Start sooner, think broader: maximizing the 2025 holiday rush

Far from a handful of key days, Peak season has become a global, AI-powered marathon. Success is possible, but it requires deep preparation. To give you a head start and guide you through the season, we’ve developed an evidence-based formula: start sooner, think broader. Getting out in front on the sales calendar means building your technical foundations even earlier. Similarly, to think broader and capture global demand, you must first build a broader, more optimized operational base. To win in 2025, timeline and strategy must be two sides of the same coin.

Why start sooner?

Shoppers begin their research far earlier than the main November Peak. In the UK, for example, the 2024 Sunday after Fake Friday was the 3rd biggest day of the year, growing +10% compared to 2023. Looking ahead to 2025, this trend is expected to accelerate, with significant demand predicted to start as early as October. Your campaigns need to be active by September to capture this early demand.¹

Why think broader?

While Black Friday remains a global trend, the 2024 results revealed a “Triple Peak Phenomenon”. The biggest shopping day of the year was actually the Sunday after Black Friday (growing +5% YoY). Black Friday itself was the second biggest day (+5% YoY), and the Sunday after Fake Friday emerged as the third biggest, showing strong growth of +10% YoY. Looking ahead to 2025, the forecast suggests this “Triple Peak” trend in November will continue, creating a longer period of high demand.²

In today’s AI-driven landscape, Performance Max (PMax) remains your most powerful tool. Its effectiveness, however, is directly tied to the quality and diversity of the assets you provide.

• Balancing "Always-On" and "Peak" asset groups: While it’s important to have your Peak asset groups ready to perform, don’t forget to keep enabling always-on assets to cover you once your Peak is over.
• Invest in your creative: High-resolution images, vertical videos for Shorts, and concise, compelling ad copy are non-negotiable if you want to stand out.
• Localize your message: Thinking broadly means serving a broader audience, too. As you target new regions, be conscious of cultural nuances. This goes beyond simple translation; it's about using imagery and messaging that resonates locally to build trust and relevance.
• Communicate value: Amid global economic uncertainty, assets that clearly communicate product quality, benefits, and your brand’s mission are crucial for building the trust needed to convert a value-conscious consumer.

Why is Final URL expansion essential for Peak season profitability? Simple, it's a key tool for reducing friction between a click and a purchase.

Why you should enable it now:

• Boost conversion value: Advertisers see an average 9% increase in conversion value by sending users directly to the product they want, minimizing clicks and potential drop-off.
• Improve user experience: Online shopping can feel overwhelming, so offering a seamless path from a specific query to the right product page is a powerful competitive advantage during the holidays.
• Maintain control: This isn't a free-for-all. You can use URL exclusion rules to prevent traffic from going to non-commercial pages (like "About Us" or blog posts) and use URL targeting to guide the feature toward specific categories (like "/dresses/").

Remember, the sooner you activate Final URL expansion, the more time the AI has to learn and optimize, ensuring you capture every possible conversion when traffic surges.³

While retaining existing customers is crucial, reaching new audiences is the key to holiday growth. Set up a New Customer Acquisition (NCA) goal in your PMax campaigns to specifically target and bid for users who have never purchased from you before.

Optimize your Peak shopping budget 💰

During Peak, the landscape shifts dramatically. More traffic, intense competition from challengers you weren’t even aware of, and spikes in queries. Your budget strategy needs to be agile with perfect timing.

• Gradually increase your budget: A classic mistake sellers make is waiting until Black Friday (or any other Peak moment) to scale up. Allocate a significant portion of your budget to the weeks leading up to all major shopping events. Those early shoppers are often high-intent—capture them while they’re primed to spend.
• Monitor and adjust: During the dynamic holiday season, monitor your campaigns daily to prevent them from becoming “limited by budget”. When a campaign is budget-limited, it means you're missing out on potential customers and demand for your ads. The same reasoning applies when campaigns are “limited by bid strategy”. Be ready to increase budgets and/or adapt your bidding strategy on high-performing days or for popular product categories.
• Think seasonally: For short, impactful promotions, adjust your smart bidding algorithm 2-3 days beforehand. Use a seasonality adjustment to adapt to the upcoming conversion rate boost (e.g. +50%), front-loading spending and fully leveraging the demand surge. Your budget must also be flexible enough to cover the Peak period.
• Be aware of learning periods: Make significant budget increases before key shopping dates. This allows the system a brief learning period to re-optimize, preventing abrupt shifts on your most important days.
• Target all inventory: To maximize conversions during Peak demand, ensure your shopping campaigns and PMax campaigns target all available inventory. Consider a dedicated Peak campaign with unique assets and a lower tROAS to broaden your reach, allowing for a necessary ramp-up period.

Master your feed hygiene for full shopping power 🧼 

(full article here: 6 common account & item-level GMC issues and how to fix them)

A clean and optimized product feed is essential. It's the backbone of your PMax campaigns, preventing product disapprovals or account suspensions.

• Accuracy is non-negotiable: Ensure all product information (prices, availability, images, descriptions) is 100% accurate and up-to-date in your feed, and aligned with your website. Watch out for out-of-stock items or incorrect pricing.
• Rich product data: Go beyond the basics to cut through the noise. Include detailed attributes like color, size, material, brand, and GTINs. The more information you provide, the better Google’s algorithm can match your products to relevant queries and audiences.
• Optimize product titles and descriptions: Think like a shopper. What relevant keywords clearly articulate product benefits? The title and description need to match how the shopper thinks about these products.
• Leverage your promotions: Clearly communicate promotions and discounts using Merchant Center Promotion and/or the [sale_price] and [sale_price_effective_date] attributes in your product feed.
  • Merchant Center Promotions: Upload a dedicated promotions feed to showcase special offers (e.g., free shipping, percentage off, “Buy One, Get One”, coupon).
  • Sale price attribute: Highlight price drops by displaying the original price next to the new sale price. Use sale_price_effective_date to schedule sales to go live and revert automatically.
• Regular audits: Schedule daily or weekly checks of your feed health in Google Merchant Center. Address any warnings or errors immediately. A small issue in your feed can sabotage your Peak.

Ultimately, the holiday season is won on trust. Customers aren’t just buying a product, they’re buying a promise: that the item is in stock, will arrive on time, and that the checkout process is secure.

To deliver on that promise, remember:

The holiday rush can feel daunting but, with the right strategy, success is possible. Keep these tips handy and refer back to the information as you’re building out your plan for 2025. By starting early and aiming wide, you can move beyond simply participating in the holiday season and position your business to capture its full global potential. Here’s to your best season yet.