In Australia and around the world, a lot of businesses take a break for 1-3 weeks over the Christmas and New Years period and a question that we get every year is Should I pause my Google Ads & other digital advertising over the holiday period?
The answer really depends on your business and the way you operate. But in general, probably not.
SEO and Organic Campaigns
We never recommend pausing organic growth campaigns, such as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) but paid advertising is a bit different as it can generally be started and stopped at the click of a button.
Seasonal increases in search traffic
We find that a number of industries actually get a bit of a traffic boost over the holiday period as their clients all of a sudden have time to research and start planning for the next year and If you are a retail or eCommerce operation, it may be even more beneficial to continue to advertise while your customers are in a spending mindset, so long as your customers know to expect a delay, if you are taking a break.
The fitness and weightloss industry is a perfect example of seasonal traffic increase due to new year resolutions and well… holiday eating.
Communicating with your clients
So long as your clients understand that you are taking a break, most of them will be okay with leaving a message / filling in an enquiry form and not expecting an immediate response.
However if your main call to action is direct phone contact, either consider pausing your campaigns or make sure that you may adjust your voicemail message so your clients know you will contact them on return and when they can expect that.
Lower costs and less competition
Pay Per Click ads don’t cost anything if no one is clicking, right?
So if your clients aren’t actively searching and clicking, there will be no costs incurred and the other consideration is that if your competitors pause their ads, there will be less competition and therefore your click cost will generally become lower and your ad position should increase.
It really does depend on your business and the way that your customers contact you.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
