Ok, so this is one of those questions where instead of giving you a straight yes or no answer, we’re going to go with, it’s complicated.
Whether or not you use automated bidding with your Google Ads is going to be determined by how much or little you do with your automated bidding program.
If you treat your automated bidding programs like some sort of set and forget cooking appliance, then you probably should avoid ever using it again with your Google Ads as it is likely doing you more harm than good. Whether or not you buy into a lot of lies and half-truths that are told about google’s automated bidding Strategies will determine your success with automated bidding Strategies and whether or not you should use them.
You may find that the truth of automated bidding Strategies is a bit more than you bargained for and decide not to use them. Then again, you may find that if you use them right, the benefit outweighs the work you have to put in.
If this all sounds confusing, don’t worry we’ll break it down into a digestible format so that you can make the right decision for you.
Before we dispel some of the lies and assumptions surrounding automated bidding strategies, we’ll break down how it works and explain some of the functions in case you’ve never used it and want a bit of a guide on how it works.
If you’re wondering whether you should use it with Google Ads or not, you may not be aware of what exactly automated bidding is and how it works.
Automated bidding is essentially a type of artificial intelligence program that uses user-defined parameters to bid on ad space within Google Ad auctions.
There are a large variety of ways that these programs can bid and the amount spent, frequency of bids, and many other factors can be customized and set so that it does all your ad bidding for you. Automation is a great way to save time and get your Google ads out there so that people will see them.
There are a few different strategies that you can set as well to tell the program how and when to bid on ad space that is up for auction. Depending on the parameters set, the A.I. may or may not bid if the auction does not meet the criteria.
This type of selective or smart bidding has its own set of benefits and drawbacks.
The automated bidding program works by the user setting parameters for it to work in, and by being fed data on relevant ad space, funding requirements, performance data, and other metrics. By using all of these metrics, the program picks what Google ads to bid on, how much to bid for ads and bids for Google ads based on everything it has accumulated until it runs out of applicable funds.
The most obvious benefit of this is the hands-off automation that it provides. It requires much less time to program the A.I. than it does to manually bid on ad space. The main drawback is that you have much less control over the situation.
Another benefit that isn’t as apparent is that if you’re a marketer and you’re looking to run multiple ad campaigns, automated bidding automated bidding strategies allows you to manage multiple campaigns without keeping tabs on each and every auction that comes up.
As you can see from what we’ve covered, automated bidding strategies does indeed have its uses and downsides. Now that you have an understanding of how they work, you can understand why the answer to the question of whether you should use them or not is quite complicated.
Besides PPC automation, marketers have begun to use automated bidding strategies to become competitive as well as to win more auctions in general. In a lot of cases, bidding can be difficult as the more competitive a space is, the more fierce the bidding.
Bidding too low or bidding on poorly chosen ad space can result in poor advertising returns. That is a large part of the reason why marketers and advertisers prefer an automated bidding program as they can be programmed to win inform future bids rather than bidding based on speculation or emotion.
The obvious downside to this is that they do not hold any regard for certain factors.
Certain bid strategies prioritize winning prime ad space over other factors such as customer preferences, demographic data, ROI, and other metrics. This can be useful in some cases, but also a detriment in others.
Other strategies prioritize ROI and conversion rate over winning as many bids as possible. This allows the automated program to carefully select the bids it places to try and maximize the potential return on investment or maximize the conversion rate.
While this is a great idea, in theory, it too has its drawbacks, particularly if it fails to win enough ad space for the campaign to be seen or craft it in a way that it doesn’t convert. Balancing these factors is part of the marketer’s job unless they are going for a certain approach.
From a practical standpoint, the ability to tell your automated bidding program just what to focus on can be seen as a major benefit.
As we will discuss later, these base principles aren’t all there is to it, unfortunately.
Now that we’ve covered much of the basics about automated bidding programs and how and why they’re used, we’re going to discuss some of the facts about automated bidding strategies that will help you determine whether or not to use them in your Google Ads.
When we say this, what we mean is, automated bidding can be set for a number of factors and can certainly bid on and win Google ads that will get you plenty of clicks, what they don’t guarantee is that those clicks will lead to sales.
Many marketers are under the misconception that once you put an automated bidding strategy in place, all you have to do is sit back and watch the sales roll in. This is not only untrue, but it is also highly ill-advised. Not all, but some marketers assume that as long as you tell the program what you want and give it a budget, and you don’t have to review or watch a thing, it does all the work for you.
