Google is a great force when it comes to marketing and machine learning. There are plenty of marketing data points to track and monitor. It’s crucial to gather enough data from conversion tracking for the algorithm to optimize the campaign effectively. Google understands that no one has the time or ability to track over 40,000 data points while bidding at 40,500 searches per second. As a result, they developed automated bidding strategies to aid your Google Ads campaign.

An important aspect to consider is the initial learning period, which is crucial for optimizing marketing campaigns. This phase, typically lasting around 45 days, requires patience to assess the performance and effectiveness of newly implemented strategies accurately.

You began your Google Ads campaign. You want to achieve a ROAS goal and have a daily target budget to support it. However, after a few days, you noticed you were not meeting your ROAS target. Worse, Google isn’t spending enough to meet your advertising budget. What is going on?

In this blog post, we will answer the most common questions.

What Is the Learning Phase of Google Ads?

Let me tell you directly. You just made a change to get better results or just for a test, and your conversions decreased? When you checked the campaign, you saw “Bid Strategy Learning.”

Regardless of your budget or business type, online advertising platforms like Google Ads (formerly Google AdWords), Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads operate on similar principles.

When a new campaign launches, its ad groups enter an exciting “learning phase” tailored to each ad set. This period encourages experimentation with the ad delivery method, paving the way for effective strategies and successful outcomes!

As a result, performance tends to be less stable, and the cost-per-action (CPA) is often higher. This can impact the campaign’s overall effectiveness, making it crucial to understand the learning phase’s role in achieving optimal results.

When And Where Does the Learning Period Occur?

Due to the recent change in eligibility, Google needs time to gather data and refine your bidding strategy during the Google Ads learning phase. This allows your campaign to display ads while it’s active, enabling you to track its status and performance. When you test a new bidding strategy, the system acknowledges this as a learning state and focuses on collecting performance data to optimize your bids through its algorithm.

You will initiate a learning period for an automated smart bidding strategy on Google. Some available bid strategies include eCPC, target CPA, target ROAS, maximize conversions, and enhanced CPC. The learning period will be reflected in the campaign-level status column.

Real-World Examples for the Learning Phase?

The Google Ads learning period is crucial for the algorithm to gather data and optimize campaigns. It lasts about 7 days and can vary based on conversion volume and campaign changes. During this time, you may see performance fluctuations as Google adjusts bidding strategies to align with your goals, like maximizing clicks or targeting a specific CPA.

Maximize Clicks Example

Scenario: You’ve launched a new campaign for your real estate business using the Maximize Clicks bidding strategy. Your goal is to drive as much traffic to your property listings as possible within a set daily budget of $100.

Learning Phase Experience: During the first week, you notice that the cost per click (CPC) fluctuates significantly, and your ads receive varying numbers of impressions each day. This is because Google Ads is in the learning phase, experimenting with different bid amounts to understand which combinations yield the most clicks.

Outcome: By the end of the learning phase, Google Ads has collected enough data to stabilize performance. You start seeing more consistent CPCs and a steady increase in traffic to your property listings. The algorithm has learned the optimal bids to maximize your clicks within the given budget.

Example of Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) with Data Insights

Scenario: You’re running a campaign for your immigration law firm to generate new client leads. You establish a target CPA of $20, aiming to maximize consultation bookings within your $200 daily budget.

Learning Phase Insights: During the initial learning phase, the cost per acquisition may exceed your target, with some days reporting CPAs as high as $25 or $30. Throughout this phase, Google Ads analyzes various audience segments and bid adjustments, gathering data to determine the most effective strategy to achieve your target CPA.

Outcome: As the learning phase concludes, the CPA begins to drop, aligning more closely with your $20 goal. The algorithm has efficiently gathered data on which demographics and placements yield the highest conversion rates at your desired cost. This allows for optimized spending and improved lead generation rates.

Target ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) Example

Scenario: You manage an e-commerce store selling fashion apparel and have set a campaign with a target ROAS of 500%. This means for every dollar spent, you expect $5 in revenue. Your daily budget is $300.

Learning Phase Experience: During the learning phase, your ROAS may vary greatly. On some days, you might see a ROAS of 300%, while on others, it could be 600%. This variability is due to Google Ads testing different bidding strategies, placements, and audiences to find the optimal combination that meets your target ROAS.

Outcome: Once the learning phase is complete, your ROAS stabilizes around the 500% mark. Google Ads has gathered enough data to understand which strategies yield the highest return on ad spend for your product, resulting in more efficient and profitable advertising.

Launching a New Service for Lead Generation

Scenario: Your immigration law firm is offering a new service for visa consultations and is using a Target CPA strategy to drive leads. The learning phase might take longer because the algorithm has no prior data on how this new service performs.

