Google’s dayparting ad scheduling option announced this week makes more generally accessible to advertisers what some already have been doing: buying keywords, or adjusting bids up or down on those keywords, according to the times of day the advertisers deem most or least advantageous.
For example, small businesses can now schedule ads to run on Google only during business hours; or a national retailer could schedule additional advertising or boost keyword bids at time of day–such as lunch time–when online consumer purchase activity is higher.
Citing the requests of advertisers and interactive agencies for greater campaign management control, Google built the feature into its AdWords interface. “By providing advertisers with more granular control over when their ads run and how much they bid, we believe this feature will drive greater return on investment for the advertisers,” according to a statement on Google’s web site.
If that happens, those advertisers won’t be the only winners. While some retailers who are paid search advertisers on Google may now save money by limiting spending to when conversion is highest, that same dayparting strategy may also results in advertisers spending more on Google search because they can see how to spend it more wisely. “If buyers are getting to a site and making a purchase, advertisers are happy. That makes it more a win for everybody,” says Tim Kauffold, director of new business development at search engine marketing company OneUpWeb.
Kauffold notes that bigger advertisers spending a lot on search already have pursued dayparting strategies on their own, using internal analysis, analytic tools or third party service providers to determine when to raise or lower bids. The practical effect of making a dayparting feature native to the AdWords interface is that “it makes an advanced technique more apparent to more advertisers,” Kauffold says
