Summary
Seasonality adjustments in Google Ads allow advertisers to temporarily modify bid strategies, such as Maximize Conversion Value, to account for expected performance changes during specific time periods. This ensures that campaigns remain aligned with increased or decreased conversion rates, ultimately improving the efficiency and accuracy of automated bidding. Below, we explore how this works and provide actionable insights for implementation.
What Are Seasonality Adjustments in Google Ads?
Seasonality adjustments are manual controls advertisers can use to inform Google Ads’ automated bidding algorithms of anticipated changes in conversion rates during specific periods, like holiday sales or promotional events. While Google's Smart Bidding automatically adapts to long-term trends, seasonality adjustments are designed for short-term, temporary fluctuations in performance.
Maximize Conversion Value Bidding Explained
The Maximize Conversion Value bidding strategy focuses on driving the highest total conversion value within a set budget or return on ad spend (ROAS) target. This strategy uses machine learning to optimize bids in real time, considering various factors such as device type, user location, and time of day. However, sudden short-term changes in user behavior (e.g., during Black Friday or flash sales) may not be captured quickly enough by the algorithm.
How Seasonality Adjustments Improve Maximize Conversion Value
1. Anticipating Conversion Rate Fluctuations
For events like holiday sales or product launches, conversion rates can increase dramatically. Without seasonality adjustments, Google Ads may fail to quickly capitalize on these temporary changes. By creating a seasonality adjustment, advertisers can manually signal the expected increase (or decrease) in conversion rates, prompting the Maximize Conversion Value algorithm to bid more aggressively or conservatively.
2. Enhancing Bid Accuracy
Seasonality adjustments provide precise control over bid strategies by allowing advertisers to specify the expected percentage change in conversion rates. For example, if you expect a 30% lift in conversions during a weekend sale, you can set that figure in your seasonality adjustment. This ensures the algorithm optimizes bids in alignment with these expectations, maximizing campaign efficiency.
3. Avoiding Budget Waste
While an increase in conversions may justify higher bids, failing to adjust for seasonality can also lead to wasted ad spend during periods of lower conversion rates. For example, if you’re running a campaign right after a major sales event, a seasonality adjustment can help scale back bids during this period of anticipated decreased demand.
4. Supporting Specific Campaign Types
Seasonality adjustments are particularly useful for high-impact campaigns, such as:
- Holiday Campaigns: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or Christmas promotions.
- Limited-Time Offers: Flash sales or exclusive product launches.
- Regional Events: Localized campaigns focused on festivals or public holidays.
Implementation: How to Use Seasonality Adjustments
1. Create a Seasonality Adjustment
To set up a seasonality adjustment in Google Ads:
- Navigate to Tools & Settings → Bidding → Seasonality Adjustments.
- Click + to create a new adjustment.
- Specify the name, time frame, and scope (e.g., specific campaigns or all campaigns).
- Enter the expected conversion rate change (e.g., +20%).
2. Monitor Performance
Once the adjustment is active, closely monitor campaign performance to ensure the anticipated changes align with actual results. If needed, refine your adjustment to better reflect real-time data.
3. Remove or Disable Adjustments
After the specified event period ends, Google Ads will automatically revert to its normal bidding behavior. It’s important to ensure the adjustment is set to run only during the intended time frame to avoid distorting long-term campaign performance.
Example Use Case
Imagine an e-commerce business running a Black Friday campaign expecting a 40% increase in conversion rates over the weekend. Without seasonality adjustments, the Maximize Conversion Value strategy might not react quickly enough to bid higher for high-value customers. By applying a seasonality adjustment with a +40% conversion rate expectation, the algorithm can immediately factor this into its calculations, optimizing bids to maximize revenue during this high-demand period.
Best Practices
1. Use for Short-Term Events Only
Seasonality adjustments are most effective for brief, high-impact periods. Avoid using them for long-term trends, as Smart Bidding already accounts for these.
2. Test on Specific Campaigns
Initially, apply adjustments to a subset of campaigns to measure effectiveness before scaling to broader account levels.
3. Combine with Audience Targeting
Pair seasonality adjustments with detailed audience segmentation (e.g., remarketing lists) to target high-value users more effectively during key events.
Limitations of Seasonality Adjustments
While seasonality adjustments are a powerful tool, they have limitations:
- They only work with Smart Bidding strategies, such as Maximize Conversion Value and Target ROAS.
- They are not suitable for long-term performance changes.
- Manually setting adjustments requires accurate forecasting, which may not always be feasible.
Conclusion
Seasonality adjustments are an essential tool for advertisers who use Maximize Conversion Value bidding in Google Ads. By accounting for short-term changes in conversion rates, they ensure that bidding strategies remain efficient and aligned with business goals during high-impact periods. When implemented strategically, seasonality adjustments can significantly improve campaign performance and ROI.