We are now approaching the time of year when retailers, both on the high street and online, compete fiercely for customers with their best offers and campaigns. The week when consumers queue for hours in the autumn cold or eagerly wait by their computer, tablet, or mobile phone to shop during Black Friday. An excellent way to stand out in search during this period is to use ads with a countdown feature. Below, we explain when this feature can be useful, how to set it up, and what to keep in mind.
As sales events grow larger and more companies choose to participate with competitive offers, it also becomes harder to gain visibility in search. Everyone wants to drive large volumes of traffic to their site to maximize sales. That’s why it’s important to give extra thought to how ads are designed during this period. It may not be enough to use standard ads combined with a promotion extension or a sitelink to the campaign page. Instead, it can be worth investing time in creating tailored ads for the campaign period that really stand out — perhaps even showing how much time remains on the offer.
What are countdown ads?
Countdown is one of several features available in standard text ads and can be used in all headlines and descriptions. As you might expect, the ad displays a countdown showing the days, hours, and minutes remaining until a selected point in time. Some examples of when the countdown feature can be effective include:
- Concerts, theatre, football matches, and other events
- Launch of a new product
- Start of a campaign
- End of a campaign
How do you create countdown ads?
Creating ads with a countdown feature is not particularly difficult. Below is a step-by-step guide showing exactly how to do it so you can easily try it yourself.
Create a standard text ad and decide where in the ad you want to use the countdown feature. In this example, it is placed in headline 3, but it can also be used in other headlines or in the description. To start a function, type the character “{” (Alt+Shift+8 on Mac or Ctrl+Alt+7 on PC) and then select Countdown.
A dialog box will appear where you configure the countdown settings. Make sure the correct language is selected and decide:
- When the countdown should end
- How long before the end date the countdown should start
- Which time zone applies — account time zone (global) or the user’s time zone? For example, for an event, the global time zone should be used.
Check that all settings are correct and click Save.
You should now see a preview of the ad on the right-hand side. As a final step before the ad is complete, choose the text that will be shown before the countdown. This text is added immediately before the “{”, as shown below. Keep in mind that the headline must still stay within 30 characters. The countdown function can be up to 8 characters long, which means the text cannot be longer than 22 characters. When you are satisfied with the ad, click Save and wait for it to be approved.
Things to keep in mind:
- If countdown ads are used in existing campaigns and ad groups, pause your regular ads during the period to ensure that only the countdown ads are shown.
- Create the ads well in advance so they have time to be reviewed and approved. Also make sure they actually get approved.
- Consider how long before the end date the countdown should start and what the purpose of the ad is. If the ad is counting down to the end of a campaign, starting the countdown five days in advance may be too early if the goal is to create urgency.
- Don’t forget to reactivate your regular ads once the countdown has ended.
Good luck!
