Should you pause Google Ads when you go on holiday?

Short answer: yes, if nobody will be available to respond to the leads.

In my mind this shouldn't even be a question. What's the point of paying Google Ads for leads if nobody can help them?

But ask on the internet and someone will warn you that pausing your ads will reset the learning phase, destroy the momentum and make the campaign struggle to get going again.

I’ve managed Google Ads for many years. Almost every client has asked me to pause their ads at some time. Holidays, too much work, out of money, whatever.

That’s given me plenty of opportunities to see what happens when we restart.

It's been my experience that the lead flow picks up quickly enough after enabling the ads.

One client closes for three weeks at Christmas every year. The screenshot below shows conversions (leads) for his account. You can see no leads in the middle of the graph when the ads were paused. But you'll also see the lead flow picks up again in January when the office opens.

Another client is a single dad. He goes camping with his girls in the summer. His ads are off for a week in July and another in August. The leads flow again when we enable his ads.

To be fair, neither screenshot proves that every campaign will respond in the same way. But it does challenge the idea that pausing inevitably ruins performance.

Google does warn that reactivating an automated bid strategy can trigger a learning period. So I think we should allow for some volatility after restarting.

I've seen people suggest dropping the budget to $1 a day instead of pausing the ads. This trick supposedly keeps the campaign from going into the learning phase so it returns to normal faster when you get back.

I couldn't find credible evidence to support this.

And is a massive change in budget any less disruptive than pausing a campaign?

Dropping the budget changes the conditions the campaign is operating under. I haven’t seen evidence that making two large budget changes produces a better restart than pausing.

If nobody can help the leads while you’re away, I’d pause the ads. A possible period of volatility when you return isn’t a good reason to pay for leads you’ll waste today.

If the way I think resonates with you I'd like to give you a copy of my book Profitable Google Ads. Grab it here: https://pete-bowen.com/book

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