What you should be doing is setting reasonable parameters for bids and then checking your metrics to see how the Google ads it buys are performing. Like with the example of clicks, you can be ad spend money hand over fist for ad space and get lots of clicks, but no maximize conversion. You can liken this to running a store with only window shoppers while you still pay employees, rent, and utilities. In these cases, you are paying for valuable ad space that is not driving business the way it should.
Not only should you review your ad purchases regularly, it actually benefits the A.I. of these programs. They thrive and learn off of the input. If you feed them data that something isn’t working, they learn from that over time and adjust their bidding algorithm to try and do better. This doesn’t mean it’ll always fix the problem though so you still have to watch your bids, but it will generally improve over time.
If worse comes to worst, change your strategy and keep trying. Knowledge is power…we think.
Many marketers are under the false assumption that automated bidding programs are a sort of plug-and-go situation where you feed the program the inputs you want and it will go to work immediately to win you great bids and premium ad space.
This is one of those times where the belief could not be further from the truth. The actual truth is that automated bidding programs take weeks to get up to speed. These are learning machines after all. They have an initial learning phase that takes into account all of the information they have been fed in order to get calibrated for automated bidding strategy on auctions.
The standard amount of time is roughly 2 weeks but can run longer depending on the amount of information, the strategy, and the budget. The good news about this factor is, you can essentially front-load as much information that is relevant to your ad campaign as possible to supercharge the learning of your program so that once the initial learning phase is complete, it will have a higher success rate.
This includes feeding it all your campaign data, strategy, budget, any passive audience viewing information as well as any relevant historical ad campaign data. All of this will help it learn. Many marketers do not realize that so much information can be put into the program and that it will improve performance.
A well-fed A.I. is always a good thing and with the right data, you can see excellent results. Just don’t expect it to happen overnight.
This is something that even popular brands and expert marketers get wrong all the time and have no idea why until they study up on it. Most people think that “smart bidding” is the same as automated bidding. This is one of those yes, but no, statements.
So, let us break it down for you. There are many different types of automated bidding strategy. Out of those many types, smart bidding strategies is one of them. The reason for the distinction is that marketers incorrectly assume that all automated bidding is smart bidding strategies. That is wrong. Smart bidding is considered a sub-group within all of the automated bidding types. Once you know this difference, you can use smart bidding more appropriately.
Smart bidding focuses on fixed conversion-related bidding tasks such as click targets, ROAS targets, maximize conversion rates, and cost per click. Using these you can develop specific bid strategies and very targeted bidding that can win you ad auctions with specific results.
This type of bidding has to be used with caution though as these types of bid strategies will usually tell the program to ignore other data such as cost per bid, user demographics, and other customer-oriented data.
If used properly and strategically, there are a lot of benefits and loads of profit to be made, just don’t go assuming that smart bidding is all there is or that automated bidding strategy is all smart bidding.
Just because you set an advertising budget and programmed your automated bidder doesn’t mean that everything goes as planned and you no longer have to account for individual bids.
Without the right parameters, your artificially intelligent friend can bid on very expensive ad space and quickly eat through your ad budget without you even noticing it. Within a few individual bids, you can go from a full balance to a zero balance for your ad budget.
If you see that your cost per click on some Google ads is too high, you can retarget and get better pricing or if you think you need the better ad space, increase your budget to cover the better ads. In either case, you should be sure to watch your ad spend or you’ll soon be out of budget and short of customers.
There’s plenty of customization that can be done with automated bidding programs that tell it only to bid on certain spots that have a guaranteed conversion rate or relative ROAS but using these bid strategies effectively means feeding in lots of data and letting the A.I. go through a learning phase each time you change strategies. This is a good idea if you’re trying to rebalance your marketing to achieve better results.
The important point to remember though is that if you focus on high ROAS or CPC values, your returns may not be as good if you can’t feed your bidding machine enough data to act properly. In that case, it may not bid enough to win needed ad space because it is being too selective.
Some folks are under the mistaken belief that you either MUST use automated bidding or never use it at all. The truth is, neither is correct. With the right preparation and work, automated bidding and AI can be great tools that can take a lot of the work and speculation out of bidding on ad space.
That being said, there are times when automated bidding just won’t work as well as doing things manually. Small budget campaigns, for instance, don’t typically fair as well. Additionally, overly difficult strategies don’t work as well without lots of time and input into the automated bidding system.
If you have the time to invest, automated bid strategies can be your best friend in marketing. If not, then you may be better off using the manual method and being your own judge. Don’t let skepticism sway you one way or another. Choose the option that works best for the situation you’re in. You may choose to automate some campaigns and not others, even ones running concurrently. The trick is finding what works.