Learning Phase Experience: Initially, you see a high CPA, as the system needs to gather data on which audiences are most responsive to your new service.

Outcome: Over time, as more consultations are booked, the CPA drops, and the algorithm becomes better at targeting users who are likely to be interested in your visa consultation service.

What Happens During the Google Ads Learning Phase?

It all depends on the Adwords bidding strategy you choose. Before getting into Google ad training, you should understand how Google learns every time you perform a Google search. Google monitors and logs all searches. It comes to about 40,000 data points. This is your “ball of data” or search profile.

Expect delivery and efficiency to decrease during the learning period for Google Ads. However, you cannot simply sit on your hands and avoid optimizing your campaigns because you are afraid of the learning period. Instead, you must learn how to manage the consequences and give your campaign time to re-learn and improve as a result of the changes you’ve implemented.

How Long Does It Take Google Ads To Learn Bid Strategy?

Smart Bidding algorithms typically require about a week to learn, but this can vary based on your available conversion data and the conversion delay. The time from a click to a conversion. If you have a robust amount of conversion data, you might successfully optimize the learning phase in just 5 days, while others may need the full 7 days.

To ensure you’re on track, check your bid strategy report for the remaining days in your Google Ads learning phase. It’s crucial to limit campaign changes during this time. After the learning period, let your campaign run for another few weeks to gather additional insights.

Finally, consider the average conversion lag time; if it’s around 3 days, wait 3 days post-learning phase before conducting your analysis to achieve the lowest cost and data-driven results.

How Long Does Learning Last?

During this time, Google collects all of the data you’ll need to optimize your campaign and position it for scale successfully. So, how do you get past the Google Ads learning phase, and, more importantly, what factors prevent your campaign from moving quickly? You should learn about all of the different factors that may impact your “learning phase” and how to deal with them so that your campaign appears profitable and scalable.

If your average cart value is low, achieving the desired ROAS will be more difficult. Unfortunately, this will impact how long your learning phase Google Ads will last. The time between discovering and purchasing a product is called the conversion lag. The longer it takes for the algorithm to gather enough data, the greater your conversion lag. Finally, it has an impact on your learning phase Google Ads. Another factor that can slow down your learning phase is if your product is new. The number of products you have can affect how long the algorithm takes to reach a point of certainty. Furthermore, the number of conversions for each product determines the data’s reliability.

Your first Google Ads account activation typically takes 24–48 hours, with Google reviewing and approving your ad account after the initial activation. The learning period on Google Ads typically lasts 7 days since the last significant edit to that campaign. Stick to a tried-and-true process, go through the learning phase of Google Ads, and adjust to achieve your objectives.

What Types of Changes Can Trigger the Learning Period?

The algorithmic learning period is the time it takes for an ad platform to “relearn” and gather performance data after making a significant change to a campaign to either optimize your bids or re-determine who should see your ads. Your campaign’s performance is likely to fluctuate during this time. Further campaign changes may disrupt or reset the Google ad learning period, broadening the period of performance fluctuation; this should be avoided. Anything that alters the intended outcome or significantly alters the structure of the assignment—this includes:

·      Putting in place a new smart bidding strategy

·      Change the bid strategy’s settings.

·      A 20 percent or greater budget change

·      An alteration to the conversion setup or conversion tracking setup

·      Significant structural change

What Should I Do to Minimize the Learning Period’s Impact?

As we all know, Google Ads’ ad auction systems rely on the platforms’ algorithms, which are built using machine learning and artificial intelligence technology. Google needs to understand what delivers the results (conversions) you’re asking it to optimize for, just as it needs your Quality Score and bid to determine when you show up in the ad auction. In conclusion, the algorithm requires time to work with the signal and understand what has been shown to work and drive results. Here are some suggestions for reducing the impact of the Google Ads learning period.

Be Cautious With Budgets

Simply put, you may not be spending enough to exit the Google Ads learning phase and complete the 50 required result actions. This is especially true if you’re optimizing for purchases with the conversion objective, as this is the lowest event action down your funnel and the most expensive, resulting in fewer results for your budget allocation. However, budget changes of more than 20% of your current budget should be avoided. Managing your Google Ad budget should be ongoing, and when changes are required, plan ahead of time. Move the needle slowly over days or weeks rather than all at once.

Think About the Best Bid Strategy for You

Google Ads provides several bid strategies tailored to various types of campaigns. The best strategy for you will depend on which networks your campaign is aimed at and whether you want to focus on clicks, impressions, conversions, or views. Each bid strategy is best suited for specific types of campaigns and advertising goals. Choosing the right bidding type and implementing a solid bid adjustment strategy is critical to lowering your ad costs. If you’re not careful, you could end up wasting your entire budget on a few clicks. However, by making the right moves, you can elevate your campaign’s performance to a new level.

