Using the Google AdWords Scheduling Feature: A Little Effort Makes a Big Difference in Conversions

On June 16, Google AdWords launched its new scheduling feature, allowing advertisers to program the times and days of the week that their ads will display on Google and its content network. This long awaited feature can make a monumental difference in your ad spend, your conversion rate, or both.

Why Use Google AdWords Scheduling

AdWords scheduling allows you to maximize ad visibility during times when your target audience is searching, thus ensuring that your ads are being served when they are most likely to get the best conversion rate. For example, a business-to-business company based in the United States may choose to pause ads on weekends and run ads on weekdays from 7 a.m. – 9 p.m. Eastern Time. Searches during these times would incorporate business traffic from the east coast to the west coast while also minimizing non-targeted traffic that the advertiser might receive overnight or on weekends.

Real-Life Results

For one company, Google AdWords Scheduling has already made an incredible difference in its conversion rates. AAA Payday Cash is a payday loans company based out of Springfield, Mo. The payday loan industry is a highly competitive one in the search engine advertising arena, with some maximum cost per click (CPC) rates as high as $49/click. Naturally, with such high CPCs, it’s vital to AAA Payday Cash to maximize its budget spend, maximizing its conversion rates and cost per conversion.

Using peak online application times as a guide to determine the schedule, we set the Google AdWords Scheduling feature to match peak times of application traffic. In the first week of using ad scheduling, AAA Payday Cash’s conversions increased by over 150%, without increasing budget or actual spend.

How to Set Up Google AdWords Scheduling

Established at the account level, the scheduling feature is a very straightforward, three-step process.

1. To activate scheduling, edit the campaign settings and click on the "Turn on AdWords Scheduling" link under the "AdWords Scheduling" feature in the "Advanced Options" section.
   
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2. Next, establish the time zone for the campaign, then set the schedule for the campaign.
   
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3. Finally, establish the days of the week and times of day for the ad to run. Google provides an easy-to-read calendar diagram to illustrate when the campaign ads will run.
   
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   Additionally, "Advanced Mode" allows adjustments of maximum cost per click based on a schedule.
   
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Once Google AdWords Scheduling is established for a campaign, a new clock icon will appear in the "Current Status" box for that campaign on the Campaign Summary page.

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In Conclusion

I highly recommend Google AdWords Scheduling to my clients – it maximizes budget spend and has already proven to improve return on investment. When deciding on a schedule, use data from your own organization to determine the best schedule for you – it truly can make a remarkable difference.