The Clickable Search Engine Marketing Blog

Recently, news of a new feature in Google that has been integrated into some advertisers’ accounts has surfaced on the web.  Just last week, Google confirmed the rollout of this exciting new feature on the AdWords blog.

What Exactly Does The AdWords Bid Simulator Do?
Google’s new Bid Simulator simulates keyword impressions, clicks, and costs based on scenario analysis of different maximum CPC values using the past 7 days of actual historic data for specific keywords. Assuming that this data is accurate, it will be a useful resource for advertisers to predict their keyword search volume and costs. Currently, the Bid Simulator only works for keywords searched for on the Google search network, and is not available for use with keywords in content networks or content-targeted sites. It also does not provide costs or volume estimates for keywords that receive little-to-no impressions.

Where Can I Access The Bid Simulator?
The Bid Simulator is not currently available for all keywords or all accounts. To find the tool in the new AdWords interface, drill down to the individual keyword, look for a small blue icon that looks like this , and select it. If you do have Bid Simulator in your AdWords account, the icon can be found in your max. CPC column, right next to the maximum bid value. Next, you should see a pop up screen that looks similar to the one below. This screen provides you with volume and cost estimates based on 7 different Maximum CPC values. With this information, you can determine hypothetical volume and cost at a keyword level for the past 7 days and then use those metrics as a basis for future estimates.

If the keyword that you selected does not have enough traffic, you may see a pop up similar to this one:

What Else Do I Need To Know?
If you have access to the Bid Simulator, you can also use it within the old AdWords Interface. In fact, if you use the old AdWords interface, you can benefit from a more comprehensive simulation, because the Bid Simulator in the old AdWords interface also predicts the estimated average positions of your keywords.

To access this information within the old AdWords interface, drill down to your search-targeted ad group and select a keyword. Then, choose “edit keyword settings.” Instead of seeing the little Bid Simulator icon, you will see a “Bid Simulator” text link under the keyword. When you click on the link you will see a different pop up that contains estimated average position data in addition to the data provided in the new interface.

I imagine that Google will soon consolidate the features in their interfaces – making the estimated average positions available in the new AdWords Interface as well. In the meantime, when you use this tool in the new interface, be careful with the “Use your own bid:” option.

While you might expect it to provide a scenario analysis based on your custom bid, this feature will simply change the maximum CPC value of your keyword without providing any estimates.

How Google Could Improve this Tool
In addition to adding the ‘average position’ prediction to the new interface, it would be nice to view estimated cost-per-click values, (although this information can be calculated by dividing estimated cost over number of estimated clicks.) But the most valuable enhancement Google could make to the Bid Simulator would be the ability to paste keyword sets and export the data - similar to the AdWords Keyword Suggestion tool. This way, advertisers could formulate estimates on a keyword level, and could plan and budget on an entire account level as well. If you have any other suggestions or feedback that would improve this tool, please feel free to share them!

Andrew Bernero, Clickable SEM Guru

Note: Clickable employees volunteer several hours a week to helping other search marketers succeed. "Clickable Gurus" participate in numerous online search communities to provide straightforward answers to numerous questions, and, each week, one of the gurus posts a search marketing tip to the Clickable Blog.