• Search Engine Land
  • Sections
    • SEO
    • SEM
    • Local
    • Retail
    • Google
    • Bing
    • Social
    • Resources
    • More
    • Home
  • Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Resources
  • Live
  • More
  • Events
  • SUBSCRIBE

Search Engine Land

Search Engine Land
  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social
  • Resources
  • More
  • Newsletters
  • Home
SEM

Google Ads seasonality adjustments now available for Search, Display campaigns

Give Google's bidding algorithms a heads up about short-term conversation rate changes during promotions.

Ginny Marvin on September 3, 2019 at 12:28 pm
  • More
Seasonality bid adjustments in Google Ads.

The seasonality adjustments feature that Google previewed at Google Marketing Live in May is now live for Search and Display campaigns. It is not available yet for Shopping, Video or App campaigns, but is expected to come to Shopping campaigns later this year.

Why would you use this? Google’s tCPA and tROAS smart bidding strategies already take broad-scale seasonality changes into consideration; it’s not hard to train algorithms to respond to the holiday season bump, for example. However, machine learning algorithms don’t often respond well or quickly to sharp changes — in this case to changing conversion rates. By the time the system catches up, your promotion may be over. With the seasonality adjustment feature, advertisers can inform Google’s bidding systems of expected conversion rate changes during special promotions, product launches or more nuanced seasonal pickups and lulls specific to their businesses.

“With seasonality adjustments, you can apply a predicted conversion rate adjustment and Smart Bidding will consider that adjustment for the date range selected, while trying to hit your target CPA,” says Google.

How to get started. Getting to the right place in the Google Ads interface isn’t all that intuitive at first. From the Tools menu, select Bid Strategies, then click on Advanced Controls in the left-hand menu. From there you can add a new seasonality adjustment by clicking the blue “plus” button.

You’ll be asked to name your setting and set a start and end dates and time. Note that by default, it’s set to apply to all search and display and all device types. You can instead opt to apply the adjustment to specific campaigns and device types.

Finally, you set the conversion rate adjustment (increase or decrease). “For example, if you expect conversion rates to increase by 50% during a 3-day sale, add up to a +50% conversion rate adjustment,” says Google. “This adjustment will help you optimize your bids.”

The default settings on the seasonality adjustment set up screen.

Why we should care. This feature injects some manual signals and control into Smart Bidding to better anticipate and manage short intervals of conversion rate changes. With the seasonality scheduling, the system will adjust based on your estimated conversion rate change during and then revert back “without the need for a ramp down.”

This should be used for short-term promotions, rather than the month before back to school, for example.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.



About The Author

Ginny Marvin
Ginny Marvin was Third Door Media’s former Editor-in-Chief (October 2018 to December 2020), running the day to day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin writes about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

Related Topics

Channel: SEMGoogleGoogle Ads

We're listening.

Have something to say about this article? Share it with us on Facebook, Twitter or our LinkedIn Group.

Get the daily newsletter search marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS

Lorem ipsum doler this is promo text about SMX events.

April 13, 2021: SMX Create

May 18-19, 2021: SMX London

June 8-9, 2021: SMX Paris

June 15-16, 2021: SMX Advanced

June 21-22, 2021: SMX Advanced Europe

August 17, 2021: SMX Convert

November 9-10, 2021: SMX Next

December 14, 2021: SMX Code

Available On-Demand: SMX

Available On-Demand: SMX Report

×


Learn More About Our SMX Events

Discover actionable tactics that can help you overcome crucial marketing challenges. Our next conference will be held:

Next Event: Sept. 14-15, 2021

Available On-Demand: March 2021

Available On-Demand: October 2020

×

Attend MarTech - Click Here


Learn More About Our MarTech Events

White Papers

  • Nielsen Annual Marketing Report: Era of Adaptation
  • Global Social Media Advertising Trends Among Retailers in 2021
  • 2020 Hispanic Market Report
  • Delivering Audio Success: Industry Trends in Streaming Audio & Podcast Performance
  • Ten Tips for Acquisition Email Success
See More Whitepapers

Webinars

  • Drive Customer Engagement with the Power of Personalization
  • 7 Use Cases That Prove Why You Should Implement DAM
  • Accelerate Your SEO & Content Marketing Program with 4 Key Milestones
See More Webinars

Research Reports

  • Local Marketing Solutions for Multi-Location Businesses
  • Enterprise Digital Asset Management Platforms
  • Identity Resolution Platforms
  • Customer Data Platforms
  • B2B Marketing Automation Platforms
  • Call Analytics Platforms
See More Research

Attend SMX For Only $149

h
Receive daily search news and analysis.

Channels

  • SEO
  • SEM
  • Local
  • Retail
  • Google
  • Bing
  • Social

Our Events

  • SMX
  • MarTech

Resources

  • White Papers
  • Research
  • Webinars

About

  • About Us
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS
  • Youtube

© 2021 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Your privacy means the world to us. We share your personal information only when you give us explicit permission to do so, and confirm we have your permission each time. Learn more by viewing our privacy policy.Ok