How to Make Your Google Ads Work During the Holidays

The holidays change everything about paid search

If you're running Google Ads for your business, the holiday season brings a shift you need to prepare for. More people are searching, more businesses are advertising, and costs per click go up across the board.

Businesses that adjust their strategy win. Businesses that run the same campaigns year-round waste money and miss opportunities.

Here's how to make the most of the holiday season without burning through your budget.

Expect higher costs — and plan for them

Between November and January, competition for ad space increases significantly. More advertisers enter the market, existing advertisers increase budgets, and CPCs rise across most industries.

What to do about it:

• Increase your budget strategically — don't just throw more money at the same campaigns. Identify your highest-converting keywords and allocate more there
• Pause underperformers — if a keyword has been eating budget without converting, the holidays aren't the time to hope it turns around
• Set daily budget caps — so a spike in traffic doesn't blow through your monthly budget in a week
• Monitor daily — holiday trends move fast, and a campaign that was efficient on Monday can get expensive by Wednesday

The goal isn't to spend more overall. It's to spend smarter during the period when every click is more expensive.

Add seasonal keywords

People search differently during the holidays. They add modifiers that don't show up the rest of the year.

Seasonal keyword additions to consider:

• "Holiday [service]" — holiday catering, holiday cleaning, holiday gifts
• "Last minute [service]" — last minute plumber, last minute appointments
• "Gift cards" or "gift certificates" — if you offer them
• "Open on [holiday]" — open on Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve hours
• "Year-end [service]" — year-end tax planning, year-end deals
• "[Season] special" — winter special, holiday special, Black Friday deal

Create separate ad groups for seasonal keywords so you can write specific ad copy that matches the intent. Someone searching "last minute house cleaning before Thanksgiving" deserves an ad that speaks directly to that need.

Adjust your ad scheduling

Holiday search patterns differ from normal patterns. People shop earlier in the morning, later at night, and on days they normally wouldn't.

Review your ad schedule:

• Extend hours — if you normally run ads 8am-6pm, consider expanding to 7am-10pm during holiday weeks
• Don't ignore weekends — holiday shopping and searching peak on weekends
• Watch the data — your Google Ads reports show you exactly when conversions happen; shift budget toward those hours and days
• Day-before spikes — the day before major holidays often sees a huge surge in "last minute" and "open tomorrow" searches

If your business is open on holidays or has extended hours, make sure your ads (and landing pages) clearly state that.

Update your ad copy

Your regular ad copy doesn't cut it during the holidays. People are looking for timely, relevant offers.

Holiday ad copy should include:

• Seasonal urgency — "Book before December 15th" or "Holiday appointments filling fast"
• Specific offers — if you have a holiday promotion, put it in the ad
• Holiday-relevant benefits — "Ready before Christmas" or "Same-week service available"
• Updated extensions — refresh your sitelinks, callouts, and promotion extensions with seasonal content

Avoid generic "Happy Holidays" messaging that doesn't give the searcher a reason to click. Every word in your ad should move someone closer to choosing you.

Build holiday-specific landing pages

Don't send seasonal ad traffic to your generic homepage. Build landing pages that match your holiday campaigns:

• Match the ad promise — if the ad says "Holiday Special: 20% Off," the landing page should lead with that exact offer
• Include deadlines — booking cutoffs, shipping deadlines, offer expiration dates
• Show availability — people want to know you can help them within the holiday timeframe
• Remove distractions — a holiday landing page should have one goal and one call to action

You can reuse these pages year after year with updated dates and offers, which also helps with SEO.

Watch your competition

Your competitors are adjusting too. Keep an eye on:

• Auction insights in Google Ads — see who's competing with you and how aggressive they're being
• Ad copy — search your own keywords and see what competitors are offering
• Their landing pages — are they running holiday promotions you should match or beat?

You don't need to match every competitor's move, but you should be aware of what your potential customers are seeing from other businesses.

After the holidays: review everything

January is for analysis. Before you go back to business as usual:

• What keywords performed best during the holiday period?
• What ad copy got the highest CTR and conversion rate?
• Where did you overspend without results?
• What would you do differently next year?

Document everything. Next October when you're preparing again, you'll have real data instead of guesswork.

Start planning now

The best holiday ad campaigns aren't built in November. They're planned in October, launched in early November, and refined throughout the season. If you're reading this and the holidays are approaching, the time to start adjusting is right now.