Comments on: Google Adds Dayparting, Will It Help? http://www.conversionrater.com/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/ A discussion of ecommerce, online advertising, Web 2.0, web entrepreneurship, and just making the web convert for your goals. Tue, 07 Oct 2008 15:09:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 By: Michael @ SEOG http://www.conversionrater.com/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5945 Michael @ SEOG Wed, 21 Jun 2006 16:01:40 +0000 http://www.conversionrater.com/index.php/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5945 One feature that hasn't been mentioned is that Google has implemented an advanced feature that lets you adjust your pricing during certain time periods. For time sensitive bidding (say tickets), you may want to shoot to number one during key hours like 5 pm - 10 pm on the east coast. Or if you know you convert well and tend to get your best customers during the middle of the day on a busy executive's work break, you may want to pay more just during that part of the day but then scale back later at night. I work in the insurance and financial services industry with a large ad spend and we have often seen more click fraud issues at night. We have manually turned off campaigns at night and also used tools for some accounts in order to reduce the number of junk clicks we get, but its nice to be able to have this feature built in directly into Google now. Michael @ SEOG One feature that hasn’t been mentioned is that Google has implemented an advanced feature that lets you adjust your pricing during certain time periods. For time sensitive bidding (say tickets), you may want to shoot to number one during key hours like 5 pm – 10 pm on the east coast. Or if you know you convert well and tend to get your best customers during the middle of the day on a busy executive’s work break, you may want to pay more just during that part of the day but then scale back later at night.

I work in the insurance and financial services industry with a large ad spend and we have often seen more click fraud issues at night. We have manually turned off campaigns at night and also used tools for some accounts in order to reduce the number of junk clicks we get, but its nice to be able to have this feature built in directly into Google now.

Michael @ SEOG

]]> By: Pat McCarthy http://www.conversionrater.com/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5801 Pat McCarthy Mon, 19 Jun 2006 06:58:23 +0000 http://www.conversionrater.com/index.php/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5801 Exactly Matt, your post is a good example of why I think this feature is potentially overrated. It takes a lot of testing, and thought in order to make dayparting work well for an advertiser. I'm sure for a minority of advertisers, they will figure it out and it will work well. For the rest of them, they'll just screw up their campaigns and have a bad experience. Exactly Matt, your post is a good example of why I think this feature is potentially overrated. It takes a lot of testing, and thought in order to make dayparting work well for an advertiser. I’m sure for a minority of advertisers, they will figure it out and it will work well. For the rest of them, they’ll just screw up their campaigns and have a bad experience.

]]> By: Matt Jacobs http://www.conversionrater.com/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5792 Matt Jacobs Mon, 19 Jun 2006 01:56:15 +0000 http://www.conversionrater.com/index.php/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5792 I, for one, was delighted to see Google add that feature to the ad mix. When you couple that feature with their new geo-targeting, certain advertisers will have some powerful tools to work with to drive more effective, more relevant advertising. I've heard some people question whether day-parting will work, and I can speak for its effectiveness: it works for some advertisers but not for others. One word of caution to throw out there: do NOT assume that optimizing day-parting on conversion will be beneficial. I've had plenty of clients with heavy traffic during certain times of the day and week but relatively poor conversion during those times. What I found for some clients was that they built awareness during certain times of the day and week and drove significant traffic at those times, but a substantial number of those visitors did not convert. Instead, those visitors chose to come back later and convert at a time that would never have been targeted for day-parting, and many web analysts would mistake those visitors as "organic" without the proper tracking mechanisms in place. The short story: day-parting can (potentially) help you build awareness that's critical for conversion but day-parting your advertising and optimal conversion don't necessarily happen at the same time. My advice would be to test it out with the proper tracking mechanisms in place and see what works best.... I, for one, was delighted to see Google add that feature to the ad mix. When you couple that feature with their new geo-targeting, certain advertisers will have some powerful tools to work with to drive more effective, more relevant advertising.

I’ve heard some people question whether day-parting will work, and I can speak for its effectiveness: it works for some advertisers but not for others.

One word of caution to throw out there: do NOT assume that optimizing day-parting on conversion will be beneficial. I’ve had plenty of clients with heavy traffic during certain times of the day and week but relatively poor conversion during those times. What I found for some clients was that they built awareness during certain times of the day and week and drove significant traffic at those times, but a substantial number of those visitors did not convert. Instead, those visitors chose to come back later and convert at a time that would never have been targeted for day-parting, and many web analysts would mistake those visitors as “organic” without the proper tracking mechanisms in place.

The short story: day-parting can (potentially) help you build awareness that’s critical for conversion but day-parting your advertising and optimal conversion don’t necessarily happen at the same time. My advice would be to test it out with the proper tracking mechanisms in place and see what works best….

]]> By: Pat McCarthy http://www.conversionrater.com/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5778 Pat McCarthy Sun, 18 Jun 2006 05:17:10 +0000 http://www.conversionrater.com/index.php/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5778 Hi Andrew, I think lots of advertisers would find the same thing to be true, but isn't it probably because your traffic level is greater during the day? So really dayparting doesn't help you then, as you just get more conversions because traffic is higher. Where it'd be more interesting is if your conversion rate was dramatically different at different times. Hi Andrew,

I think lots of advertisers would find the same thing to be true, but isn’t it probably because your traffic level is greater during the day? So really dayparting doesn’t help you then, as you just get more conversions because traffic is higher.

Where it’d be more interesting is if your conversion rate was dramatically different at different times.

]]> By: Andrew Johnson http://www.conversionrater.com/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5712 Andrew Johnson Sat, 17 Jun 2006 02:47:46 +0000 http://www.conversionrater.com/index.php/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5712 Interestingly I have noticed that on some of my web sites the majority of the revenue comes during the daytime, when people would be working. For other sites, the bulk of the revenue comes in later in the evening and night. Do conversions differ based on time of day? From my own PPC campaigns it appears the answer may be yes.. but I have not determined anything conclusively. Interestingly I have noticed that on some of my web sites the majority of the revenue comes during the daytime, when people would be working. For other sites, the bulk of the revenue comes in later in the evening and night. Do conversions differ based on time of day? From my own PPC campaigns it appears the answer may be yes.. but I have not determined anything conclusively.

]]> By: thebizofknowledge http://www.conversionrater.com/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5686 thebizofknowledge Fri, 16 Jun 2006 10:43:57 +0000 http://www.conversionrater.com/index.php/2006/06/16/google-adds-dayparting-will-it-help/#comment-5686 I've checked out that scheduling feature, and I have to agree with you. I just don't there would ever be a time that I'd want to use it. I'm just a small-time AdWords person, so that might have something to do with it. I guess if I had data about what time of day certain searches tend to occur, this tool would be helpful. As it is though, I'll just keep doing things the way I always have! I’ve checked out that scheduling feature, and I have to agree with you. I just don’t there would ever be a time that I’d want to use it. I’m just a small-time AdWords person, so that might have something to do with it. I guess if I had data about what time of day certain searches tend to occur, this tool would be helpful. As it is though, I’ll just keep doing things the way I always have!

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