Advanced Google Ads Library | AdOptics

How Do You Adjust Campaigns for Seasonality With Maximize Conversion Value in Google Ads?

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Summary

Adjusting campaigns for seasonality with the Maximize Conversion Value bid strategy in Google Ads involves utilizing features like seasonality adjustments, monitoring performance data, and customizing campaign settings to align with expected shifts in demand. This ensures your campaigns remain competitive and maintain optimal performance during fluctuating seasonal trends.

Understanding Maximize Conversion Value

Maximize Conversion Value is a Smart Bidding strategy in Google Ads designed to automatically adjust bids to maximize the total conversion value (such as revenue, profit, or any other defined value) within your budget. This bidding strategy utilizes historical data and real-time signals like device, location, and time of day to optimize performance. While it's highly automated, it's important to prepare for seasonal fluctuations to ensure the algorithm aligns with your business goals.

Implementing Seasonality Adjustments

What Are Seasonality Adjustments?

Seasonality adjustments allow advertisers to inform Google Ads of anticipated changes in conversion rates during specific periods, such as holidays, sales events, or product launches. This feature is especially useful for short-term events where conversion rates temporarily deviate from historical trends. The adjustments temporarily influence Smart Bidding strategies, including Maximize Conversion Value, without disrupting the algorithm's long-term learning.

How to Set Up Seasonality Adjustments

  1. Navigate to your Google Ads account.
  2. Click on Tools & Settings > Bid Strategies under the "Shared Library" section.
  3. Select Advanced Controls and choose Seasonality Adjustments.
  4. Click on the plus button (+) to create a new adjustment.
  5. Define the adjustment details:
  • Scope: Choose whether to apply the adjustment to specific campaigns or the entire account.
  • Start and End Dates: Input the exact duration of the seasonal event.
  • Devices: Specify whether the adjustment applies to all devices or specific ones (e.g., mobile-only).
  • Conversion Rate Adjustment: Indicate the expected increase or decrease in conversion rates as a percentage (e.g., +20%).
  1. Save your settings.

Key Considerations

  • Seasonality adjustments are most effective for short-term events, typically lasting 1-7 days. For longer-term trends, the Smart Bidding algorithm will adapt naturally over time.
  • This feature is only recommended for anticipated and predictable changes in conversion rates; unexpected trends may require other strategies.

Monitoring Campaign Performance

Analyze Historical Data

Review past performance data to identify seasonal trends in conversion rates and conversion value. This can help you estimate the necessary adjustments for future campaigns. Use reports such as:

  • Search Terms Report: Analyze queries and their performance during previous seasonal periods.
  • Performance by Time: Review hourly, daily, and weekly performance patterns.

Track Real-Time Metrics

During the seasonal event, monitor key metrics like conversion value, conversion rate, and cost per conversion to ensure your adjustments are yielding the expected results. Leverage Google Ads' reporting tools to evaluate performance.

Customizing Campaign Settings

Budget Adjustments

Increase daily budgets for high-performing campaigns during peak seasonal periods to maximize opportunities. Use shared budgets for better allocation across campaigns targeting similar audiences.

Ad Scheduling

Optimize ad scheduling to ensure your ads are shown during high-traffic times when users are more likely to convert. For example, if you anticipate a higher conversion rate during evening hours on Black Friday, schedule your ads accordingly.

Targeting Updates

Refine targeting by adjusting audience segments, geo-targeting, or demographics to align with your seasonal campaign goals. For example, focus on high-income demographics for luxury product sales during holiday seasons.

Creative Refresh

Update your ad creatives to reflect seasonal offers, promotions, or messaging. Highlight limited-time discounts or special bundles that appeal to seasonal shoppers.

Example: Holiday Season Campaign

Suppose you're running a campaign for an e-commerce store during the holiday shopping season. Here's how you can utilize Maximize Conversion Value with seasonality adjustments:

  1. Set up a seasonality adjustment to increase conversion rates by 25% during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
  2. Increase campaign budgets by 50% during the same period to capitalize on increased shopping demand.
  3. Use responsive search ads featuring holiday-specific promotions, such as "20% Off All Electronics This Weekend Only!"
  4. Target high-income zip codes and utilize remarketing lists for users who visited your site earlier in the year.

Conclusion

Adjusting campaigns for seasonality with Maximize Conversion Value requires a combination of proactive seasonality adjustments, detailed performance monitoring, and campaign customizations. By leveraging the right tools and strategies, you can maximize the effectiveness of your campaigns during key seasonal events.

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