🧠 A few months ago, Google introduced Smart Bidding Exploration (SBE) — a new intelligent bidding system designed to unlock more conversions in existing search campaigns. The best part? You don’t need to restructure your setup or increase your budget manually.
At the time, SBE was still in beta and early learning stages, so we chose not to take a public stance. But now, after numerous client questions,we’re ready to share what we know and where we think Google is heading withthis and other AI-driven features like Search AI.
SBE’s main role is to dynamically adjust your target ROAS basedon Google’s AI. It allows the system to bid more aggressively on valuable serch terms, even if they come at a higher cost.
In essence, it’s a small short-term efficiency trade-off in exchange for reaching new, more expensive conversions — ideally leading togreater long-term net profit.
This is an optional setting you can enable at the campaign portfolio level, but only for Search campaigns using target ROAS (tROAS)as the bidding strategy.
You must set your desired ROAS flexibility — anywhere between 10% and30%.
Example:
If your target ROAS is 500% (5:1) and you select 10% flexibility, the systemmay bid as if your ROAS were 450% when exploring certain new search queries.
These requirements show that Google wants us to let go of manual control and trust the system:
· Broad match keywords or DSA must dominate in the campaign.
· Campaign should not be budget-limited — ideally 0% "Search Lost IS (budget)".
· Keep your ROAS target — don’t increase it to compensate for expected dips.
· Avoid manual CPC limits.
· Minimizead creative changes to avoid disrupting learning.
· Allow atleast 6 weeks for the system to learn and deliver solid results.
Giving Google’s AI a little more flexibility lets it bid on traffic it previously ignored — all while staying close to your original ROAS target.
The system captures broader or higher-funnel search termsthat may not have been considered before.
SBE tests underused queries with a more flexible ROAS, leading to fasterlearning — and long-term performance gains.
Ideal for saturated markets where you don’t want to change your setup but still need new customer acquisition.
Works with Google Ads testing tools, experiments, and measurement setups.
At Dolnai, we believe SBE makes sense for specific campaign scenarios:
· Mature, optimized campaigns with 30–50+ monthly conversions.
· You’re hitting your ROAS goals but missing out on additional high-potential traffic.
· You have budgetand margin to experiment without risking business viability.
· Your conversion tracking is accurate.
· You have internal resources and experience to analyze results critically.
· Youraccount manager has strategic judgment.
🔎 Example where we’d test it:
An e-commerce or lead generation business with lots of impressions andconversions from core keywords, looking to tap into new searches without addingmore keywords — especially in highly competitive markets. We'd start with 10%flexibility.
We don’t recommend testing SBE if:
· Your campaign is new, unstable, or underperforming.
· Searchvolume is too low.
· You’regetting poor-quality traffic.
· Conversiontracking is unreliable.
· Yourbudget is tight, or you can’t afford short-term ROAS drops.
💡 While SBE isn’t yet available for PerformanceMax campaigns, if it were, your signals would need to be extremely well-optimized to reduce risk.
SBE is another step toward fully automated Google Ads management.It can unlock new opportunities for those with well-optimized accounts lookingto scale further — without giving up control entirely.
But it also demands high levels of trust in Google’s AI, solidanalytics, and digital maturity. It’s not a plug-and-play solution, andcertainly not a replacement for human judgment. At least not yet.
📬 Considering testing SBE?
At Dolnai, we’ll help you assess if it’s right for your strategy — and how toapproach it wisely. Get in touch, and let’s explore it together.
