When you’re managing Google Ads, not all clicks are created equal. Some users convert more often when browsing on mobile, while others take action primarily on desktop. Similarly, some regions deliver a higher return than others. That’s where device bid adjustments and location bid adjustments come into play. Optimizing these settings can significantly improve your campaign efficiency, reduce wasted spend, and maximize ROI.
In this guide, I’ll walk you through the basics, best practices, and strategies to optimize device and location bid adjustments step by step.
Understanding Bid Adjustments in Google Ads
Before we dive into optimization, let’s start with the fundamentals. A bid adjustment is a percentage increase or decrease applied to your base bid. Google Ads uses these adjustments to decide how aggressively (or cautiously) to bid in certain scenarios.
For example:
- If you notice mobile users convert at twice the rate of desktop users, you can apply a +50% device bid adjustment for mobile.
- If a certain city underperforms, you can apply a –30% location bid adjustment for that region.
This flexibility allows you to control budget allocation based on performance rather than treating every click equally.
Why Device and Location Bid Adjustments Matter
Many beginners overlook device and location optimization, but they directly influence profitability. Let’s break it down:
- Device Adjustments: Mobile traffic often dominates, but not all industries see equal conversion rates across devices. E-commerce stores might thrive on mobile, while B2B companies may perform better on desktop. Adjusting bids by device ensures you’re investing more in the devices that actually drive conversions.
- Location Adjustments: Geography matters. A local bakery benefits from targeting nearby neighborhoods, while an online retailer may find certain regions deliver higher lifetime value customers. By applying location bid adjustments, you shift spend to areas that matter most.
In short, ignoring these adjustments means wasting budget where it doesn’t work, while missing out on growth where it does.
How to Optimize Device Bid Adjustments
Now, let’s talk about practical steps for device optimization.
Step 1: Analyze Performance by Device
Navigate to the Devices tab in Google Ads. Compare key metrics:
- Conversion Rate (CVR)
- Cost Per Conversion (CPA)
- Click-Through Rate (CTR)
- Impression Share
Look for trends. For example, if mobile drives a high CTR but a poor conversion rate, you may need to reduce bids or improve the mobile experience.
Step 2: Apply Smart Bid Adjustments
Once you have the data, adjust your bids. A simple formula can guide you:
Bid Adjustment (%) = (Device Conversion Rate ÷ Average Conversion Rate-1) × 100
This ensures your adjustments align with actual performance rather than guesswork.
Step 3: Test and Refine
Device behavior changes over time. Set a reminder to revisit performance every 2-4 weeks. Gradual tweaks are better than drastic changes, especially if your campaign hasn’t accumulated much data.
How to Optimize Location Bid Adjustments
Location optimization works in a similar way but focuses on geography.
Step 1: Review Location Reports
Under the Locations tab, analyze performance across countries, states, cities, or even ZIP codes. Look at CPA, ROAS, and conversion volume.
Step 2: Identify High-Value and Low-Value Areas
Not every region performs equally. You may notice:
- Urban areas convert better than rural areas.
- Certain states generate higher order values.
- Some regions drain the budget without producing sales.
Step 3: Apply Location Bid Adjustments
Boost bids in high-value regions (+20% or more) and reduce them in poor-performing ones (–15% or more). Over time, refine these numbers as data grows.
Step 4: Layer Location Targeting with Audience Insights
If possible, combine location data with demographics or audience segments. For instance, a luxury brand may find affluent neighborhoods convert better than broader regions. This strategy makes location bid adjustments even more powerful.
Best Practices for Combining Device and Location Adjustments
Optimizing one setting is good, but combining them is where you unlock real power. Here’s how:
- Cross-Analyze Performance: Look at devices within locations. For example, mobile may perform better in metropolitan areas but not in rural ones.
- Segment by Campaign Type: For e-commerce, mobile might dominate search campaigns, while desktop drives more conversions in shopping campaigns.
- Avoid Overlapping Adjustments: If you apply too many layers at once, it’s hard to see which change drives results. Start small, then scale.
By layering these insights, you create campaigns that adapt to user behavior in real time.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Even experienced advertisers slip up when managing adjustments. Here are pitfalls to watch out for:
- Making Changes Too Quickly: Always wait for statistically significant data before applying big adjustments.
- Ignoring Mobile UX: If mobile underperforms, it may be a landing page issue, not just an ad issue.
- Over-Restricting Locations: Cutting too many regions too soon limits growth potential.
- Forgetting to Re-Evaluate: Performance trends shift with seasons, devices, and user habits.
Avoiding these mistakes ensures your optimization strategy remains flexible and data-driven.
Advanced Tips for Maximum ROI
Once you master the basics, consider these advanced strategies:
- Use Automated Bidding with Adjustments: Even if you run Target CPA or Target ROAS, you can still apply bid adjustments for location and device to guide Google’s automation.
- Schedule Adjustments by Time of Day: Layer device and location adjustments with ad scheduling. For example, boost mobile bids during evening hours when users are more active.
- Leverage Geographic Exclusions: Instead of lowering bids in weak regions, sometimes excluding them altogether saves more money.
- Run Experiments: Use Google Ads’ Drafts and Experiments feature to test device/location adjustments against a control group.
Final Thoughts
Optimizing device bid adjustments and location bid adjustments is about smarter spending. Rather than spreading your budget thin across all devices and regions, you concentrate on the areas that bring measurable results.
For beginners, start simple: review performance reports, apply modest adjustments, and refine over time. For advanced advertisers, layering adjustments with automation and audience targeting creates a highly efficient system.
The key is consistency. Keep testing, keep measuring, and keep optimizing, because in Google Ads, small bid adjustments can lead to massive ROI improvements.