Semi Automatic Conversion Bid Strategy generates traffic for top-converting sections by taking several factors into consideration, and adjusts CPCs at the right time to drive increased traffic on these sections in order to control your CPA.

What’s the difference between Fully Automatic and Semi Automatic modes?

The main difference is that Semi Automatic brings traffic to top-converting sections, but requires you to monitor the campaign’s CPA and spend by manually changing the campaign’s baseline CPC.

On the other hand, Fully Automatic brings traffic to top-converting sections while automatically optimizing your campaign’s CPC and scheduling in order to bring you as many conversions as possible.

How do I set up my Semi Automatic CBS campaign?

After choosing Semi Automatic as the Conversion Bid Strategy, you can select your base CPC, which will always be used as the CPC bid unless the system sees potential for a conversion or thinks one isn’t likely on a specific publisher.

When bidding, the system will automatically try to get the lowest price possible, although it will only go as high as the max CPC listed below the base CPC. You can adjust the max CPC using the “Change” link.

Please note that Semi Automatic mode is programmed to not raise your CPC more than 100% above the entered CPC. For instance, if the entered CPC is $1.00 USD and you set your CPC adjustment at 100%, the max optimized CPC is $2.00 USD.

Important to Note:

• Consider removing your section-level CPC adjustments, since these override the system’s CPC auto-optimization in this bid strategy. The sections that have manual adjustments will not be included in the A/B reporting and may lead to a reporting discrepancy.
• Campaigns that were running with Conversion Bid Strategy before the introduction of Fully Automatic will now be shown as Semi Automatic.

If Semi Automatic doesn’t sound like it’s best suited to achieve your goals, check out our Conversion Bid Strategy Help Center article to learn more about the other three modes.