What is Enhanced Cost-Per-Click Bidding?

Enhanced cost per click is a bidding feature that gives AdWords a degree of flexibility in the ad auctions. Namely, it allows Google to raise your bid if it determines that a conversion is more likely. Enhanced cost per click allows Google to raise your maximum CPC bid up to 30%–AND BY THE WAY, that’s AFTER applying any bid adjustments you might have set.

If you’re familiar with Conversion Optimizer, you realize there is some similarity with enhanced cost per click. There are some differences, however. In my mind, ECPC bidding is kind of a middle-of-the-road option between Conversion Optimizer, and manual CPC bidding. With ECPC bidding, you still set your own bids and bid adjustments. BUT, you can allow Google’s immense data resources to assess the likelihood of a conversion, and modify your bid accordingly.

How does it work?

So, how can Google predict which auctions might be more promising for a conversion, and which auctions might not be? The AdWords system looks for patterns of impressions, clicks, and conversions,… and analyzes them compared to past results. If it determines that certain factors increase the likelihood of a conversion, it will increase your bid up to 30%. For this to work, you must have built up some history of conversions in your account.

How you set it up

1. To turn on ECPC, go to the campaigns tab.
2. Click the name of the campaign you want to work with.
3. Then click the settings tab.
4. Look for the “bid strategy” section, and click edit.
5. Under advanced options, click “enable enhanced CPC”.

(Keep in mind that when you choose ECPC, Google will automatically set your ad rotation settings to “optimize for conversions.)

Hello. My name is Barry, and I love Google AdWords! Would you like to connect with me? If so, send me an email at this address: