Since the rise of Smart Bidding in Google Ads, many advertisers have learned just how effective automated bidding algorithms can be. However, any experienced search marketer will remind you that even the smartest algorithms still need a watchful human eye. It’s still important to have manual inputs and make adjustments based on data that might be more qualitative than quantitative.
And it seems Google agrees!
Late last month, Google announced that advertisers on Google Ads are now able to make seasonality adjustments using an advanced tool that will help inform Smart Bidding strategies. The purpose of this is to help notify Google of any expected changes in conversion rates for upcoming promotions, sales, launches, etc. It can even be used for the inverse – to project conversion rate dips – if say your top product(s) are out of stock or you have a competing retailer (or authorized seller) offering a steeply discounted price point that you don’t plan to match.
According to Google, implementing these seasonality adjustments on Smart Bidding strategies allows the algorithms to instantly account for the new expected behavior, as well as go back to pre-sales behavior without the need for a ramp-down period.
To see if you have access to make seasonality adjustments, follow the steps below:
- Sign into your Google Ads account
- From the Tools menu, click the drop-down and select Bid Strategies under Shared Library
- Select the Seasonality Adjustments option at the top and click the blue plus symbol to create a new seasonality adjustment
- From here, you can name your adjustments and plug in the start and end dates as well as your scope and devices
- Adjust your conversion rate to reflect your expected change, whether it is an increase or a decrease
- Click save
Have you used the new seasonality adjustment feature yet? If so, what has been your experience? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.