Due to the nature of the AdWords platform, the performance of your campaigns is not set in stone. Data will be forever changing and numbers within your AdWords account will fluctuate naturally, but this is to be expected. Seasonality is more of a predictable movement in performance during a certain period of time, e.g. Bank Holidays or Christmas. These seasonal events provide online marketers with challenges such as figuring out how their campaigns will be affected and, if so, how to minimise any negative effects. With this in mind, it is crucial for you to prepare your PPC campaigns to stay on top of the competition.
Creating seasonal landing pages
It is proven that bounce rate is especially higher over seasonal periods so it is vital to send consumers to a page that is specific to what they are looking for. Generating a memorable landing page that is informative, simple and relevant to current offers or time of year will help your company to stand out in the crowd. You can use your landing pages to promote the holidays that are upcoming to create some hype and make customers aware of what you are doing for these events. Ultimately, this will increase the likelihood of them returning to your website on certain days that you have advertised, such as Black Friday.
Assign the relevant budget
If seasons, such as Summer, are usually more profitable for your company but are also more competitive, then it is important to assign some extra budget where it’s possible. You could potentially take this from campaigns that don’t perform as well during these times but make sure that a campaign has a large impressions share whilst staying in a good position as it will help to remain in a beneficial standing against other keyword bidders. If these periods of time are generally quieter and less competitive for your industry then take advantage of this. You can spend less but profits can also flourish if there is less competition in the market at that moment.
Retarget new users
Seasonality can cause users to look for items or services that they probably haven’t before so having retargeting in place for search and display campaigns will keep your brand or company in the forefront of a new visitors mind, and potentially bring them back to convert. It is important to take advantage of this across various different platforms but not too many that customers may become frustrated with it. You can also remarket to your existing customers with things such as loyalty offers which would hopefully bring them back to your site over particular periods of time.
New keywords and ads
Updating your adverts to make them more fresh and relevant to the time of year will make them stand out. You can do this by creating adverts with specific deals for events or certain products that may be available for a limited time only. If you run ads with images then you can update these images with more festive tones or show products that are relevant to the upcoming events – e.g. flip-flops in summer rather than boots. In terms of keywords, it is crucial to optimise these regularly and filter out any that are not performing at their best. Seasonality and national holidays will influence what and how people search online, as people tend to add festive keywords to their searches. Although these may be picked up by some of your current keywords, it is also a good idea to create a seasonal campaign. This would allow you to add holiday-specific keywords that will serve your tailored ads during these seasons. Some industries may use the same strategies when it comes to tailoring their ads, so it is important to be unique. Countdown ads are a great way to create a sense of exclusivity and gather attention without being too common. If there is an offer that is available on your website for a certain amount of time or perhaps something is happening on a particular day within your industry then it would be hugely beneficial to use phrases such as “ends soon” or “don’t miss out”. These phrases catch the eye of potential consumers and push the urgency of them converting with you before their time runs out.
There are many tools available, such as keyword planner or Google Trends, which can help you to prepare for search trend changes, as well as historical data and awareness of the industry that you are in. It is great to be more responsive to national holidays and seasons that may cause spikes or lows in the performance of your campaigns as many people may be drawn in by advertising that links to real-time events. Planning and preparing in advance is crucial so that you can accommodate for potential fluctuations in traffic and conversions, so make sure you use seasonality to your advantage!
