Prepare Your Campaigns for the Festive Period

How to Prepare Your Google Ads Dating Campaigns for the Festive Period

The festive season isn’t just about gift shopping and family gatherings—it’s also the perfect time for people to find love or adult fun.

For a dating brand, the holidays present a unique opportunity to connect with individuals seeking meaningful connections or casual encounters during the most emotionally charged time of the year. Here’s how to optimise and charge your HubPeople dating brands for Google ads.

1. Leverage Festive Dating Trends

• Research festive-specific search trends, like “find a holiday date” or “single for Christmas.”
• Use seasonal keywords like holiday romance, New Year’s date, or find love this winter, or find sex this xmas. Tools like Google Trends and Keyword Planner can help.
• Create campaigns targeting specific occasions like Christmas parties, New Year’s Eve, etc.

2. Allocate Budget to Match Increased Volume Trends

• Increase bids and daily budgets for peak dates.
• Set up Performance Max campaigns to let Google’s AI distribute your ads where they perform best during high-traffic periods.
• Analyse historical data (if applicable) to predict when your audience is most active.

3. Use Audience Targeting to Your Advantage (Mainstream)

• Target singles in your geographical area with in-market audiences (e.g., “People actively searching for dating apps, singles, divorced, etc.”).
• Create Custom Audiences by targeting users searching for related terms like holiday singles or Christmas dating events.
• Use Customer Match to re-engage current or past users with special festive promotions.

4. Optimise for Mobile Users

Many users browse dating platforms from their phones, especially during downtime at family gatherings or holiday vacations.

Key Steps:

• Ensure your landing pages and ads are fully mobile-responsive.
• Use Responsive Search Ads (RSAs) to tailor messaging to different devices automatically.
• Include simple call-to-action buttons like “Sign Up Now” or “Meet Singles Today!” that are easy to tap on mobile.

5. Monitor and Adapt Your Campaigns

The festive period is dynamic, and ad performance can shift quickly. Stay on top of campaign performance and make adjustments in real-time.

Best Practices:

• Monitor CTRs, CPCs, and conversions daily.
• Use automated rules to increase bids on high-performing ads or pause underperforming ones.
• Regularly update negative keyword lists to avoid wasting ad spend.

6. Extend Campaigns for the New Year

The festive period doesn’t end on December 31st. Many singles start new dating journeys in January as part of their New Year’s resolutions.

What to Do:

• Retarget festive campaign audiences in January with messaging like “New Year, New Love—Start Today!” or “Discover a new fling for the new you”
• Create fresh campaigns targeting singles motivated by resolutions or the post-holiday season, or who are just ready to start hooking up again after family obligations.
• Launch specific promotions for users who didn’t convert during December.

For a dating brand, the festive season is a golden opportunity to attract new users and engage existing ones. By aligning your Google Ads campaign with the emotions, aspirations, and needs of people, you can drive more sign-ups and build meaningful connections during this unique time of year. 

Speak to our team here, for more tips and tricks on optimising your campaigns this Christmas with HubPeople.