Quick answer: A good holiday Google Ads plan for a local business starts in early November. Set budgets around your own busy days, match ad schedules to holiday hours, add promotion assets with exact start and end dates, and remove expired offers the moment they end. Update your Google Business Profile holiday hours, then plan a January follow up so the leads you paid for in December keep converting.
November and December are not the same for every local business. A retailer cares about Black Friday. A ski tuning shop in Sandy cares about the first big storm. An HVAC company cares about the first cold snap, and a restaurant cares about holiday party bookings. This checklist is built for owners who want to get the season right without wasting budget on the wrong days. It works anywhere, with a few Utah examples along the way.
Plan your holiday Google Ads budget around the dates that matter
Start by writing down the days your business actually gets busier or slower. National shopping dates matter for some businesses and barely at all for others. Here are the key dates for 2026:
| Date | Event | Who should care |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday, November 26 | Thanksgiving | Restaurants, caterers, travel, anyone closed that day |
| Friday, November 27 | Black Friday | Retail, ecommerce, gift friendly services |
| Saturday, November 28 | Small Business Saturday | Local shops and independent retailers |
| Monday, November 30 | Cyber Monday | Ecommerce and online bookings |
| Mid December | Last shipping and gift card push | Retail, spas, salons, experiences |
| Thursday, December 24 to Friday, January 1 | Christmas through New Year’s Day | Everyone with reduced hours |
Budget tips
- Shift budget, do not just add it. Move spend from slow weeks into the days your customers actually buy or book.
- Watch local demand, not just national dates. In Utah, ski shops, rental companies, and lodging near Park City and the Cottonwood Canyons often see demand follow snowfall and resort opening days more than the calendar.
- Use seasonality adjustments carefully. If you run Smart Bidding and expect a short spike in conversion rate, Google’s seasonality adjustments are designed for short events, ideally 1 to 7 days. Google notes they may be less effective beyond 14 days, so do not use one for the whole month.
- Check budgets daily on peak days. A campaign that runs out of budget by 10 a.m. on Black Friday misses the rest of the day.
Match ad schedules to your holiday hours
Paying for calls when nobody can answer the phone is one of the most common holiday leaks. If your ads use call assets or are built around phone leads, your ad schedule should match the hours someone is there to pick up.
- List every day you will close early, open late, or close entirely.
- Adjust ad schedules for those specific days, or pause call focused campaigns while you are closed.
- Consider leaving form or booking focused ads running when closed, so people can still request a quote for after the holiday.
- Set a calendar reminder to restore normal schedules. Forgetting to turn ads back on after New Year’s Day costs more than most owners realize.
Update promotions and remove expired offers
Holiday offers work best when they are specific and time bound. Google Ads promotion assets let you show a sale or discount below your ad, with an occasion like Black Friday or Christmas, and they support start and end dates so the asset runs only while the offer is valid.
Promotion checklist
- Decide on one or two clear offers, such as a percentage off, a gift card bonus, or a free add on.
- Add promotion assets with exact start and end dates.
- Write responsive search ad headlines that mention the offer, and fill every headline and description slot so Google has options to test.
- Pair the offer with sitelinks pointing to your gift cards, holiday menu, or booking page.
- The day the offer ends, check that ads, assets, and landing pages no longer mention it.
That last step matters. Expired offers in ads frustrate customers, can create disapprovals when the landing page no longer matches, and make a business look careless. Search your account for words like “Black Friday” and “holiday” in the first week of December and again in January.
Seasonal landing pages, audiences, and negative keywords
Landing pages
Send holiday traffic to a page that matches the ad. A dedicated holiday page should state the offer, the dates, holiday hours, and one clear action, like booking, calling, or buying a gift card. If you do not have time for a new page, update an existing service page with a short holiday section at the top. Our website management team can help if your site is hard to edit.
Audiences and remarketing
- Use remarketing lists of past site visitors and customers to promote gift cards or year end appointments.
- Upload a customer list, if you have permission to use it for marketing, to reach past clients with a holiday reminder.
- Watch new audience performance closely. Holiday traffic can include more browsers and gift shoppers than usual.
Negative keywords
Holiday searches bring new junk queries. Review your search terms report at least weekly in November and December. Common negatives to consider include “free,” “jobs,” “DIY,” “coupon code” (unless you offer one), and holiday terms unrelated to what you sell. A Salt Lake City event venue, for example, may want ads for “holiday party venue” but not “holiday lights near me.”
Google Business Profile holiday hours and the January follow up
Many local customers will see your Google Business Profile before they see your ad. Google lets you set special hours for holidays and other days your schedule changes, and doing so keeps your regular hours intact. Set them for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, and New Year’s Day at a minimum. You can also publish a profile post about your holiday offer and hours.
Plan January now
The holidays create leads that do not close until January: quote requests, gift card buyers, and people who said “after the holidays.” Plan for that now.
- Restore normal ad schedules and remove every holiday offer on January 1 or 2.
- Set budgets for January demand, such as New Year fitness, tax season, or home projects.
- Follow up with every December lead that did not book.
- Compare cost per lead in November and December with last year, and write down what worked before you forget.
Frequently asked questions
When should I start my holiday Google Ads campaigns?
Plan in October and launch holiday ads, offers, and assets in early November. Some shoppers start researching before Black Friday, and new ads need a little time to collect data.
Should I increase my Google Ads budget in December?
Only if your demand increases. Many service businesses see a slowdown around Christmas. Shift budget to your busiest days instead of raising it across the board.
Do I need to pause ads when my business is closed?
Pause or reschedule call focused ads while closed. Ads that drive form fills or online bookings can keep running if someone will respond promptly when you reopen.
How do I stop expired holiday offers from showing?
Use promotion assets with end dates, set calendar reminders, and search your account for holiday terms after each offer ends.
Get help with your holiday Google Ads
If the season is already busy, let us handle the checklist. Universally Found is a Google Partner agency in Sandy, Utah, and we can set up budgets, schedules, promotions, and tracking before your busy days arrive. Start with a 14 day free trial of Google Ads management with no management fee.
Start your free trial, see our Google Ads management services, or call (234) 254-2578.