Maintain Consistency in Conversions

Conversion actions are the feedback loop’s final and most important point. It’s easy to get caught up in the many different ways to identify conversion types so you can get a better picture of how audiences interact with your website. If you know you’ll need to make several changes to your conversion actions, plan ahead and schedule them all at once. In this manner, you will incur only one learning period rather than several over a similar time period.

Send the Right Signals to Google

Undoubtedly, the best way to avoid having to restart a campaign is to set it up correctly in the first place. Set up a campaign slowly. Consider carefully which signals you will provide to the algorithm. Plan from your tracked conversions and work backward to ensure that every data point is in sync, from the conversion data on your site to the campaign settings.

Avoid Taking Actions That Will Reset the Learning Phase

Reduce the number of times you reset learning within your ad set to exit the Google Ads learning phase more efficiently. When you make a significant change to your ad set, you must reset learning.

Change the target audience in your ad groups. Testing new target audiences is one of the campaign variables you can change to improve campaign performance if your ad sets are stuck in learning mode. If you make the change in your current ad set, it will reset the learning and return you to zero. You should duplicate your campaign and make the changes in a new ad set, just as you would with budget changes.

Do not include new ads in your ad set. Testing new ads, ad copy, ad images, or video ads, like changing the audience, is another campaign variable you can test to improve campaign performance and exit the learning phase of Google Ads faster and with better results. If you add a new ad to an existing ad set, whether it’s still in the learning phase or not, learning will be reset.

What is the “Bidding Strategy” in Google Ads?

Google Ads allows you to bid on your ads in a variety of ways, depending on what is most important to you and your business. This blog will walk you through the various types of bidding strategies so you can choose the best strategy for you, whether you’re starting your first campaign or have been running Google Ads for a while.

A bidding strategy is a bid configuration that can be used with a Google Ads entity. Bidding strategies can be anonymous or flexible. The key to achieving your desired outcome is to find a bidding strategy that aligns with your ad spend and customer acquisition goals. If your bids are too high, you will most likely appear high on the page, but your budget will be depleted before you know it. If your bids are too low, you may get a higher return, but Google Ads will give you fewer impressions, resulting in fewer customer acquisitions.

3 Types of Basic Bidding Strategies for Google Ads Campaign

Advertisers want to reach their potential customers with Google ads. A key aspect of achieving high performance from your ad campaigns and doing so with the most appropriate advertising budget is to use the right bidding strategies. Three basic strategies are described below.

Manual Bidding

Manual bidding strategy is a term used frequently in digital marketing and Google Ads. Using this bidding method, you can set your own maximum cost-per-click (CPC) for your advertisement. Manual bidding strategies are the best option for digital marketers who want complete control over their keyword bid amounts. Manual bidding gives marketers the most control over how their ad budgets are spent, but it also requires more time spent evaluating keyword performance, determining how to optimize performance, and implementing any bid changes that are required. This bidding strategy relies on the digital marketer’s experience and intuition about keyword performance.

Automated Bidding

Automated bidding, also known as smart bidding, is an AI-driven keyword bidding strategy that optimizes bids based on your PPC campaign goals. In contrast to manual bidding, Google Ads’ automated bidding strategies put Google in control of your bidding. Automated bidding is intended to maximize results by automatically determining a bid based on the likelihood that your ad will be clicked or converted. Various automated bid strategies can assist you in increasing clicks, visibility in search results, conversions, or conversion value. You can configure an automated bid strategy for multiple campaigns at the portfolio level or a standard bid strategy at the campaign level.

Smart Bidding

Smart Bidding is a subset of automated bid strategies that use machine learning to optimize for conversions or conversion value in each and every auction—this is referred to as “auction-time bidding.” Smart Bidding strategies include target CPA, target ROAS, maximizing conversions, and maximizing conversion value. Smart Bidding enables you to set performance targets and tailor settings to your specific business objectives. When using auction-time bidding, you can incorporate a wide range of signals into your bid optimizations. Signals are identifiable characteristics about a person or their context at the time of an auction. This includes device and location attributes, which are available as manual bid adjustments, as well as additional signals and signal combinations unique to Smart Bidding.

Conclusion

As a business owner or an advertiser, follow the Google ads learning phase to get the best performance from your advertising campaigns. Depending on your business goals, you can choose from various automated and manual bidding strategies. Keep in mind that it takes some time to learn your bid strategy, so don’t make too many changes to your campaign during this initial phase. After your learning period has ended, take a look at your conversion rates data and analyze the results of your ad spend and ad campaigns.

Contact us for more information and talk with an expert about your Google Ads now.