By Olumide Balogun
Black Friday falls on 27 November, and Detty December follows right behind it. Together they are the busiest selling weeks of the Nigerian year, and the businesses that do best usually get ready in September and October.
Last week in Cologne, at a global marketing event called DMEXCO, Google’s Vice President of Global Ads made a simple point. The old way of advertising on Search, where you guess a short list of keywords and hope customers type them, no longer matches how people search.
Nigerian shoppers show this every day. We ask long questions, speak into our phones, send pictures, and mix English and pidgin in the same sentence. Google’s own figures show that searches in AI Mode are three times longer than before, and one in six uses voice or a photo.
Here are five things you can do before the rush. None of them needs extra budget, and most take less than an hour.
- Show up for the way your customer really asks. Your customer rarely types one word like “inverter.” She asks, “Which inverter can carry my fridge and TV during a long light outage, and how much is it?” Nobody can guess every question like that for a keyword list. AI Max for Search helps here by looking at what the customer means, so your ad can appear for questions you never thought to list. Half a million advertisers took it up in its first year, and businesses using it get 27% more conversions, such as sales or enquiries, for about the same cost. With AI Max on, your ads can also appear above and below AI Overviews, the short AI answers at the top of some Google searches, which are already live in Nigeria. Do this today: switch on AI Max in your Search campaign settings, then give it two weeks to learn before you judge the results.
- Fix your Google Business Profile first. Many Nigerian shoppers find a product on Instagram or TikTok, then check Google to see if the shop is real, the price is right, and the address is close. If your listing shows old opening hours or a phone number nobody answers, you lose a buyer who had already made up her mind. Do this today: update your hours, including Black Friday hours, check your phone number, add fresh photos of your stock and reply to recent reviews.
- Count sales and enquiries, alongside clicks. Google’s AI works toward whatever goal you give it. If you only count clicks, it will bring you clicks, and clicks alone do not pay salaries. Tell Google Ads what a real result looks like for your business, whether that is a completed order, a WhatsApp message, a phone call or a filled form. Do this today: pick the one action that matters most and set it up as a conversion in your account.
- Let the tools help you make video. Many small businesses skip video ads because they have no time to make them. Tools inside Google Ads can now turn one product photo shoot into several image and video versions, and Gemini can help you write ad copy in minutes. Do this today: take your three best-selling Black Friday products and create at least three ad versions for each, then let Google show you which one your customers like best.
- Get ready for shoppers who search with their camera and voice. One in six AI Mode searches now uses voice or a photo. Picture someone snapping a shoe in a Lagos mall and asking where to buy it cheaper, or asking a question out loud in traffic on Third Mainland Bridge. Your product listings should describe items the way customers talk about them, with size, colour, material, and the details people ask about. Do this today: rewrite five product descriptions in plain, everyday language.
At DMEXCO, Google also announced a new report in Google Ads that shows, on one screen, what your customer searched for, which ad they saw and which page they landed on. It will roll out later this year at no extra cost. For many business owners, it will be the easiest way yet to see what their advertising money is doing, and to learn the exact questions customers ask before they buy.
Every step here works with the budget you already have, helping it reach people who are ready to buy. You have about eight weeks, so start with your Business Profile. It is free and takes fifteen minutes.
**Olumide Balogun is Director, East & West Africa at Google
