competition keywords, manual bidding can help you maintain low bids while still achieving good visibility and control over costs.

Especially useful for niche markets where competition may be lower, so manual control can help balance costs and results.

4. Ideal for Low-Volume Campaigns
Manual bidding is great for low-volume campaigns or campaigns with specific needs, where you don't have a large enough budget or data for automated bidding systems.

It's also a good option for testing small batches of keywords before deciding on automation.

5. Transparency in Bid Management
You can see exactly what you're paying for each click on each keyword.

Makes it easier to analyze keyword performance and adjust based on what's working, allowing you to track results in a very granular way.

❌ Disadvantages of Manual Bidding in Bing Ads
1. Time-Consuming and Labor-Intensive
Requires frequent monitoring and adjustments: You'll need to constantly adjust bids based on performance metrics (CTR, CPA, ROAS, etc.) and competitive trends.

Scaling is harder: As campaigns grow or become more complex, the time spent adjusting individual bids for each keyword can be overwhelming.

2. Potential for Human Error
Mistakes: Incorrect bid amounts or missing bid adjustments for specific keywords can lead to suboptimal performance, such as overspending or underbidding.

Inconsistent strategy: If you're not regularly optimizing and adjusting bids based on performance, your campaigns may become inefficient.

3. Lack of Optimization Based on Auction Insights
No machine learning optimization: Unlike automated bidding strategies (e.g., Target CPA or Maximize Conversions), manual bidding doesn't benefit from machine learning and auction insights that optimize for factors like time of day, device, or audience segment performance.

You'll need to analyze data manually and adjust bids based on your understanding of the auction, rather than letting Bing Ads handle it automatically.

4. Risk of Missed Opportunities
Higher risk of losing competitive advantage: If your competitors are using automated bidding, they may be adjusting bids in real-time based on factors like competition, seasonality, or device targeting. You could miss out on valuable opportunities to outbid competitors and capture more clicks.

No real-time adjustments: Manual bidding lacks the agility that automated systems provide to adjust bids dynamically based on auction fluctuations.

5. Difficulty in Managing Large Campaigns
If you have multiple ad groups and keywords, it becomes increasingly difficult to manage and optimize each keyword's bid. This can lead to inefficiency when scaling large campaigns.

For large inventories or broad match keywords, manual bidding may not be practical, as it's hard to keep track of performance and optimize effectively without spending a lot of time.

6. Limits for Complex Campaigns
In highly competitive industries or complex campaigns, manual bidding may not provide the level of precision or speed required to keep up with constantly changing auction dynamics. Automated strategies like Target ROAS or Maximize Conversions might be more effective in such cases.

🧠 When to Use Manual Bidding in Bing Ads
While manual bidding has its disadvantages, it can be highly effective in certain situations. Consider using manual bidding when:

You have small campaigns or niche keywords that don't need heavy automation.

You're testing new keywords or ad groups and want full control over their initial performance.

You want precise control over your bids, especially for specific products or services with a unique competitive landscape.

You have enough time to manage campaigns manually and don't need to scale rapidly.

⚙️ Best Practices for Manual Bidding in Bing Ads
Regular Monitoring: Set aside time to review performance metrics (e.g., CTR, CPA, conversion rates) regularly and adjust bids as needed.

Use Bid Adjustments: Consider using device, location, and time of day bid modifiers to fine-tune your bids.

Focus on Top Performers: Prioritize keywords and ad groups that generate the most conversions, and adjust bids accordingly for better performance.

Set Bid Limits: To control costs, set maximum bid limits to avoid overspending on individual keywords.