Auction-Time Signals

What Are Auction-Time Signals?

Smart Bidding is only as good as the data it works with. The more high-quality signals you provide to the algorithm — maintained remarketing lists, CRM data via Customer Match, Conversion Value Rules — the more precisely it can optimize. Google also uses its own signals not directly accessible to you, such as the user’s search behavior and their conversion probability based on similar profiles.

Auction-Time Signals are the diverse data points that Google’s Smart Bidding algorithm evaluates in each individual auction to calculate the optimal bid. These signals go far beyond what you as an advertiser could manually consider. Google processes dozens of signals simultaneously with every Auction-Time Bidding calculation.

Known signals include: device type (desktop, mobile, tablet), location and location intent, day of week and time of day, browser language, operating system, demographic characteristics, remarketing lists, and the specific search query. Beyond that, Google uses signals not directly accessible to advertisers: the user’s search behavior on Google, conversion probability based on similar user profiles, and contextual signals from the search results page.

For your campaign strategy, this means: the more high-quality signals you provide to the algorithm, the better it can optimize. Maintain your remarketing lists, import CRM data via Customer Match, and use Conversion Value Rules to communicate the actual value of different user groups to the system. Smart Bidding is only as good as the data it works with.