How to Bid for Individual Keyword From an Existing Campaign
When you run a Google Ads Search campaign, you may notice that some keywords perform better than others. To improve performance and control your spending, it’s important to adjust bids for individual keywords instead of relying only on automated bidding.
Why Bidding on Individual Keywords Matters
✔ Improve performance of high-intent keywords
Focus more budget on keywords that bring quality leads.
✔ Reduce wasted spend
Lower bids on keywords with low ROI.
✔ Gain more control
You decide which keywords should rank higher—not Google.
✔ Increase impressions & clicks for priority searches
Your best keywords can appear more often.
✔ More efficient use of ad budget
Every rupee spent generates better results.
When Should You Bid on Individual Keywords?
You should change keyword-level bids when:
- Some keywords have high CPC but low conversions
- Certain keywords perform extremely well
- You want more visibility for your brand terms
- You want to push service/product-specific keywords
- Performance is inconsistent across your keyword list
- You’re using Manual CPC or Maximise Clicks with CPC limit
Important Note About Bidding Strategies
You can only manually adjust bids if your campaign uses:
Manual CPC
✔ Full control
Maximise Clicks (with CPC limit)
✔ Partial control
If your campaign uses:
❌ Maximize Conversions
❌ Target CPA
❌ Target ROAS
❌ Maximize Conversion Value
Google controls the bids, not you.
So if you want keyword-level bidding, switch to Manual CPC.
How to Bid on Individual Keywords in an Existing Campaign
Step 1: Go to Your Google Ads Account
Log in and open the Search campaign you want to edit.
Step 2: Click on “Keywords” (Left Sidebar)
Here you will see:
- All keywords
- Current bids
- Quality Score
- Conversions
- CPC
- CTR
This is your keyword control panel.
Step 3: Choose the Keyword You Want to Edit
Find the keyword you want to change the bid for.
Step 4: Click the Bid Amount
You will see a column called:
- Max CPC
or - Bid
Click on that number.
Step 5: Enter Your New Bid
Set your new bid based on performance:
Examples:
- Increase bid from ₹20 → ₹30 for high-performing keywords
- Decrease from ₹25 → ₹10 for low-performing keywords
Click Save.
Step 6: Monitor Your Performance
Check after 24–48 hours:
- Impressions
- Clicks
- Conversions
- Average position
- CPC changes
Adjust accordingly.
Alternative Method: Edit Bids in Bulk
If you want to edit several keywords together:
Steps:
- Go to Keywords
- Select multiple keywords
- Click Edit → Change bids
- Choose:
- Increase by % or amount
- Decrease by % or amount
- Set new CPC
This saves time for large accounts.
Real-Life Example
Example: “Home Cleaning Services Campaign”
You notice:
Keyword | Avg CPC | Conversions | CPA |
home cleaning service near me | ₹18 | 12 | Good |
deep cleaning services | ₹32 | 2 | High |
cheap cleaning service | ₹24 | 0 | Worst |
Action Taken:
- Increase bid on home cleaning service near me
- From ₹18 → ₹28
- Reduce bid on deep cleaning services
- From ₹32 → ₹15
- Lower or pause cheap cleaning service
- From ₹24 → ₹5 or pause
Result:
- Budget shifts to high-performing keywords
- More conversions
- Lower cost per lead
- Better overall results
Best Practices for Keyword-Level Bidding
✔ Increase bids for keywords with high CTR + high conversion rate
✔ Reduce bids for keywords with low conversions
✔ Pause keywords with zero performance
✔ Use separate ad groups for better control
✔ Set bid limits for expensive keywords
✔ Use bid adjustments for devices + locations
✔ Review keyword performance weekly
✔ Don’t over-bid on broad matches
Final Notes
Adjusting bids for individual keywords is one of the most effective ways to improve your Google Ads campaign performance. It allows you to:
- Boost your best keywords
- Reduce wasted spend
- Gain more control
- Increase conversions
- Improve ROI
Whether you’re optimizing lead generation, eCommerce, or brand visibility campaigns, keyword-level bidding is an essential optimization technique.