That’s it. All the big secrets and lies about automated bid strategies you need to know to decide whether it’s right for your Google Ads campaign. Hopefully, we’ve given you all the info and tips you need to make the most educated decision possible for whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish.
If we can say one thing, don’t believe all the hype you read on either side and strive to find out the facts yourself.
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Launching an online course is easy once you’ve created your content. Filling your virtual classroom with motivated, paying learners is a little more challenging. Advertising strategies aren’t intuitive no matter how user-friendly a platform might be, and trying to guess at how to market your courses online can feel like you’re shouting into the void. But with a little knowledge and some expert PPC ad strategies, you can get your courses in front of people who are hungry to learn what you teach.
With precise targeting, a professional strategy, budget control, and regular tracking, a PPC ad campaign can transform your course into a thriving program. The key is knowing how to structure your ad campaigns for both clicks and hot leads that convert.
Unlike search engine optimization (SEO), which can take months to gain even a little traction, PPC provides you with immediate visibility right where your target users are hanging out. SEO is important but it’s a long-term game that should be executed alongside PPC ads for the best results. While you’re waiting, PPC generates immediate clicks and drives traffic to your website on the spot.
The best part is that when done right, PPC ads offer a high ROI compared to many other advertising methods. According to the data, businesses earn an average of $2 for every $1 they spend on Google Ads, making PPC a powerful resource for course providers. Here’s everything you need to know about mastering PPC to generate hot leads for your online courses.
1. Understand the learner’s journey
If you want your PPC ads to generate leads ready to buy and not just curious clicks, you need to align your ad strategy with how learners make decisions. Signing up for an online course is not an impulse purchase. It’s a journey that usually starts with curiosity and then moves to research and comparison. When successful, that journey ends with enrollment.
A one-size-fits-all ad won’t work because a student who is just browsing isn’t ready for the same pitch as someone about to hand over their credit card. Understanding the different parts of the funnel, and tailoring your ad campaigns to match each stage, is what will make your course successful. A typical buyer’s journey for learners involves the following stages:
At this stage, your potential students are still exploring broad ideas related to the courses you’re offering. They may not know exactly which course or platform is right for them, but they’re actively looking for options. You’ll need to use a certain type of keyword phrase to capture their attention.
Searches like “learn coding online,” “how to get TEFL certified,” and “language courses for beginners” will work well at this stage. PPC ads in this phase shouldn’t hard-sell enrollment, but rather, focus on positioning your course as credible and informative.
Think free guides, introductory webinars, and blog posts that answer frequently asked questions about your topic. By nurturing your leads’ interests and providing value right off the bat, you’ll have an easier time becoming a trusted brand that people keep in mind as they move deeper into the journey.
During the consideration state prospects know what they want but they’re comparing their options. They’ve narrowed down their choices and are considering factors like price, flexibility, depth, instructor quality, platform, and accreditation. Ideal search terms in this phase are related to specific things that your prospects value or want to achieve like “affordable Python bootcamp,” “online MBA with scholarships,” or “best UX design course with certification.”
Your PPC ads should also highlight unique selling points for your course like “self-paced learning,” “industry-recognized certificate,” or “job placement success.” It’s at this stage where comparison charts, testimonials, and detailed course previews are highly effective. The goal is to show your prospects why your program beats the competition.
At this point, hesitation is minimal. Prospects are ready to sign up but might need one last push. This is where urgency, social proof, and simplicity make all the difference. Ads should feature strong calls to action like “Enroll Today,” limited-time incentives like “Save 20% - Ends Sunday.” This is the perfect time to showcase real student success stories. Landing pages for ads in the decision stage should remove all friction. Avoid long forms and distracting links. Just provide a clear and simple path to enrollment.
Keep in mind that most of your ideal market will encounter your brand multiple times along their journey across different devices and platforms, like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Mapping your PPC ad campaigns to these three stages ensures you’re showing up with the right message at the right time. When done correctly, focusing on all three stages with separate messages will turn casual searchers into qualified leads ready to buy your course.
The backbone of every PPC campaign is your keyword selection. You can write the most convincing ad copy in the world, but if you’re bidding on the wrong phrases you’ll either waste your budget or attract people who have no intention of enrolling.
Your goal isn’t just to drive traffic to your site. You need to drive qualified traffic – people who are serious about learning what you teach and are ready to invest in themselves. This requires targeting a mix of high-intent keywords, longtail phrases, and negative keywords.
