Smart bidding diagnosis
How I found a hidden limit holding back 76% of spend
Auditing target CPA bidding and uncovering a maximum bid cap that was quietly restricting automation.
By a max CPC limit
Found during diagnosis
Average target
The challenge
Automation was missing its target and nobody knew why.
The portfolio was set to around £70 CPA but delivering about £96. Settings looked fine on the surface.
What mattered most
The strategy
Find the restriction inside the automation.
I audited the bidding setup line by line.
- 01Audited portfolio target CPA performance.
- 02Compared target CPA with actual CPA across campaigns.
- 03Identified a hidden maximum CPC restriction.
- 04Quantified how much spend it affected.
The evidence
The numbers behind the result.
Graphs use the exact figures from the engagement. Where raw totals were not available, values are indexed to a starting point of 100.
CPA gap
Target vs reality
Spend affected
Most spend was capped
The outcome
The real reason for poor bidding, found and fixed.
76% of spend was constrained by a max CPC limit, explaining the gap between a £70 target and a £96 actual CPA.
Capabilities demonstrated
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A personal point of view
What I’m seeing, testing and learning in PPC right now.
I’m John Iliopoulos, a PPC and growth marketer with over 10 years in the industry. PPC Supreme is where I share my take on what’s changing, experiments I’m running, things that genuinely work and the lessons behind the results.
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