• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, August 19, 2019

Google Ads is getting an update, and ad delivery options are changing. On Monday, Google announced that beginning September 17, Standard delivery will become the only ad delivery method for Search campaigns, Shopping campaigns, and shared budgets. In other words, Google has decided to eliminate Accelerated delivery options.

All Search and Shopping campaigns along with shared budgets using Accelerated delivery will automatically switch to Standard delivery by October 1, 2019. Accelerated delivery will continue to be available for Display campaigns and Video.

Accelerated delivery is optimized less, compared with standard delivery. It was not recommended for most advertisers. 

The ad delivery method can determine how long budgets last. When advertisers want to ensure that ads are served as often as possible, especially in the early hours of the morning, marketers tended to choose to accelerate the delivery of the ads with this option.

Accelerated delivery also spends budgets faster than Standard delivery. Google said the strategy has not been as effective for campaigns that aren’t limited by budget.

Campaigns that are limited by budget can see higher costs-per-clicks due to increased competition early in the day, or unintentionally spend most of their budgets in earlier time zones, according to Google. The company also said that Accelerated delivery sometimes results in a lower number of clicks, and may lower the return on investment when limited by budget.

Google also recommends using ad scheduling to increase or decrease bids during certain times of the day.

If the goal is to maximize performance, Google suggests using bidding strategies such as Maximize conversions, which automatically sets bids through advanced machine learning, or Maximize clicks, which sets bids to help get as many clicks as possible within a specific budget.