Broad keywords like “data science” and “coding” cast a net that’s too wide. You’ll get clicks but most will be from people who are just curious or looking for free resources. To reach people who are committed, you need to target high-intent keywords that show purchase intent. Phrases like “enroll in our data science course” and “online JavaScript certification with ongoing support” will attract users who are actively seeking instruction.
You’ll pay more for high-intent keywords but they deliver more value and higher conversion rates, and that will increase your ROI when you choose the right ones.
Longtail keywords are used to target a smaller pool of people and that’s a good thing. Since these keywords are more focused, the traffic they generate is more valuable. Instead of competing for saturated, general terms like “learn graphic design online,” you target specific phrases like “best graphic design program for working professionals with evening classes.” The people searching with this level of specificity already know what they want, which means they’re more likely to convert.
If you skip targeting longtail keywords you’re leaving money on the table. Data shows that 70% of all online searches involve longtail phrases – it’s just how people naturally search when they know what they want.
Your negative keyword list is how you’ll preserve your budget and prevent wasting money on irrelevant clicks. Without a list of words you don’t want your ads to show up for, you’ll end up paying for clicks that never convert.
Build a negative keyword list of words that indicate someone is looking for something free or irrelevant to your course. For example, words like “free,” “PDF,” “torrent,” and “Reddit” are usually used in searches when someone is looking for shortcuts and freebies. Adding these and similar words to your negative keyword list will filter out tire-kickers and boost ROI by preserving your ad budget for relevant prospects.
Once you have the right keywords that generate impressions, your ad copy has to do the work to get clicks. Your ads need to grab people right away to prevent them from scrolling and possibly clicking on another course provider’s ad. For e-learning, your ads need to inspire people. Instead of talking about your course you want to highlight what your course will do for the learner. This is accomplished with benefit-driven messaging, emotional triggers, and strong calls-to-action (CTAs).
· Benefit-driven messaging. Most course providers list features like “40 hours of video content” and “downloadable PDFs,” but these details aren’t going to capture attention at first glance. In fact, telling learners they’re going to need to sit through 40 hours of content right off the bat might be a deterrent.
Instead, your ads should highlight tangible outcomes like “land high-paying clients with our program,” or “start a new career as a web developer in just 12 weeks.” Benefits speak directly to a person’s goals and aspirations, which is far more compelling than a list of specs.
· Emotional triggers. Emotional triggers are the heart of every marketing strategy, including PPC ads. People make emotional buying decisions and buy courses because they’re chasing a dream, avoiding a fear, or seeking transformation.
Great ad copy taps into these emotions and creates a sense of urgency. For instance, “Don’t miss the enrollment deadline” plays into the fear of missing out, while “Join 10,000 successful graduates” leverages social proof. The right emotional triggers will give people a good reason to act now rather than bookmarking your page and forgetting about it.
· Clear CTAs. Irresistible ad copy includes a direct, compelling call-to-action that tells the prospect what to do next. Generic instructions don’t cut it. “Learn more,” “Click here,” and similar phrases don’t communicate urgency or value. Choose CTAs that direct prospects to sign up for your course. For example, “Start your free trial” and “Reserve your seat today” work well.
In a crowded marketplace where hundreds of course creators are competing for the same attention, clarity and emotion will generate better results. Lead with benefits and tap into people’s emotions and your ad copy will generate serious leads.
Generating clicks from your ads is only the first half of the equation. Once a prospect clicks your landing page needs to convert them to a paying customer or your ad spend goes to waste. Your landing page is like the final pitch where prospective students choose whether to enroll in your course or move on. If your landing pages create any confusion, friction, or distrust, your prospects will lean toward other course creators. On the other hand, an optimized landing page can become a conversion generating machine.
Your landing pages should be simple and clean without too much information. The page content should be specifically designed to direct people to sign up for your course. You want to eliminate navigation menus and sidebars to prevent people from clicking away from the page and getting distracted. Each landing page should have one end goal, either to get sign-ups/purchases or apply for acceptance if required. Too many options will create cognitive overload and reduce the chance of any action.
It’s crucial to include trust elements on your landing pages. When people are thinking about investing their time and money in an online course, they’re naturally going to be skeptical. This is where trust signals can help. Testimonials, instructor bios, refund guarantees, and case studies will help build your course credibility. The goal here is to reassure people that your program is legitimate and worth their investment.
