Google Ads Dayparting Strategy: When to Bid, When to Pause, and Why (2024)

The "24/7" Myth. Most advertisers launch a campaign and let it run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They assume the algorithm will figure it out.

The Reality: If you leave a B2B campaign running on Saturday and Sunday, you are likely lighting money on fire. If you are a Pizza Shop and you run ads at 10 AM, you are wasting impressions.

Dayparting (Ad Scheduling) is the art of bidding aggressively when your customers are awake and ready to buy, and pulling back when they aren't.

Part 1: Analyzing the Data (The "Hour of Day" Report)

Before you change anything, you need data.

1. Navigate: Campaign → Select Campaign.
2. Sidebar: Insights & Reports → When and where ads showed → Time of day.
3. View: Select "Day" or "Hour".

What to look for:

• The "Zero Conversion" Zones: Are there blocks of time (e.g., Midnight - 6 AM) where you spent $500 but got 0 leads?
• The "High CPA" Zones: Maybe weekends generate leads, but they cost $150 instead of your target $50.
• The "Golden Hours": Is Tuesday at 2 PM your highest conversion rate?

Part 2: The Strategy (Bid Adjustments)

You have two levers: Schedule (On/Off) and Bid Modifiers (+/-).

Strategy A: The "Office Hours" Block (B2B)

B2B buyers are at work from 8 AM to 6 PM.

• Action: Set Ad Schedule to Mon-Fri, 08:00 - 18:00.
• Risk: What if a CEO is researching late at night?
  • Compromise: Run 24/7, but apply a -50% Bid Adjustment from 6 PM to 8 AM. This lowers your cost to participate in low-probability auctions.

Strategy B: The "Lunch Break" Spike (Ecommerce)

People shop when they are bored. Lunch (12 PM - 1 PM) and Evening (8 PM - 10 PM) are prime time.

• Action:
  • Mon-Sun: All Hours.
  • 12:00 - 13:00: Bid +20%.
  • 20:00 - 22:00: Bid +30%.
• This forces your ad to the top of the page during high-intent windows.

Strategy C: The "Weekend Warrior" (Service Business)

Plumbers and Locksmiths.

• Emergencies happen on weekends.
• CPC is often lower on weekends because big corporate advertisers turn their ads off.
• Action: Bid +20% on Sat/Sun to capture cheap, high-urgency traffic.

Part 3: The "Smart Bidding" Conflict

"Wait, doesn't Smart Bidding (tCPA) do this automatically?"

Yes and No.

• Yes: tCPA knows that 3 AM is bad. It will lower the bid automatically.
• But: It determines this based on probability, not business logic.

The "Call Center" Problem: If your call center closes at 5 PM, but your form is still live, Smart Bidding might still generate leads at 7 PM.

• Except... nobody calls those leads back until the next morning.
• They go cold.
• The "Conversion" fired, so the Algorithm thinks it did a good job. But the Sale died.
• You must manually force the schedule to match your business operations, because the algorithm doesn't know your office hours.

Summary

1. Audit: Check the "Time of Day" report today.
2. Prune: Cut the hours that have <1% Conversion Rate.
3. Boost: Bid up on your Golden Hours.
4. Align: Ensure ads only run when you can actually service the customer.

Budget saved from 3 AM is budget you can spend at 3 PM.