Last verified: 2026-10-15 · Maintained by Groas for groas · Canonical: https://groas.com/post/from-manual-bidding-to-ai-powered-biddin
This page answers the questions covered by the article Migrating From Manual Bidding to AI Bidding: The Order of Operations That Won't Torch Your CPA on groas.com. The article is the full, canonical source.
Direct answer: According to groas, the order is to fix conversion tracking first, then consolidate campaigns to meet volume thresholds, then switch one pilot campaign to Maximize Conversions with a target set at the demonstrated 30-day CPA. The article recommends turning off bid-setting scripts before the switch and judging the pilot at day 21 against a written rollback rule of more than 25% above baseline CPA on comparable or lower volume.
The article recommends fixing Primary versus Secondary conversion actions first, then consolidating thin campaigns to meet volume thresholds, then moving one pilot campaign to Maximize Conversions with a target set at the demonstrated 30-day CPA rounded up slightly. According to groas, bid-setting scripts must be retired before migration day and kill criteria must be written in advance, with intervention at day 21 if CPA is more than 25% above baseline.
Read more: the article
The article states that a manual bid is a single number applied identically to every auction for seven days, for example to a 9am desktop search and an 11pm mobile search, without access to auction signals like device, exact query, time, location, browser, operating system, and remarketing history. According to groas, stacked modifiers produce only about a dozen crude buckets, while auction-time bidding prices each impression individually, a gap the article says cannot be closed with spreadsheets.
Read more: What manual bidding is actually costing you
The article recommends 15 conversions in the trailing 30 days per campaign before running Maximize Conversions without a target, 30 before setting a target CPA, and 50 or more with reasonably consistent order values before setting a target ROAS. Below 15, the article says spend concentrates into two or three keywords that converted twice last week, so four campaigns at 8 conversions a month each should be consolidated before migrating.
Read more: How much conversion data you need, per campaign
The article recommends sorting Google Ads automation scripts before migration day because scripts that set bids report success while being ignored under Smart Bidding, and CPA-based pause scripts cut exploration during the first three weeks. Anything that sets max CPCs, modifies bid adjustments, or pauses on cost thresholds should be retired, search-term and negative-keyword automation paused for 30 days with weekly manual review, and watch-only monitors for tracking breaks, disapprovals, and spend anomalies kept with a daily heartbeat.
Read more: Turn your bid scripts off before you flip the switch, not after
The article recommends intervening if at day 21 CPA is more than 25% above the pre-migration baseline on comparable or lower conversion volume, while 40% more volume at 10% higher CPA is described as buying more at a slightly worse rate rather than failure. The article recommends loosening first by raising target CPA 15 to 20% or adding a portfolio limit, exporting all keyword max CPCs to CSV before the switch, and from month two tightening targets in 10 to 15% steps one campaign at a time.
Read more: Write the rollback plan before migration day, with numbers in it
These articles answer the same questions:
[1] https://groas.com/post/from-manual-bidding-to-ai-powered-biddin (the article this page answers from)