Google Ads Maximize Clicks: Your Ultimate Guide to Driving More Website Traffic
Maximize Clicks may or may not be the right choice for your campaign. This guide offers a quick overview of what Maximize Clicks is, when to use it, and when it is the perfect balance between manual and Smart Bidding.
There are three types of bidding strategies: manual bidding, automated bidding, and Smart Bidding. PPC practitioners generally seem to fall into one of two groups: those who like to stick to manual bidding for the sake of control, and those who embrace automation with Smart Bidding. The middle ground, however, seems to have been ignored. Perhaps there is a place and time for automated bidding strategies like Maximize Clicks? Is it that Goldilocks choice everyone is searching for, or simply a waste of time?
In this article, I shall bring forth the whole gamut of information you require concerning Maximize Clicks:
- What is Maximize Clicks bidding in Google Ads?
- When to Maximize Clicks bidding?
- Is Maximize Clicks a Smart Bidding strategy?
- Can intructions_guardrails be set for Maximize Clicks?
- Which campaign types are compatible with Maximize Clicks?
What is Maximize Clicks bidding in Google Ads?
Maximize Clicks bidding is a somewhat automated bid strategy used in Google Ads. The moment you instruct Google to "Maximize Clicks," you're basically telling the system to spend your entire budget and fetch as many clicks for you as possible.
Have that order of operations: first, use the full budget; second, getting clicks. So this means Maximize Clicks bidding can increase CPCs to make sure it spends your budget.
When do you want to use Maximize Clicks bidding?
Rarely ever. If you are going to advertise seriously on Google, you want to be tracking conversions in your account. But if you're tracking conversions, you want to be using a Smart Bidding strategy for conversions: Maximize Conversions, Maximize Conversion Value, Target CPA, or Target ROAS. These bid strategies are specifically designed to put your goals in alignment with Google's.
Yet there are some cases when Maximize Clicks can work for you, especially if, for some reason, you aren't really optimizing for conversions. For instance, if all you want is to push as much traffic toward your website, and you really do not care about any conversion events, Maximize Clicks will be a choice, or, in the beginning, when setting up a completely new account, Maximize Clicks can be used to at least start gathering some data for your campaigns.
Is Maximize Clicks a Smart Bidding Strategy?
Maximize Clicks is not a Smart Bidding strategy because Smart Bidding focuses on conversions. However, it is also an automated bid strategy, meaning it takes different contextual signals into account at auction time to set your bids-very much like Smart Bidding.
Contextual signals for automated Bidding (and Smart Bidding) include but are not limited to:
- Device: Is the user on their cellphone, tablet, or desktop?
- Location: Geographically, where is the user actually located?
- Time of day/Day of the week: Is it during the daytime, nighttime? Is it a weekday, weekend?
- Remarketing lists: Are they on any remarketing lists since these users have had some interaction with your business?
- Language: What language is the user's browser set to?
- Browser/Operating System: Which browser and operating system were they working with?
If you were to use Manual CPC bidding, you'd be really trying to set bid adjustments at each of these levels. This is very consuming and would even be impossible to implement. With Maximize Clicks bidding, the system takes care of this for you and sets the bids in real-time to bring in the maximum possible number of clicks.
With Maximize Clicks, do guardrails exist?
If you want to keep CPCs from getting too high, you may want to set a CPC bid limit, which limits how high Google can bid for any given click.
This is an excellent way to reign in overzealous spending, but it comes with trade-offs. By enforcing that strict, low bid limit, you are limiting Google's ability to learn and optimize, which may prevent you from getting more clicks or push you out of auctions where a slightly higher bid would have secured a click.
In truth, it all depends on how much control you want to give to your automation to learn and optimize along the way.
Which campaign types fit Maximize Clicks?
Maximize Clicks is one of the more versatile types of bidding strategy in Google Ads. Maximize Clicks can be used with:
- Shopping Campaigns: This is probably the best place to use Maximize Clicks, particularly for newer Shopping campaigns. In Shopping, bidding options are limited to Manual CPC, Maximize Clicks, or Target ROAS. If your campaign is brand new and you haven't secured enough conversion data to choose Target ROAS, Maximize Clicks is really the best way to generate some initial traffic and collect data without holding the campaign back with Manual CPC.
- Search Campaigns: Maximize Clicks is compatible with Search campaigns, and you can attempt to direct traffic to it off Google Search results. As a matter of strategy, some Google Ads practitioners prefer to start Search campaigns on Maximize Clicks instead of jumping straight onto Smart Bidding.
- Display Campaigns: You can run Maximize Clicks bidding for your Display campaign to try to get as many clicks as possible from the Google Display Network. Watch out for spam traffic!
- Demand Gen Campaigns: Maximize Clicks could also be a possibility for Demand Gen campaigns if you're not quite set up to use Smart Bidding just yet.
It's not an option for video campaigns, as the bidding strategy needs to focus on reach or engagement; nor is it an option for Performance Max campaigns, which only allow conversion-based bid strategies.
Bottom Line : While Maximize Clicks can be a good bid strategy for beginners, especially in certain scenarios such as new Shopping campaigns, my general recommendation is that if you are advertising on Google, you should have conversion tracking set up.
Once you have conversion tracking in place, almost every situation would be better served with a conversion-focused bid strategy rather than one focused on clicks.
❓ What does "Maximize Clicks" mean in Google Ads?
Answer: It’s an automated bidding strategy that helps you get the most clicks within your daily budget. Google adjusts your bids in real-time to drive more traffic to your site.
❓ Is Maximize Clicks good for small businesses?
Answer: Yes, especially if your main goal is getting website visitors quickly. It works well when you’re launching a new product, service, or want more brand visibility.
❓ Can I set a maximum CPC with Maximize Clicks?
Answer: Yes, you can set a Max CPC limit to prevent Google from bidding more than a certain amount per click.
❓ Will it help me get more sales?
Answer: Not directly. Maximize Clicks is designed for traffic, not conversions. If your goal is sales or leads, consider using Maximize Conversions or Target CPA instead.
❓ How much budget do I need?
Answer: There’s no fixed amount, but larger budgets tend to get better results. However, it also works with smaller budgets if your keywords are not too competitive.
❓ Can I use it for all types of campaigns?
Answer: Yes, you can use Maximize Clicks in Search, Display, Shopping, and even Video campaigns, though results vary by type.
❓ How do I know if Maximize Clicks is working?
Answer: Monitor your campaign's clicks, CTR (Click-Through Rate), CPC (Cost per Click), and quality of traffic through Google Ads and Google Analytics.
❓ When should I stop using Maximize Clicks?
Answer: If you:
-
Start getting low-quality traffic
-
Want to focus on conversions or return on investment
-
Have enough conversion data to switch to smarter bidding
Outsourcing Campus
I have worked on a variety of projects, such as developing innovative thought leadership content, overseeing paid channels, ensuring excellent frontend user experiences, managing platform migrations, and interacting with diverse stakeholders.
.png)
.png)
