Google’s hugely successful search advertising product, AdWords, is borrowing a buying tactic from traditional media.
Google’s dayparting ad scheduling option announced recently 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.
Responding to advertisers’ desire for more control of their search-based campaigns on Google.com and its partner sites, Google is offering a new feature which allows for precise ad scheduling on specific days or times of day – much the same way that TV is sold in dayparts. Google’s massive base of advertisers can now elect to essentially turn their ads on and off down to 15-minute intervals and also lower and raise bid prices during set times of day or days of the week.
Until recently, advertisers who purchased inventory via AdWords would see their ads run whenever searches occurred, and those that wanted to schedule ads for specific periods of time needed to adjust their bids manually.
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, 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.
Google executives believe that the new targeting option will appeal to small retailers that are looking to drive site traffic during their business hours, or advertisers that are running specific promotions during a weekend or sale period, for example. Plus, many of Google’s advertisers which employ its free Web site analytics product may also have intelligence on when periods of heavier traffic typically occur on their sites.
If that happens, those advertisers would not 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.
According to Richard Holden, director of product management at Google, this sort of flexibility had been a "long-standing request from advertisers," he said. "Our goal is to make it very simple and easy to use."
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.
Holden said that increased buying flexibility could affect the demand, and ultimately the pricing for certain keywords during certain times or days, but it was unlikely to dramatically affect the overall AdWords marketplace. "This could increase competition during various times of the day, but the base is so broad, there is usually somebody who is targeting something very specific."