How To Use AdWords Ad Scheduling
by Adrian Key
Posted on March 25, 2010
You probably already know this, but running an AdWords campaign 24 x 7 x 365 is expensive. But, wouldn't it be amazing if you could have your ads appear only when your prospects are most likely to buy? AdWords Ad Scheduling allows you to do exactly that!
Consider this, if your business is selling to other businesses (B2B), then most of your prospects might be searching for you during business hours. Therefore you might want your ads to show on Google only between 9am and 5pm.
In the same way, if your business was selling retail products to the general public, you'd realistically expect most of your prospects to be online after 5pm and all day at weekends.
These are two simple examples of how you might choose to schedule your ads. Needless to say, things are not always quite so black and white.
Take the case of the B2B, in a few instances some prospects might start work an hour or two before 9am and others might work a few hours after 5pm. It follows that this business could miss out on good leads because their ads are not showing.
Furthermore, take the instance of the retail business, it could be missing out on some very good prospects in the afternoon. For instance, mothers searching the Internet before picking up a child from school.
In these instances, you could use the bid adjustment feature of the AdWords ad scheduling tool to have your ads appear outside of the hours you've set, but at a reduced bid price.
It might mean that your ads will appear lower down the page, but at least if you get a lot of "time wasters" clicking on your ad, you're not going to pay top rates for the privilege. And your ad can still be seen by those prospects that are serious about what you have to offer.
If you want to set ad scheduling for your AdWords ads and make big savings on your advertising costs then this is how to do it:)
1. Log into your Google AdWords account.
2. Click on the name of the campaign you wish to edit.
3. Select the "Settings" tab.
4. Scroll down to the "Schedule: Start date, end date, scheduling" option.
5. Click on the "+" symbol to show the options.
6. Click on the "Edit" link to show the "Ad Scheduling" window.
7. Amend the table as required so your ads show at the times you want them too.
8. To adjust bid prices, change to "Bid adjustment" mode by clicking on the link.
9. Once you've input your schedule, click on the save button to save your schedule.
You probably realize that restricting the times your ads show on Google does have a downside. Some people with a genuine intention to purchase will obviously search for your business outside of the times you specify.
But if the majority of clicks you receive on your ads outside your specified hours are from "time wasters", then you're wasting your money by letting your ads show on the off chance that one or two opportunities might slip through the net.
One final, important point to remember is that when using the AdWords ad scheduling tool, you don't want to guess when your ads should and should not be showing. You're certain to get it wrong!
You'll get a much more accurate picture of when to turn your ads on and off from your analytics software. We would recommend that you use Google Analytics and for a typical website, you should make your decisions based on conversions from at least six months of data.
Adrian Key is a professional AdWords consultant and editor of the AdWords Adviser, a blog dedicated to making AdWords more profitable for you. Sign up for your FREE ebook packed full with tips from the best posts on the AdWords Adviser blog, available at:)
Posted on March 25, 2010
You probably already know this, but running an AdWords campaign 24 x 7 x 365 is expensive. But, wouldn't it be amazing if you could have your ads appear only when your prospects are most likely to buy? AdWords Ad Scheduling allows you to do exactly that!
Consider this, if your business is selling to other businesses (B2B), then most of your prospects might be searching for you during business hours. Therefore you might want your ads to show on Google only between 9am and 5pm.
In the same way, if your business was selling retail products to the general public, you'd realistically expect most of your prospects to be online after 5pm and all day at weekends.
These are two simple examples of how you might choose to schedule your ads. Needless to say, things are not always quite so black and white.
Take the case of the B2B, in a few instances some prospects might start work an hour or two before 9am and others might work a few hours after 5pm. It follows that this business could miss out on good leads because their ads are not showing.
Furthermore, take the instance of the retail business, it could be missing out on some very good prospects in the afternoon. For instance, mothers searching the Internet before picking up a child from school.
In these instances, you could use the bid adjustment feature of the AdWords ad scheduling tool to have your ads appear outside of the hours you've set, but at a reduced bid price.
It might mean that your ads will appear lower down the page, but at least if you get a lot of "time wasters" clicking on your ad, you're not going to pay top rates for the privilege. And your ad can still be seen by those prospects that are serious about what you have to offer.
If you want to set ad scheduling for your AdWords ads and make big savings on your advertising costs then this is how to do it:)
1. Log into your Google AdWords account.
2. Click on the name of the campaign you wish to edit.
3. Select the "Settings" tab.
4. Scroll down to the "Schedule: Start date, end date, scheduling" option.
5. Click on the "+" symbol to show the options.
6. Click on the "Edit" link to show the "Ad Scheduling" window.
7. Amend the table as required so your ads show at the times you want them too.
8. To adjust bid prices, change to "Bid adjustment" mode by clicking on the link.
9. Once you've input your schedule, click on the save button to save your schedule.
You probably realize that restricting the times your ads show on Google does have a downside. Some people with a genuine intention to purchase will obviously search for your business outside of the times you specify.
But if the majority of clicks you receive on your ads outside your specified hours are from "time wasters", then you're wasting your money by letting your ads show on the off chance that one or two opportunities might slip through the net.
One final, important point to remember is that when using the AdWords ad scheduling tool, you don't want to guess when your ads should and should not be showing. You're certain to get it wrong!
You'll get a much more accurate picture of when to turn your ads on and off from your analytics software. We would recommend that you use Google Analytics and for a typical website, you should make your decisions based on conversions from at least six months of data.
Adrian Key is a professional AdWords consultant and editor of the AdWords Adviser, a blog dedicated to making AdWords more profitable for you. Sign up for your FREE ebook packed full with tips from the best posts on the AdWords Adviser blog, available at:)