Choosing the right https://www.hatchdigitalmarketing.com/paid-media/google-ads.hatchdigitalmarketing.com/paid-media/google-adsbidding strategy is one of the most commercially important decisions UK SMEs make in paid search, and one of the most misunderstood. Bidding controls how your budget is spent, who sees your ads, and which outcomes Google’s algorithm is incentivised to pursue on your behalf.

Over the last few years, Google has pushed advertisers heavily towards automation. Manual bidding has become less prominent, while “smart” strategies now dominate most account recommendations. Used well, these can unlock efficiency and scale. Used poorly, they can quietly drain budget while producing very little business value.

Our guide explains how Google Ads bidding strategies actually work in the UK market, when each approach makes sense, and how to choose a strategy that aligns with real commercial outcomes, not just Google’s defaults.

How Google Ads Bidding Really Works

At its simplest, Google Ads bidding determines how much you’re willing to pay for a click or conversion. In reality, every auction factors in a combination of bid, ad relevance, expected click-through rate, landing page experience, and user context.

Modern bidding strategies use machine learning to adjust bids in real time based on signals such as device, location, time of day, search intent, and historical performance. Google is clear that these strategies rely heavily on accurate conversion data to function effectively

For UK advertisers, this means bidding cannot be separated from tracking quality, consent management, or lead definition. Weak data produces weak optimisation, regardless of the strategy selected.

Manual Bidding: Still Useful, But No Longer the Default

Manual Cost Per Click (CPC) bidding gives advertisers direct control over keyword bids. While it has fallen out of favour, it still has a role in specific scenarios.

• Manual bidding can be useful for:
• New accounts with no conversion data
• Highly niche B2B campaigns with low volume
• Situations where strict cost control is required initially

However, manual bidding does not respond to real-time signals in the way automated strategies do. For most UK SMEs, it is best viewed as a temporary learning phase rather than a long-term solution.

We often use manual CPC briefly when stabilising inherited accounts before transitioning to automation once tracking and structure are sound, a common step in our Google Ads management process.

Maximise Clicks: Traffic Without Context

Maximise Clicks is one of the simplest automated strategies. Google aims to generate as many clicks as possible within your budget.

While this can be useful for awareness or early testing, it rarely aligns with lead generation or revenue goals. In competitive UK markets, it often prioritises cheaper, lower-intent clicks, especially if safeguards such as bid caps are not applied.

For SMEs, Maximise Clicks should be used cautiously and temporarily. It is rarely suitable once meaningful conversion data is available.

Maximise Conversions: Powerful, but Only With the Right Signals

Maximise Conversions is one of the most commonly recommended strategies, and one of the most misused.

This strategy instructs Google to generate as many conversions as possible within your budget. The critical question is: what does Google consider a conversion?

If all form fills, calls, or micro-actions are treated equally, the algorithm will optimise towards the easiest wins, not the best leads. This issue has become more pronounced as automation has increased.

Google itself advises that smart bidding performs best when conversion actions reflect real business value

For UK SMEs, this often means refining conversion tracking to prioritise qualified enquiries, not just volume. Without this discipline, Maximise Conversions can inflate lead numbers while reducing overall quality.

Target CPA (Cost Per Acquisition): Structure Over Speed

Target CPA (tCPA) builds on Maximise Conversions by asking Google to achieve conversions at an average cost you specify.

This strategy works best when:

• You have consistent conversion volume
• Lead quality is relatively stable
• Tracking has been reliable for several weeks

A common mistake is setting the target CPA too aggressively, too early. This often restricts delivery or pushes Google to chase low-quality conversions to meet the target.

In the UK market, where costs vary significantly by region and sector, tCPA should be introduced gradually and reviewed regularly. It is most effective when combined with ongoing conversion quality feedback, not treated as a set-and-forget control.

Target ROAS: Best for E-commerce, Risky for Leads

Target Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) is designed primarily for e-commerce, where revenue values are passed directly into Google Ads.

For online retailers, this can be extremely effective when product margins and conversion tracking are accurate. However, it is often misapplied to lead generation campaigns using estimated values.

Assigning arbitrary values to leads can mislead the algorithm and produce distorted bidding behaviour. Unless you have robust offline conversion and revenue data feeding back into Google Ads, Target ROAS should be used with caution for UK lead-based businesses.

Enhanced CPC and Portfolio Strategies

Enhanced CPC (eCPC) sits between manual and automated bidding, allowing Google to adjust manual bids based on conversion likelihood. While less prominent than before, it can still provide a useful bridge for cautious advertisers.

Portfolio bidding strategies allow multiple campaigns to share a single bidding goal. These can be effective for accounts with a consistent structure, but they also concentrate risk if conversion data quality is uneven across campaigns.

At Hatch, we use portfolio strategies selectively and only when the underlying data justifies it, as part of a broader Paid Media strategy.

Privacy, Consent, and Bidding in the UK

Modern bidding strategies rely heavily on user data, which brings compliance into sharp focus.

UK GDPR and PECR require informed consent for many forms of tracking and advertising cookies. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has reinforced expectations around lawful data use in advertising

From a bidding perspective, this means:

• Conversion data may be incomplete without consent
• Smart bidding needs time to adapt to consent-aware tracking
• First-party data is increasingly important

Ignoring these realities can lead to unstable performance and misleading conclusions.

Common Bidding Mistakes UK SMEs Should Avoid

Across UK accounts, we repeatedly see strategies changed too frequently, targets set unrealistically, and automation applied before data is ready. Another frequent issue is optimising purely to platform metrics without reviewing lead quality.

Bidding strategies amplify whatever signals they receive, good or bad.

How Hatch Approaches Bidding Strategy Selection

At Hatch, bidding strategies are chosen to support commercial outcomes, not just platform recommendations.

We start by understanding how clients make money, how leads are qualified, and what data is genuinely reliable. From there, we select and evolve bidding strategies as accounts mature, supported by clean tracking and regular performance reviews.

Our customer service model prioritises explanation and collaboration. Clients understand why a bidding strategy is in place and when it should change, not just what Google suggests.

This approach is integrated across our Conversion Rate Optimisation and paid media work, ensuring bidding decisions support the full funnel.

Create Bidding Strategies That Drive Performance with Hatch

Google Ads bidding strategies are powerful tools, but they are not interchangeable, and they are not automatic solutions.

For UK SMEs, the right strategy depends on data quality, business model, and growth stage. When chosen thoughtfully and reviewed regularly, bidding becomes a lever for sustainable performance rather than a source of frustration.

If you’re unsure whether your current bidding strategy is working for your business rather than just the platform, a strategic review can often uncover quick wins and longer-term improvements.

If you’d like an impartial audit of your Google Ads bidding strategy, we’re always happy to offer a no-obligation review and share practical insight from real-world experience.