Brief:

• Google will remove the accelerated delivery of ads for search and shopping campaigns and shared budgets, making standard delivery the only option, per a company blog post. The search giant is making the change, which goes into effect on Sept. 17, because the accelerated delivery process spends media budgets faster, making them ineffective for campaigns that aren't limited by budget.
• For campaigns with budget limits, accelerated ad delivery can increase cost-per-clicks (CPCs) because of greater competition early in the day or spend most of a media budget in earlier time zones, according to Google. Standard ad delivery considers expected ad performance throughout the day and is more efficient.
• All search and shopping campaigns and shared budgets using accelerated delivery will automatically switch to standard delivery by Oct. 1. Accelerated delivery will continue to be available for display campaigns and video campaigns, Google said.

Insight:

Google's decision to remove its accelerated delivery of ads for search and shopping campaigns and shared budgets may be a nuisance for some advertisers, but the idea is to make their campaigns more cost-efficient. The goal of driving as many clicks and conversions as possible within a certain range can lead to higher spending during specific dayparts — like mornings when some advertisers are competing more fiercely for attention.

However, advertisers with limited budgets may exhaust their spending too early in the day, missing opportunities to reach audiences during peak internet usage hours. "Internet primetime" generally occurs between 9 p.m. and midnight in every time zone worldwide, per networking technology giant Cisco Systems. Those hours are a critical period for reaching audiences with targeted ads. 

By prioritizing standard campaigns, Google also appears to be demonstrating greater confidence that its technology has improved to make campaigns more effective. The adjustments also come as Google looks to drive more interest in its Shopping business.

Earlier this year at the annual Google Marketing Live event, the company unveiled a revamped Shopping experience that opens more options to complete purchases on Google Search, Google Images, YouTube and a redesigned Shopping homepage. At the time, Google also introduced new and expanded advertising formats that link closer to a point of purchase, part of the tech giant's growing bid to compete more closely with Amazon.  

Google recommends that advertisers use ad scheduling to manage how their ads are delivered within a day. Ad scheduling can increase or decrease bids for ad placements during certain times of the day. The search giant offers a maximize conversions bidding that uses advanced machine learning to automatically optimize bids and auction-time bidding that tailors bids for each auction. Google also has a maximize clicks option to automatically set bids to help get as many clicks as possible within a set budget.