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How multi-signal bid enrichment helps publishers and SSPs make more from less
Search traffic is falling off a cliff. Google’s shift to AI-generated summaries has changed user behavior overnight. Instead of clicking through to publisher websites, people now get their answers directly on the search page. No clicks, no visits, no pageviews. Just a vanishing act.
The top 500 publishers have already lost more than a quarter of their traffic, and AI chat referrals aren’t making up the difference. Business Insider’s organic traffic is down over 50% compared to 2022. This isn’t just a dip—it’s a reset.
For publishers, that means the stakes are higher than ever. Every user who actually lands on your site needs to drive more value. You can’t afford to waste impressions. You can’t rely on generic targeting. And you can’t sit back and wait for traffic to come back. It won’t.
We’re entering a phase where the most valuable thing a publisher can do is turn every impression into a high-quality opportunity for buyers. That’s where multi-signal bid enrichment comes in.
Why enriched signals matter now
In the past, most publishers leaned heavily on cookies, device IDs, and a few third-party data sources to define audiences. That approach is fading fast. Between cookie deprecation, IP masking, and changes like Apple’s App Tracking Transparency, the standard tools for understanding and targeting users are either disappearing or unreliable.
What’s left is a fractured environment where maybe a third of your traffic is easily addressable—and even that’s scattered across more than twenty different Universal ID solutions, each with its own limitations.
If you want to stay competitive, you can’t rely on a single source of identity. You need a complete picture: user-level identifiers, contextual information about what they’re reading, and AI-derived insights about their behavior and intent. This combination of signals is what makes bid enrichment work.
Instead of sending a bare-bones bid request with a cookie or maybe one UID, enriched bid requests tell a fuller story. Who is this person? What are they looking at? What might they care about? And what’s the best way to reach them?
Buyers are willing to pay more for that kind of detail. It’s the difference between bidding blind and bidding with confidence.
What this looks like in practice
For publishers, enriching bid signals means capturing and organizing as many usable data points as possible. That includes pulling in UIDs from multiple sources, contextualizing content through structured taxonomies, and identifying patterns in user behavior. Some do it manually. Most can’t. That’s where platforms like GrowthCode come in.
GrowthCode works behind the scenes, using a simple script installed on publisher pages. When a user arrives, the script pulls in IDs from dozens of providers, classifies the page content, and assembles a clean, enriched bid request. It automatically selects which signals to include based on the SSP’s capabilities and buying patterns.
The result is a smarter auction. Advertisers see more signal, more relevance, and more reasons to bid. Publishers see higher CPMs, better fill rates, and more control over how their audiences are represented.
In real-world cases, that means measurable gains. Safari, which is notoriously difficult to monetize due to its cookie restrictions, becomes a viable revenue stream again. One publisher saw a 38% increase in RPM on Safari traffic after full multi-signal enrichment. That’s not just better monetization—it’s the difference between being ignored and being bought.
What SSPs and DSPs should expect
SSPs don’t need to do much—just keep the enriched signals intact and pass them through cleanly. GrowthCode’s output is OpenRTB-compliant and tailored to what each demand partner needs. There’s no custom integration required. The system is designed to optimize which IDs get passed based on demand curves, so it avoids bloating the request with unnecessary payload. (If you are an SSP and you want to make sure you are getting our signal, lets talk)
DSPs benefit by getting better input. They can match users more precisely, segment them more intelligently, and optimize bids based on both identity and context. That means less guesswork, higher win rates, and better outcomes for their advertisers.
Everyone in the chain benefits when the signal is richer and more complete.
The upside for publishers and buyers
This isn’t just about fixing a problem—it’s about finding leverage. If your traffic is down 25% but your revenue per visitor goes up by 40%, you’re in a stronger position than you were before.
For publishers, enriched bids open the door to:
- More accurate targeting
- Stronger PMP packages
- Higher CPMs
- Better yield across browsers and environments
For buyers, it means reaching the right users with less waste. It means campaigns that actually perform. It means confidence in where their dollars are going.
AI has changed how people use the internet. That part’s not up for debate. But AI doesn’t change what advertisers want: real people, real attention, and real performance. That’s still on the table—but only if publishers make every impression count.
The pageviews won’t come back. But the value can.
GrowthCode provides an addressability management platform that affordably and rapidly delivers identity graphs to support a myriad of use cases like bid enrichment and curation for safely monetizing the first-party data across the revenue portfolio. If you want to learn more about how we do this, how much it will cost, and stand up a proof-of-concept, reach out here.