Case Studies

A Strategic Shift in Automated Bidding: Maximizing Conversion Quality

A Seer client shifted their paid search strategy to optimize for higher-quality conversions and increased priority conversions by 49%.

Overview

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, staying ahead of the curve is essential to ensure campaign success. One challenge that often arises is striking the right balance between automation and control.

Recently, a client faced a dilemma: their Paid Search campaigns were driving conversions, but the quality was lacking. In this case study, we'll delve into the problem, explore the hypothesis, and examine the surprising outcomes that resulted from a strategic shift.

Client

Anonymous

Industry

Type

[The Impact]
+49%
increase in priority conversions
$35
cost per aquisition

The Challenge

The Problem: Lowest Value Conversions Dominating, VBB Not Suitable

Our client had been relying on automated bidding to drive conversions efficiently. Automated bidding is typically a great solution as it uses Google's AI to set bids for ads based on their likelihood to result in a conversion; however, the primary issue our team was seeing was that this approach primarily targeted conversions with the lowest value. This meant that while conversion volume was strong, the quality of those conversions was far from ideal and not driving value for the client when measured against their larger business goals.

To add to the complexity, we had previously tested Value-Based Bidding (VBB) which enables you to maximize the total value of conversions generated from your campaigns and unfortunately saw negative impacts on performance. Since this is the most common solution for prioritizing conversions, we had to adjust our strategy.

The Strategy

Our Hypothesis: Shifting Low-Value Conversions to Secondary Will Drive More High Value Conversions

To address this issue, a hypothesis was formulated: shifting low-value conversions to a secondary conversion action as opposed to primary, could prompt Google's AI and automated bidding system to adapt, thereby optimizing towards higher-quality conversions while maintaining a similar CPA.

Our rationale was that, when using maximize conversions or a Target CPA (tCPA), automated bidding will optimize for the primary conversions that are easiest to acquire, thus improving its ability to drive higher-quality leads. By redefining the desired conversion actions, we could influence the bidding algorithms to prioritize quality over quantity.

The Results

The Outcome: Validated!

Maximizing Conversion Quality Header

After the test was implemented, high-value (Primary) conversions continued on an upward trajectory. By modifying the primary conversion goal, automated bidding started to prioritize higher-value conversions. This was a significant win for the client, as these conversions were more likely to lead to meaningful business outcomes.

In this test, overall conversions decreased 41%, which would have been concerning if viewed in isolation. However, the goal of this test was to improve the algorithm’s ability to optimize for our priority conversions; and it worked. We stayed within our $35 CPA goal, and increased priority conversions by 49%.

Quality over Quantity

In conclusion, by challenging the status quo and experimenting with different approaches, we were able to improve conversion quality to better align with the client's overall business goals, all while staying within the primary CPA target. It also serves as a reminder that the success of a campaign should not only be measured by the quantity of conversions, but by their quality and alignment with the client's business objectives.

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About Seer Interactive: 

Seer Interactive is at the forefront of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). We run enterprise-scale AI search experiments and turn them into proven strategies that deliver AI visibility and business impact. We help enterprise brands navigate the shift between traditional SEO to AI visibility, building strategies that win across search engines, LLMs, and wherever your customer is looking for answers.

Our edge? Decades of thinking about how people get answers to problems, across social, SEO, Paid, and UX, now applied to AI search through live GEO experiments that deliver measurable visibility. Wil Reynolds and the Seer team have been leading the conversation on AI, SEO, and GEO since the beginning.

Seer partners with industries from SaaS and e-commerce to healthcare and banking , helping brands like American Family Insurance and Capital One adapt, move faster, and capture visibility in an AI-first world.