When you invest in Google Ads, you likely have several specific goals, or campaign objectives. Perhaps you’re hoping to see your sales increase by a certain amount or you want to improve your monthly web traffic. Or, maybe you want your ads to compel people to pick up the phone, sign up for a newsletter, or request a quote. Whatever your ambitions, it’s safe to say that seeing your ads appear on the search engine results page isn’t a goal — it’s an expectation. If you don’t see your ads when searching for specific keywords in Google, you may (understandably) be quite concerned. Are your Google Ads not showing up in search results? Rest assured that there are several common reasons why this happens.
Why Are Your Google Ads Not Showing Up?
If your web traffic has been lackluster lately, you might be tempted to conduct a little research to see if your Google Ads appear on results pages. But just because you search for relevant keywords, that doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed to see your own ads. Let’s explore several reasons this might happen.
#1 – Your ads have reached your average daily budget.
Google Ads is a pay-per-click auction. If your ads reach the average daily budget that you set or you get outbid, your ads won’t appear in searches. For example, let’s say that your monthly budget is $3000, which comes out to an average daily budget of $100. If a few people clicked on your ads this morning — which, let’s say, cost you $16 — Google won’t show any more of your ads today. Why? If they did and someone clicked, it would exceed your budget.
#2 – You’re using the wrong search terms.
Your ads target specific keywords that are relevant to your audience. What words did you type into Google when searching? If you didn’t use the right terms, you won’t see your ads.
#3 – Your competitor needs a turn.
Google wants everyone who uses their advertising service to get some clicks so that (1) Google makes more money and (2) all advertisers are pleased and continue buying ads. So if you’ve gotten several clicks on a particular day, but your competitor has gotten zero clicks (and also hasn’t reached their budget limit), Google will show your competitor’s ad more often so that it can get some clicks too.
#4 – Your ads have a poor quality score.
Google wants you to write excellent ads because this improves the search experience for its users. To incentive advertisers to craft well-written, relevant ads, Google provides two critical benefits. First, they charge advertisers less money for well-written ads. Second, they show well-written ads more often. How do they determine which ads are well-written and relevant? They use the Quality Score, which is calculated by examining an ad’s expected click-through rate, relevance, and landing page experience. The Quality Score is a component of Ad Rank, which influences how often your ads can be shown. If your ads are poorly written and/or not relevant to searchers, they won’t appear on results pages as often as higher-quality ads.
#5 – You’re experiencing account issues.
Perhaps you need to fix a billing issue, or Google suspended your account. Both of these situations will result in Google not running your ads.
#6 – Your ads, ad groups, or assets are not active or have policy issues.
If your ads are not active, they obviously won’t be running. There’s also a chance they have policy issues (you can check this using Policy Manager) or they’re under review.
#7 – You’ve set your bids too low.
Although it’s possible to serve ads with very low bids, your campaign is less likely to enter or win many auctions if your bid target is too low. This is true whether you have a set manual bid or an automated bidding target. Review your ad’s historical performance to determine whether your bid strategy is achievable.
#8 – You search for your own ads too often.
Funnily enough, if you frequently search for your own ads, Google will stop showing them to you! We discuss this in more detail below, but for now, suffice it to say that searching for your ads is not a great idea, especially if you make a habit of it.
What Can I Do to Make My Ads Appear More Often?
First, it’s important to understand that your ads won’t appear in search results all the time, and that’s not a realistic goal. In fact, Google mentions this in their third-party policy. They write that third-party partners working with advertisers should not make “false, misleading, or unrealistic claims,” and one of the specific examples they include is “claiming that ads will appear in Google Search at all times.” If someone promises they can do this for you, they’re lying!
So, what can you do to increase the odds that your ads will appear in search results? You have three main options:
- Increase your average daily budget
- Increase your bids
- Increase your ads’ Quality Scores
And, of course, you will need to fix any present issues, like making your campaign active if it’s not already, fixing any billing problems, etc.
Why You Shouldn’t Search for Your Own Ads
We know it’s tempting to check on your Google Ads and see how they look out in the “real world,” but if you locate your own ads on a results page, one of two things will happen, and neither is ideal:
1. You click on your ad.
This is a terrible idea. Never click on your own ads. Google Ads are pay-per-click advertisements. So every time someone — yes, that includes you or one of your team members — clicks on your ads, you pay Google a portion of your advertising budget. Don’t waste your budget on meaningless clicks!
2. You don’t click on your ad.
This is a better idea. However, it’s also not great because Google notices when someone searches for a keyword but doesn’t click on the presented ads. They want to show their users ads that people click on frequently (because, presumably, these ads are very relevant to users’ search intent). In addition, Google customizes the ad experience for users. So if you search for the same thing frequently but don’t click on your ads when they appear (which, remember, is the correct course of action!), Google will notice this behavior and stop showing you your own ads, rendering the whole activity useless!
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Overall, it’s in your best interest to avoid searching for your ads’ keywords in an attempt to see them on the results page. Instead, if you’re wondering how your ads are performing, check the analytics! Google provides a multitude of resources so that you can evaluate your ads, optimize your campaigns, and get the most bang for your buck.
If you’re hoping to create a successful Google Ads campaign, contact 417 Marketing for help. Our team of knowledgeable, creative, and passionate professionals specializes in SEO, web design and maintenance, and Google Ads, and we have successfully completed over 700 websites since our inception in 2010. Contact us and learn more about what we can do for your company.