Ever wondered what a different maximum bid might have gotten you on Google AdWords? Up until now, finding out the ideal bid involved spending a lot of time on trial and error methods that could be a waste of money. Google’s August launch of a bid simulator could make that a thing of the past.

The new AdWords interface features a bid simulator that shows you the estimated impact of the bid you make on your results. Of course, there’s no way for Google to be absolutely certain. It can offer you a good guess as to what would have happened with different bids, however.

The simulator uses data from the past week, recalculating the number of impressions if you had used a different maximum CPC. It also estimates the number of clicks you might have gotten for those impressions and the overall cost of those clicks. This means that AdWords auctions just got a lot less opaque. The information from this simulator can offer the insight we all need to make a really informed bid.

Of course, you need to remember a few things. Just spending more money on your bid isn’t a sure way to get more clicks. You also need to know what to do in order to get more targeted traffic without the extra expenditures. Also, the information Google’s offering is just an estimate. Does that mean it isn’t useful? Of course not! Just don’t mistake it for a crystal ball.