As shoppers continue to spread their holiday spending over longer periods, preparing your Google Ads strategy for the holiday season is more crucial than ever. Many ecommerce businesses generate a significant portion of their annual revenue during Q4, so optimizing your Google Ads campaigns during these months is essential. Below are key strategies to ensure you're ready for the holiday rush:
1. Rising competition requires advanced optimization
The holiday season brings a surge in competition, making it critical to optimize your account’s ad strength, keyword quality scores and performance metrics. Winning auctions and delivering a top-tier customer experience are directly linked to how well you manage these factors.
2. Pre-holiday testing is key
Begin testing several months before Q4 to identify the most effective bid strategies, keyword match types and performance levers. Take advantage of beta features from Google to set your campaigns up for success with insights from early testing.
3. Forecasting demand for strategic budgeting
Use tools like Google Performance Planner and Keyword Planner to forecast category demand. This will help you allocate budgets, plan optimizations and pinpoint opportunities for growth before the holiday season heats up.
4. Performance Max enhancements
Now in its third year, Google’s Performance Max campaign type continues to evolve. With the majority of Google Ads spend funneled into this format, staying updated on the latest optimizations is vital. Seasonal asset swaps for images and videos are now recommended to keep content fresh. Since Google phased out similar audiences in August 2023, it’s essential to update audience signals. New tools like brand exclusions and New Customer Acquisition settings should be leveraged to meet holiday-specific goals efficiently.
Last year’s optimizations were still in early stages for Performance Max, but in 2024, there are far more levers to pull for better outcomes, including fine-tuning assets and audience targeting.
Cart’s 2024 holiday-ready checklist
Complete all account testing in October: This allows ample time for optimizations and learning implementations before key November sales.
Conduct full account audits and updates: Ensure your campaigns are fully optimized before the holiday shopping peaks.
Seasonal refreshes of ad copy and creative assets: Keep all assets updated and relevant across Google campaign types to maximize engagement.
Optimize Performance Max with 2024 best practices: Make sure to refresh creatives, update audiences and utilize the most effective campaign goals and settings.
Support key promotions with updated ad copy: Pin specific assets to highlight promotions while maintaining high ad strength and relevance.
Ensure comprehensive promotional support: This includes Performance Max updates, ad extensions, merchant promotions, budget adjustments, bid strategy tweaks and scheduled seasonality adjustments.
By following these strategies, you’ll be well-positioned to capture more market share during the 2024 holiday season. Need extra help getting your accounts in shape? Download our holiday checklist below to keep everything on track!
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