Black Friday & Cyber Monday PPC: The Most Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest shopping events of the year. Search demand surges, CPCs spike, competition gets fierce, and brands either win big or burn through budget fast.

The good news? Most Black Friday PPC disasters are completely avoidable.

This guide breaks down the most common mistakes advertisers make during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and exactly how to avoid them so you spend smarter, scale faster, and protect your margins throughout peak season.

1. Not Preparing Early Enough

The biggest mistake marketers make is preparing too late.

During Black Friday, every platform is overloaded, meaning ad approvals and promotion extensions slow down dramatically.

How to avoid this mistake:

1. Create all Black Friday and Cyber Monday ads at least 2 weeks early
2. Upload assets ahead of time so reviews are complete
3. Schedule everything using start and end dates or automated rules

Being early isn’t optional during peak season. It’s a performance advantage.

2. Replacing Evergreen Ads Instead of Creating Seasonal Versions

Never overwrite your existing ads with Black Friday messaging.

Doing so wipes your Quality Score signals, resets learning, and creates chaos once the sale is over.

Instead:

1. Keep evergreen ads untouched
2. Create new BF and CM ads separately
3. Add clear labels for easy activation and reporting
4. Pause or enable via automated rules

This keeps your account tidy and prevents “Black Friday Sale!” ads from running in December, January, and beyond.

3. Making Big Changes Too Close to Black Friday

Big edits mean Smart Bidding resets.

Black Friday weekend is the worst time to retrain algorithms.

This includes:

1. Changing bidding strategies
2. Moving keywords between campaigns
3. Rebuilding structures
4. Editing Responsive Search Ads (RSA)
5. Adding new Asset Groups inside PMax at the last minute

How to avoid this mistake:

Make all major changes at least 10 days before Black Friday so campaigns stabilise. Let your campaigns enter Black Friday and Cyber Monday fully optimised and not in learnings.

4. Not Adjusting Bidding Strategies for Peak Competition

CPCs rise sharply during Black Friday week.

If your target ROAS is too high, your ads simply won’t enter auctions.

Common mistakes:

1. Keeping aggressive ROAS targets
2. Using manual CPC
3. Forgetting to increase budgets
4. Switching to ROAS too late

How to fix it:

1. Lower ROAS targets by 10-20% during Black Friday and Cyber Monday
2. Use Smart Bidding (no manual CPC)
3. Temporarily raise daily budgets 2-3x
4. Add Seasonal Bid Adjustments for PMax if needed

You need to give Google room to compete. Otherwise you’ll lose impressions when demand is at its highest.

5. Forgetting to Build Remarketing Audiences Early

One of the biggest Black Friday advantages is having strong, warm audiences.

But most brands start too late.

Remember: Black Friday and Cyber Monday performance depends on November’s audience size.

What to do:

1. Build remarketing pools 30-60 days before Black Friday. Run cheap warm-up campaigns across Video, Display, PMax, and Meta.
2. Segment audiences by intent: people who added to cart in the last 30 days, viewed a promo page, product viewers, past buyers, and engaged YouTube viewers.

The bigger the pool, the lower your Black Friday acquisition costs.

6. Not Prioritising Products on Sale

Users search for deals, not your full-price collection.

Yet many brands keep spending evenly across everything.

How to avoid this:

1. Push the majority of your budget towards discounted items
2. Reduce or pause low-inventory or non-promo SKUs
3. Check stock levels daily

Focus your budget where user intent is highest: promotional products.

7. Poor Use of Ad Extensions

Extensions are even more important during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. They help you dominate the results page.

Don’t forget to:

1. Add promotion extensions with start and end dates
2. Add Black Friday and Cyber Monday sitelinks
3. Add callouts (“Up to 50% Off”, “Limited Stock”, etc.)
4. Update price extensions with top deals
5. Remove outdated ones after the sale

Extensions increase CTR and lower CPCs. No reason not to use them.

8. Not Having Backup Creatives for Fatigue

High CTR means creatives burn out quickly.

If you only have one RSA or one Meta ad, performance drops fast.

How to prepare:

1. Multiple RSA variations
2. 12-15 headlines and 3-5 descriptions
3. Promo and non-promo versions
4. Backup images and videos
5. Specials for Black Friday and separate ones for Cyber Monday
6. PMax asset groups with Black Friday-specific creative

Peak season needs creative depth.

9. Switching Everything Off After Cyber Monday

Many advertisers stop after Cyber Monday. Big mistake.

There’s still post-Cyber Monday intent, late shoppers, and pre-Christmas buyers.

After Cyber Monday:

1. Run “Leftover BF Shopper” remarketing
2. Promote best sellers using learnings from the weekend
3. Continue warm audiences for Christmas
4. Review which SKUs dominated
5. Document what worked now, not in April

Black Friday is the start of Q4 peak selling, not the end.

The Bottom Line

Black Friday and Cyber Monday don’t have to be chaotic.

When you prepare early, avoid last-minute changes, and use automation correctly, PPC becomes predictable even during the busiest shopping weekend of the year.

The brands that win aren’t the ones that spend the most. They’re the ones who plan smarter, avoid the common mistakes, and set their accounts up for scalable, stable performance.

Reach out to the specialists at CRKLR to prepare your brand’s PPC & Paid Media Strategy for BFCM 2025 and beyond.