How Often Should My PPC Manager Optimize Campaigns?
Bid adjustments should happen weekly. Search term harvesting (graduations and negatives) should happen weekly on accounts above $15k/month. Campaign structure reviews should happen quarterly. Monthly is too slow for bids and search terms. Daily is too reactive — you're making decisions on insufficient data.
Article summary
Bid adjustments should happen weekly. Search term harvesting (graduations and negatives) should happen weekly on accounts above $15k/month. Campaign structure reviews should happen quarterly. Monthly is too slow for bids and search terms. Daily is too reactive — you're making decisions on insufficient data.
The longer answer
Short answer: Bid adjustments should happen weekly. Search term harvesting (graduations and negatives) should happen weekly on accounts above $15k/month. Campaign structure reviews should happen quarterly. Monthly is too slow for bids and search terms. Daily is too reactive — you're making decisions on insufficient data.
What most people get wrong about this
Different optimization tasks have different optimal cadences. Here's the breakdown I use:
What I would actually recommend
- Bid adjustments on top 20 keywords by spend - Search Term Report review — graduate winners, negate losers - Budget pacing check — are campaigns spending evenly or front-loading?
About the author
- Placement modifier review — is top-of-search worth the premium? - Match type performance comparison — exact vs phrase vs broad conversion rates - New keyword opportunities from Search Term Report (longer-tail terms that need more data)