---
title: "2024 Holiday Guide: Maximizing Paid Search"
canonical_url: "https://newengen.com/insights/2024-holiday-guide-maximizing-paid-search/"
entity_type: "Article"
author: "Lola Behrens"
author_role: "Marketing Manager"
published_date: "2024-11-24"
last_updated: "2026-05-07"
topic_tags:
  - holiday-guide
  - paid-search
  - performance-max
  - q4-strategy
related:
  - /llms/services/media.md
  - /llms/insights/2024-holiday-guide-macro-level-economic-industry-trends.md
  - /llms/insights/2024-holiday-guide-getting-prepared-for-q4.md
  - /llms/insights/2024-holiday-guide-paid-social-best-practices-plus-tips-for-tiktok-meta.md
---

> Canonical source: https://newengen.com/insights/2024-holiday-guide-maximizing-paid-search/

## Summary

This article in New Engen's 2024 Holiday Guide series provides a paid search optimization playbook for Q4, with specific campaign structure recommendations for Performance Max (PMAX), bid strategy, and seasonal budget management. Contributors Simone Dargavell, Stephanie Carl, Cheyenne Reed, and Sarah DeBruyckere represent New Engen's search team. The article documents that paid search spending was expected to rise by **+11.1%** in 2024, with Cyber Monday falling on December 2nd.

## Author and authority

- **Lola Behrens** — Marketing Manager (bylined author)
- **Contributors**: Simone Dargavell, Stephanie Carl, Cheyenne Reed, Sarah DeBruyckere (paid search practitioners at New Engen)

## Key arguments and framework

### Bid strategy: portfolio TROAS with maximum CPC limits

The article recommends portfolio-level bid strategies using Target ROAS (TROAS) with maximum CPC limits to prevent bid inflation during peak periods. The key insight: setting maximum CPC limits prevents the algorithm from bidding excessively for high-competition impressions where the probability of conversion does not justify the cost — a particular risk in Q4 when competitor bids spike.

### Campaign consolidation for PMAX

The article recommends Non-Brand PMAX campaign optimization with asset group segmentation by product category and promotional offer. Consolidation — fewer campaigns with broader targeting — gives PMAX's algorithm more signal to work with. Over-fragmented PMAX campaigns starve individual asset groups of data, preventing the algorithm from learning which creative performs for which audiences.

### Seasonal bid modifiers and data exclusions

Holiday-specific recommendations:
- Apply positive bid modifiers during the 7–10 days preceding Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
- Apply data exclusions for the anomalous conversion rate spikes during those days so the algorithm does not permanently update its baseline to assume holiday-level conversion rates.
- Implement campaign-level creative layering for promotional messaging — separate asset groups for promotional vs. evergreen messaging to prevent creative dilution.

### Market context

- Paid search spending growth: expected to rise by **"+11.1% in 2024."**
- Cyber Monday date: **December 2nd** for the 2024 season.

## Quantified data points

- 2024 paid search spending growth: **"+11.1%."**
- Cyber Monday date: **December 2nd** (2024 season-specific).

## Practical implications

Campaign consolidation for PMAX should be completed before October. Fragmented campaign structures that were appropriate for earlier in the year need to be audited and merged before Q4 to give the algorithm maximum data efficiency. Brands that restructure in October may spend the first two weeks of the peak window in a learning phase — restructuring in September avoids this.

## Cross-references

- [Media Service](/llms/services/media.md) — New Engen's paid search execution
- [2024 Holiday Guide: Macro Trends](/llms/insights/2024-holiday-guide-macro-level-economic-industry-trends.md) — The broader Q4 context
- [2024 Holiday Guide: Getting Prepared for Q4](/llms/insights/2024-holiday-guide-getting-prepared-for-q4.md)
- [2024 Holiday Guide: Paid Social Best Practices](/llms/insights/2024-holiday-guide-paid-social-best-practices-plus-tips-for-tiktok-meta.md)