Google drops ad scheduling for Smart Bidding campaigns?

Google quietly updated its policies to remove ad scheduling for campaigns using Smart Bidding, raising eyebrows across the paid search community.

Ad scheduling lets advertisers control when their ads show, aligning campaigns with business hours or peak performance times. Removing this feature for Smart Bidding campaigns reduces control and could impact budget efficiency.

Voices from the field. Scott Carruthers, paid search director at Journey Further, is not a fan of this at all:

• “It’s a step further away from keeping your advertising aligned with your business goals. I fully understand not taking bid adjustments into consideration, but advertisers should be able to choose when their ads run.”

PPC expert Amalia Fowler had a different take.

• “If it’s true, I don’t hate this. Many businesses restrict their schedules unnecessarily, but more transparency from Google would be appreciated.”

Why we care. When using smart bidding you can no longer limit ad visibility to business hours, potentially leading to wasted spend outside of peak times. While automation can optimize for performance, this update diminishes your control over ad delivery to align with operational hours or staff availability.

What’s next. Expect further clarification from Google as advertisers push for answers. Many are watching closely to see if this policy change sticks or evolves with additional feedback.

First seen. This change was shared by Adriaan Dekker on LinkedIn. He wondered whether Google will make an announcement about this change or whether this might be an error.

Maybe an error? This change happened two days ago. The last time Google’s “About ad scheduling” page appeared in Wayback Machine (Feb. 28, 2024), this page said:

• “Ad scheduling is not compatible with both Smart Shopping campaigns and App campaigns.”

Bottom line. Google’s shift toward automation-first advertising continues to disrupt traditional PPC strategies, forcing advertisers to adapt or find creative workarounds to maintain control over their campaigns.