Contents
- What is Bidding
- How the Auction Works
- Bidding Strategies and Auto Strategies
- Strategies for Display Advertising
- Strategies for Performance Advertising
What is Bidding
Bidding, or managing bids for ad impressions, is a key aspect of digital marketing. When a user loads a web page, advertising platforms analyze their recent search queries and cookies, allowing them to select the most relevant ad for display. In this process, the advertiser whose ad is chosen becomes the auction winner. This method is used by all major advertising platforms, while an alternative approach is to enter into a direct agreement with website owners, such as placing a banner for a fixed period for a set fee, which allows ads to be shown to all users rather than just a target audience.
Various web pages have designated ad spaces that remain empty until the page loads. However, the user does not notice this, as the system automatically fills these spaces with suitable ads. For example, if a user searched for information about "Yandex.Direct" or the "Globus" store, advertising systems remember these requests and use them to select ads. Ad spaces can also be allocated in the browser, where ads are based on the entered search queries.
How the Auction Works
The auction is an important element of the technology for buying and selling online advertising in real-time (RTB - Real Time Bidding). There are four parties involved in this process:
- Advertisers who place their ads and bid on specialized platforms, such as "Yandex.Direct" or Google Ads;
- Advertising platforms that display ads and get paid for it;
- Website owners who provide their ad spaces and receive payment from advertising platforms;
- Users who are searching for information or products online.
A bid is the maximum price that an advertiser is willing to pay for one target action by the user, such as a visit to a website. The auction takes place at the moment the page loads when the advertising platform performs three key actions: analyzing the ad's targeting compliance with the user's parameters, selecting suitable ad offerings, and determining the winner by displaying their ad.
The display price depends on the bidder's bid and the competitors participating in the auction. In the second price auction model, the winner pays the bid of the closest losing competitor plus the minimum auction bid, which ensures competitiveness and fairness in the process.
Bidding Strategies and Auto Strategies
Previously, three main strategies were used in bidding: "attack," "fish," and "maneuver," which required constant manual adjustment of keywords and bids. However, with the change in advertising formats and the introduction of auto strategies, as well as the disabling of manual bid management, these approaches have become outdated. Auto strategies allow for bid management using automated algorithms, making the process more efficient and less labor-intensive for the advertiser.
"Yandex.Direct" implements several auto strategies for display and performance advertising that are periodically updated and adapted to current market conditions. For example, strategies for display advertising may include maximizing impressions at the lowest cost, allowing advertisers to set a weekly budget and achieve optimal results.
Strategies for Display Advertising
Several auto strategies are available within display advertising that help advertisers maximize the reach and effectiveness of their ads. For example:
- Maximum impressions at minimum cost: Allows for many cheap impressions by managing bids based on external factors;
- Reducing the cost of repeated impressions: Lowers the cost of impressions for the same users;
- Video ad views: Optimizes the number of views of video content and allows advertisers to pay for specific actions, such as a full video view or a visit to the website.
Strategies for Performance Advertising
For performance advertising, there are strategies aimed at achieving specific goals, such as increasing conversions or clicks. These include:
- Maximum conversions: Attracts users who are most likely to perform the target action;
- Maximum clicks: Increases the number of visitors to the site while controlling the budget;
- Bundle strategy: Combines several ad campaigns, allowing for more efficient budget use and faster algorithm training;
- Click optimization for search banners: Focuses on attracting the maximum number of clicks on the banner on the main page of the search engine.