How to Win at PPC This Black Friday

The days of Black Friday being a one-off event are long gone. The seasonal sale is now a month-long campaign that builds from early November when people start researching the best deals. 

That means the PPC challenge has changed, too. It isn’t about outbidding your competitors on one day anymore. It’s about staying visible through every stage of the customer journey and keeping your offer clear.  

The brands that balance both best, win. 

So, without further ado, here’s how to make your PPC campaigns work harder this Black Friday.

‍

Be Visible In The Build Up

Your customers won’t wake up on November 28th suddenly in the mood to buy. They’ve been browsing offers, comparing products and saving links for weeks. If your brand disappears from their search between now and then, someone else will win their business.

The trick is to plan campaigns to match a longer buying cycle by focusing on: 

Discovery: Run Demand Gen and Performance Max prospecting campaigns to reach new audiences and generate awareness before the rush.

Research: Keep your Search and PMax campaigns live with strong category-level assets. Prioritise price clarity, delivery details and product availability.

Decision: Use urgency cues, social proof and stock indicators to improve your remarketing and convert people who’ve already shown intent.

Purchase: Make your offer impossible to miss on the big day. Use promo extensions, price drops and speedy checkout UX to seal the deal.

‍

Get your Site and Analytics Black Friday Ready

Nothing kills a top-notch marketing campaign faster than a weak website. Customer intent means nothing if the page takes ages to load or crashes under pressure. So, make sure the basics are bang on.  

Load test your site and fix any speed issues ASAP so you're sure your server can handle the spike in shoppers. We recommend installing Microsoft Clarity or a similar tool for live heatmaps and session replays. That way, you’ll spot UX problems before they cost you conversions.

Poor billing options are another potential failure point. Add a secondary payment method in Google Ads so a maxed-out card doesn’t pause your campaigns at the worst possible time.

Finally, line up your internal teams so your developers, CRM, paid ads, and creative teams are all in sync. Schedule change controls so banners, emails and landing pages go live together.

‍

Feed Optimisation means Cheaper, Better Clicks

Your product feed is effectively your keyword list. Having rich, accurate data will help you win auctions and rank well in SERPs, improving click quality and conversion rates in the process. 

Essential steps include: 

• Use granular product type values (e.g., Trainers > Running > NB > NB Running > Size 10)
• Keep handling times accurate to unlock fast-delivery badges
• Write short, scannable titles for Shopping results
• Add cost of goods sold data so you can measure profit alongside revenue

Then, you’re ready to build the extras:

• Supplemental feeds for things like warranty info, materials or “giftable” labels
• Custom labels for margin tiers, seasonality and hero SKUs

You should also run regular Google Merchant Center diagnostics to check shipping costs and delivery speed against competitors, fix image or GTIN disapprovals early, and stay policy-compliant. Every feed error you fix now saves you wasted spend (and frustration) later.

‍

Get Creative with Your Assets

"Huge savings” soon becomes meaningless when every brand is shouting the same thing. Let creative quality be the ace up your sleeve. Here’s how. 

Make the offer unmissable: Put the discount in headlines and make it clear across every asset. Include promo or price extensions and sitelinks that point to specific deal pages.

Upgrade your imagery: Don’t rely on plain old product shots. Lifestyle imagery converts much better, especially for PMax and Demand Gen campaigns where visual storytelling matters. Tools like Nano Banana can generate higher-impact visuals from standard, white-background catalogue images.

Cover every format: Use short video, square and portrait imagery, and clear text assets. Variety gives Google’s automation more to work with and helps you reach more of your audience. 

‍

Keep the Account Clean and Risk-Free

Black Friday weekends are chaotic enough. Who needs last-minute policy flags or budget issues when you can build stability in advance with these simple tips? 

• Add and verify a backup payment method
• Queue ad approvals two weeks before launch to leave room for policy reviews
• Use the Ads Editor for bulk updates to roll out price changes or promo extensions quickly
• Set up scripts or alerts for budget caps, 404 landing pages, feed errors and sudden spend spikes. That way, if something goes wrong, you’ll know straight away

‍

Play the Long Game

Black Friday is a pressure test for PPC accounts. But if you prepare, there’s no need to panic. 

Start early, monitor constantly, and don’t treat Black Friday weekend as the finish line. Remember, every click you win in November boosts your remarketing pool for Christmas and January sales.

Stay visible, stay flexible, and make sure everything from your ad feed to your checkout page is ready for the surge. That’s how to turn Black Friday from a last-minute sprint into a winning season.

‍

‍