How do you use historical performance data to inform bidding decisions?

Using historical performance data to inform bidding decisions is a key strategy for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of your Bing Ads campaigns. By analyzing past performance trends, you can identify patterns and insights that guide future bid adjustments, helping to optimize your campaigns and maximize ROI. Here's how you can leverage historical data for informed bidding decisions:

1. Identify High-Performing Keywords and Ad Groups
Top-Performing Keywords: Review the historical data to identify which keywords have generated the highest number of conversions, clicks, and impressions, as well as the lowest cost-per-acquisition (CPA) or highest return on ad spend (ROAS). These keywords are often good candidates for increased bids to improve visibility and performance.

Underperforming Keywords: Similarly, identify underperforming keywords with low click-through rates (CTR), high CPCs, or poor conversion rates. Consider lowering bids for these keywords, pausing them, or revising the ad copy or landing pages to improve performance.

2. Analyze Conversion Trends
Conversion Patterns: Use historical performance data to spot trends in conversions over time. For example, if you notice that conversions are higher during certain days of the week or times of the day, you can adjust your bids accordingly for those specific time periods.

Seasonality: Historical data helps you recognize seasonal trends that affect conversion rates (e.g., higher sales during holidays or special promotions). Adjust your bids upward during peak periods and lower them during off-seasons to maintain profitability.

Conversion Lag: Understand the typical conversion time lag based on your historical data. If your customers take a longer time to convert after clicking your ad (e.g., several days), you may want to adjust your bidding strategy to account for this delay in conversion tracking.

3. Leverage Historical CPC and CPA Data
Target CPCs: Historical CPC data helps you gauge the cost you're willing to pay for a click based on past performance. If you've been able to maintain a profitable ROI at a certain CPC in the past, you can use that as a benchmark to inform future bids, especially if market conditions remain similar.

Optimize for CPA: If your historical data shows that you've been able to generate conversions at a specific CPA, aim to keep your bids in line with that target. If you see rising costs or declining conversions, it may be time to adjust your bids downward or reallocate budget to better-performing keywords.

4. Use Historical Data for Device and Location Bid Adjustments
Device-Specific Bidding: Analyze performance data by device (desktop, mobile, tablet) to identify trends in how different devices impact conversions. For example, if mobile users have higher conversion rates but also higher CPCs, you may decide to increase bids for mobile traffic or prioritize mobile-friendly ads.

Location-Specific Adjustments: Historical performance data by location (city, region, country) helps identify areas where your ads are performing better or worse. If certain locations are driving high-quality traffic at a low cost, you can increase bids for those areas. Conversely, lower bids or pause ads in locations that are underperforming.

5. Review Historical Ad Performance for Refinement
Ad Copy Testing: Historical ad performance data gives insight into which ad variations (headlines, descriptions, calls to action) have resonated most with your audience. You can use this data to fine-tune your bidding decisions, ensuring that ads with higher performance metrics receive greater visibility through increased bids.

Ad Positioning: Analyze how your ads have performed at different positions on the search results page. If your ads have consistently performed well in top positions, you might be willing to increase your bids to secure those positions. If your ads perform best at lower positions, you can adjust your bids to maintain an optimal balance between cost and visibility.

6. Leverage Historical Data for Budget Allocation
Reallocate Budget: Review which campaigns or ad groups have been the most profitable historically and allocate more budget to those areas. If certain keywords or ad groups consistently outperform others, increasing their budget and bids can help you drive more conversions without overspending.

Dynamic Budget Shifting: Use historical performance data to inform dynamic budget allocation. For example, if a specific ad group has been underperforming for a period, reduce its budget or pause it temporarily to reallocate funds toward better-performing campaigns.

7. Predict Future Performance Using Historical Trends
Forecasting Performance: By analyzing long-term historical data, you can forecast how similar campaigns or keywords are likely to perform in the future. If past trends show consistent conversion rates during specific months or times of the year, you can forecast and plan for those peaks and adjust bids and budgets accordingly.

Bid Simulations: Use historical data in combination with bid simulation tools available in Microsoft Advertising to model potential changes in bids and see how they may impact performance. This allows you to forecast the expected results of increasing or decreasing bids for specific keywords or campaigns.

8. Segment Data for Deeper Insights
Breakdown by Conversion Type: If your campaigns have different conversion actions (e.g., purchases, form submissions, downloads), use historical data to understand which types of conversions are most valuable. Adjust bids based on the highest-value conversions.

Match Type Performance: Analyze how different match types (exact, phrase, broad) have performed historically. If broad match keywords are driving a lot of irrelevant traffic or high CPCs, consider adjusting bids for those keywords or focusing more on exact match terms to improve targeting efficiency.

9. Assess Competitive Landscape with Historical Auction Insights
Auction Insights: Use historical auction insights data to understand how your bids have positioned you relative to competitors in the ad auction. If you've been losing impression share due to low bids, it may be time to raise your bids to stay competitive.

Competitive Analysis: Track changes in competitor bidding behavior over time. If a competitor increases their bid for a specific keyword and it impacts your performance, consider adjusting your bid to remain competitive while ensuring that you maintain profitability.

10. Consider External Factors and Trends
Market Trends: Historical performance data provides insights into trends in search demand, customer behavior, and the competitive landscape. For example, if there is an emerging trend in a particular industry or product category, you can adjust your bidding strategy to take advantage of this demand.

Global or Local Events: Consider how past performance may have been impacted by external factors, such as holidays, special promotions, or industry events. Use this information to plan for similar future events and adjust your bids accordingly.

Summary
Using historical performance data is an essential part of informed bidding decisions in Bing Ads. By analyzing past trends in keywords, ad groups, devices, locations, and conversions, you can make more accurate predictions, allocate your budget more effectively, and adjust bids based on what has worked in the past. Historical data helps you identify high-performing elements to prioritize, improve the efficiency of your campaigns, and avoid repeating past mistakes. Regularly monitoring and leveraging this data enables you to stay proactive in optimizing your campaigns and achieving better ROI.