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title: "CTR Optimization Guide"
canonical: "https://hub.freewheel.tv/space/BC/113803676/CTR%20Optimization%20Guide"
format: markdown
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CTR Optimization CPC Bidding Strategy The CPC  bidding strategy  optimizes campaigns by ensuring that the optimal bid price is submitted into auction. This bidding strategy evaluates each eligible bid against the cost per click (CPC) goal and predicts the bid's click-through rate (CTR) potential. Six data points are considered when evaluating the CTR prediction: environment type, platform device type, placement type, app bundle, domain, and placement. When setting live, it’s important to back out the CTR the campaign will need to drive to meet the CPC goal at the designated cost per mile (CPM). Manipulate the CPC and CPM until you are in the range of average CTRs – if you set a CPC goal that is too aggressive and backs out to a CTR of 1%+, scale will likely be limited, as the bidding strategy will not be able to find inventory that can confidently drive a CTR that high and will therefore not bid. Bid Shading Test  Bid Shading  on line items using the Fixed CPM or VCR Bidding Strategy to help decrease CPM in first-price auctions and therefore decrease overall CPC (Bid Shading is not available within the CPC strategy as the algorithm is focused on meeting the CPC goal). Using Bid Modifiers to Optimize Various Parameters Bid Modifiers will be the most powerful day-to-day optimization tool. We typically recommend making optimizations every 2-4 weeks, depending on campaign length; this gives the campaign enough time to collect meaningful data.  Pulling reports that analyze browser, operating system, exchange, site/app, and time of day will help indicate which parameters perform best. From there, you can apply bid modifiers to bid down on or even block parameters that aren't driving strong CTRs.  It varies by campaign size, but a good rule of thumb is to completely block sites that have delivered 1,000+ impressions without any clicks. Keep in mind that it’s important to be mindful of scale when making optimizations in order to find a good balance between delivery and performance. Use Delivery Modifiers to Deliver Against Sites/Apps that Drive the Highest CTR Aside from using Bid Modifiers, if you have a group of sites/apps that perform well, you can use a Delivery Modifier to prioritize delivery across those specific sites/apps before spending across other targeted inventory; delivery modifiers let you prioritize delivery without needing to bid higher. It’s not recommended to use Delivery Modifiers with a CPC bidding strategy.  The More Exact the Targeting, the Better the CTR If you are engaging the right audience, they will be more likely to click. We recommend testing line items with various targeting combinations and, after a few weeks, optimize into the line items driving the highest CTR. Keep in mind that line items with more generic targeting will likely drive lower CTRs unless your audience is quite broad.  If you have first-party data available, prioritize using it over third-party data. Other Things to Consider Frequency Capping  – are you showing a user the same ad over and over again? Creative  - Is your messaging engaging? Is there a creative size that is performing best? If so, you can use prioritize delivery to that ad size using Delivery Modifiers Viewability  - Are people actually seeing your ads so that they can click on them? Buyer Cloud has a direct integration with IAS and DoubleVerify for viewability reporting across desktop web, mobile web, and mobile in-app display ads. Make one optimization at a time  - If multiple optimizations are made at once, it can be difficult to understand what drove performance. Although many variables can be optimized, we recommend starting with one or two.