Many of the clients I work with have seasonal flows to their businesses. At predictable times based on the seasonality, I start getting the same question: "Should I just turn my ads off until the busy season hits again?"

Sometimes it's a contractor watching the phone go quiet. Sometimes it's the opposite problem. A recent client I work with asked me this year because their client intake was at full capacity. New enquiries were coming in that they had no room for, so why keep paying for clicks?

Both are fair questions. And for most local businesses, the answer is the same: turn it down, not off.

Here's why, when pausing does make sense, and how to do it properly if you decide to.

What actually happens when you pause

Pausing a campaign is simple. Your ads stop showing and you stop paying. Nothing gets deleted. Your keywords, ads and settings sit there waiting for you.

So far, so good. The costs show up when you turn things back on.

Google's bidding has to find its feet again. Most campaigns now use automated bidding, which learns from your recent results. Google says a reactivated bid strategy goes through a "learning" period of up to 7 days, and that performance can take one to two conversion cycles to settle. If it usually takes a week between someone clicking your ad and booking, you could be looking at two or three weeks of shakier results right when you want the phone ringing.
The data it learns from gets stale. Automated bidding works best on a steady stream of recent conversions. After a few months of silence, it's working from old information about a different season.
Your competitors don't pause. Every week you're off, someone else is collecting the clicks, the calls and the reviews that come with them.

None of this is a disaster. You can absolutely restart a paused account and get it performing again. It just isn't free, and the restart usually lands at the exact moment you're busiest.

The slow season isn't a dead season

Fewer people search in your off-season. But the people who do search are often more serious, and clicks can be cheaper because other businesses have pulled back.

Think about who's searching in November and December:

Homeowners planning spring projects. The renovation they'll start in April gets researched and quoted in January.
Gift buyers. Spas, wellness clinics, golf courses and restaurants all sell gift cards. December is when people go looking for them.
People with a problem right now. A burst pipe, a sore back or a tax deadline doesn't care what season it is.

If your ads are off, none of those people find you. If they're running at a lower level, you stay in front of them for a fraction of your peak-season spend.

When pausing does make sense

Turning down beats turning off most of the time, but not always. Pausing is the right call when:

You're closed. If you physically can't take the work (seasonal shutdown, no staff, owner on holiday), don't pay for clicks you can't serve.
It's a short break. Closed for the week between Christmas and New Year? Pause for those days, or use an ad schedule. A short pause won't hurt you.
The ads weren't working anyway. If your account wasn't producing leads in your busy season, the slow season won't fix that. Pause, fix the problem, then restart. Here are the fixes I make first.

What to do instead: turn it down, not off

For most local businesses, a maintenance mode keeps the account healthy without wasting money. Here are a few ideas that can still help you capitalize on maintaining your advertising positioning in your off-season.

Lower the budget. Cut it to a level that matches the drop in demand. Something like half your peak budget is a reasonable starting point for many service businesses. Google says budget changes don't trigger a new learning period, so this is the gentlest lever you have.
Keep only your best keywords. Pause the broad, research-type searches and keep the ones that bring in buyers: "emergency electrician Peterborough," not "how to rewire a house."
Run ads only when someone can answer. Use an ad schedule to show ads during your actual working hours. If you're on reduced hours for the winter, your ads should be too.
Change the message, not just the spend. Off-season ads can sell something different: "Book now for spring," "Get on the waitlist," "Gift cards available." Same campaign, a reason to act now.
Make one change at a time. Budget and keyword edits are fine. Swapping your conversion goals or rebuilding the campaign structure in the same week makes it hard to tell what helped and what hurt.

What if you're too busy, not too slow?

This is my client's situation, and it's a good problem to have. A few options before you hit pause:

Pause the services you're full on, not the whole account. If you're booked solid for one service but have room for another, keep advertising the one with room.
Turn the leads into a waitlist. Send ad traffic to a page that explains you're booking a few weeks out and collects contact details. When a spot opens, you have people ready to call.
Drop to a low maintenance budget. Enough to keep the account active and the bidding learning, without flooding your inbox.

If you really can't take a single new client for months, pausing is fine. Just plan the restart (see below).

If you do pause, do it properly

Pause, don't delete. Paused campaigns keep their history. Deleted ones are much harder to recover.
Write down what you paused and when. Future you will want to know the budgets and settings you started from.
Restart two to three weeks before you need the work. That gives Google's bidding time to settle before your busy season starts, not during it.
Don't forget about it. Google automatically cancels accounts that have spent nothing for more than 15 months. You can reactivate a cancelled account, but your remarketing lists won't survive.

The short version

Closed or completely unable to take work? Pause, and plan your restart.
Slower, but still open? Turn it down, tighten your keywords and change your message.
Too busy? Pause specific services or collect a waitlist before you turn everything off.
Not sure your ads were working in the first place? Fix that before you decide anything else.

If you're setting next year's budget at the same time, here's how much a small business should spend on Google Ads.

Not sure what to do with your account this winter?

Book a free meeting with me. I'll look at your account and your season and tell you whether to pause, trim or push. No jargon, no hard sell.

Sources

Should you pause your Google Ads in the slow season?