Clicks are important but they’re somewhat of a vanity metric when measured on their own. The only time clicks matter is when you’re looking at your conversion rate. If you generate 100 clicks and get 40 people to enroll that’s much better than generating 1,000 clicks and only getting one person to enroll in your course.
The metrics that matter most are your conversion rate, your cost per lead (CPL), and lifetime customer value (LTV). For instance, you’ll want to track completed signups, demo requests, and enrollments rather than overall clicks.
Cost per lead is a simple measurement that can tell you how efficient your campaign is. For instance, if you’re paying $50 per lead but your average enrollment fee is $500, your margins are good. If your CPL is too close to your revenue then your course might be priced too low or you need to adjust your targeted keywords.
For e-learning, many students invest in more than one course or renew their subscription, which increases their lifetime value to your business. Tracking LTV will help you determine how much you can afford to spend acquiring each new student. For example, if your LTV average is $1,500, it makes sense to spend $200 to acquire each lead. This long-term view helps you maintain profitability and allows you to outbid your competitors who aren’t willing to spend much.
PPC ads require fine-tuning and you can’t just “set it and forget it.” What works today might underperform tomorrow or not perform at all on other platforms. Even small changes can make a huge difference in conversions and that’s why it’s important to test variations. For example, Dell is just one example of a company that saw a 300% increase in conversions from A/B testing.
By running experiments to test different elements you can identify what resonates most with your target audience and optimize your ads based on those results. The most important elements to test are your headlines, CTAs, and images.
· Testing headlines. Your ad headline is usually the first thing a prospect sees. Testing different headlines can help identify which promises resonate most. For example, “Land your dream job” might appeal to people looking for a new career, while “Get certified in 12 weeks” might hook people in a hurry. If you get more conversions from the former, your main audience is likely people looking for a new career, and you can tailor your ads to that group.
· Testing CTAs. A strong CTA can generate more clicks, but what works will depend on your audience. For example, “Get started today” might work for some courses while “Reserve your spot” works better for others. Avoid vague CTAs like “Learn more” that don’t instruct people to take action.
· Testing visuals. Images can put people off or draw them closer. Visuals are processed faster than text and are perceived in a split-second. A single image can make or break an ad. For instance, sometimes a photo of an instructor works well, but other times it’s better to use abstract graphics.
Split testing isn’t optional when you’re running PPC ads. It’s the only way to know which elements make your ads more effective.
At the end of the day, PPC is a great way to build a pipeline of motivated students who want to enroll in your courses. By aligning your campaign with the learner’s journey and optimizing your ads and landing pages for conversions, you can turn your PPC campaign into a reliable growth engine. As the e-learning market becomes more competitive, ads that hit hard are a must.
If you’re ready to stop wasting ad spend and start filling your online classrooms with qualified leads, it’s time to bring in PPC experts. At PPC.co, we specialize in turning clicks into enrollments through high-converting campaigns that deliver qualified leads for online course creators . Contact our team today and let’s build campaigns that fill your classroom.
Pay-per-click (PPC) remains one of the fastest paths to pipeline, but the economics vary widely by industry and are shifting as AI reshapes the SERP. CPCs are up versus prior years, conversion rates have improved in many categories, and lead quality is increasingly a function of how well advertisers feed first-party data into bidding models.
The table below summarizes 2025 search-PPC benchmarks by sector—CPC, conversion rate (CVR), and cost per lead (CPL)—so you can compare what “good” looks like in your niche and calibrate ROI assumptions.
Use these numbers as directional guardrails, then layer in your own close rates and LTV to get to the only metric that matters: profitable growth.
In short, AI is changing the way PPC campaign management is occurring, and it's happening FAST.
ROI ≈ (Close-Rate × Avg Customer LTV ÷ CPL) − 1
Example (legal): if close-rate 12% and LTV $6,000 on CPL $132 → ROI ≈ (0.12×6000 / 132) −1 ≈ 4.45x (345% net). Improve any one input (faster intake bumps close-rate; better routing lowers CPL) and ROI jumps. Benchmarks for CPL/CVR above provide solid starting points. LocaliQ
PPC will keep paying when two things are true:
(1) you can convert and qualify leads quickly, and
(2) your bidding models are trained on the outcomes that actually make you money.
As AI compresses differences in targeting, the edge shifts to first-party data, creative velocity, and value-based bidding.
Treat the benchmarks above as starting points, then rebuild your ROI math from the ground up: ROI ≈ (Close Rate × LTV ÷ CPL).
Contact us today for your customized PPC audit to see how we can improve your search engine marketing ad spend.
