If your campaigns donât serve as many impressions as youâd like, that they donât use much of your set daily budget, or that performance has dropped. This article explains common reasons why your ads may not serve or may have low traffic, and how to troubleshoot these issues in Google Ads.
On this page
- Before you begin
- 10 common reasons why your ads don't run or get low traffic
- Account issues
- Date ranges and campaign start and end dates
- Ad groups, assets, or ads aren't active or have policy issues
- Low creative asset coverage and diversity (Ad Strength)
- Low bid targets and optimization goals
- Low budget
- Targeting is too narrow
- Targeting overlaps with other campaigns or ad groups
- Conversion tracking issues
- Auction dynamics
Before you begin
What to expect when a campaign is created
If you recently created your campaign, it can take time for your campaign to serve impressions. The following may cause delays:
- Campaigns that use automated bidding strategies need time to optimize. You may notice performance fluctuations or frequent changes in spend while Google Ads learns how to optimize for your set goals. Avoid frequent changes to bids, budgets, and bidding strategies. If you do make changes to these, allow at least one to 2 conversion cycles to pass before assessing performance.
- Newly created or edited ads undergo a one to 2 day review to ensure that they meet all policy requirements.
- It takes Google Ads some time to adjust serving if you make frequent changes to your campaign settings.
- If your ad doesn't receive any impressions after 3 business days, your campaign may still be in the bid strategy learning phase. If the issue persists, review the common reasons listed below.
Recommendations
Recommendations help highlight opportunities to improve performance when your campaign isn't running or gets low traffic. For example, you can search for the following example recommendation types when troubleshooting these issues.
Common recommendation types to fix campaigns not running:
- Campaign hasnât started or has ended
- Create or unpause an ad group
- Account budget exhausted
- All ads disapproved
Common recommendation types to fix low traffic:
- Adjust your CPA targets
- Adjust your budgets
If your ad doesn't receive any impressions after 3 business days, review the common reasons listed below.
10 common reasons why your ads don't run or get low traffic
1. Account issues
If your account is suspended, or if you have a billing issue, you wonât be able to run your ads until the problem is resolved. If your account has been suspended, you will see a notification in your Google Ads account. You will also have received an email notification with the reason your account has been suspended
Learn more about and fix About Google Ads not running due to account issues.
2. Date ranges and campaign start and end dates
Google Ads shows you performance data for the date range that you select. Your campaign will show no impressions outside of the date range your campaign has been active.
Learn more about and fix Google Ads not running: Date ranges and campaign start and end dates.
3. Ad groups, assets, or ads aren't active or have policy issues
Even if your campaign is active, make sure you have active ad groups, assets, or ads within your campaign. Verify that your ads and campaigns meet all policy requirements by checking their status. Disapproved ads won't serve. You can view the approval status in the "Status" column.
Learn more about and fix Google Ads not running: Ad groups, assets, or ads aren't active or have policy issues.
4. Low creative asset coverage and diversity (Ad Strength)
If youâre running an asset-based campaign, such as Responsive Search Ads, Responsive Display Ads, App Campaigns, or Performance Max, itâs important to ensure you have a unique set of creatives across ad formats. A low Ad Strength can reduce your Ad Rank and limit impressions.
- Improve Ad Strength: For Responsive Search Ads, aim for a "Good" or "Excellent" Ad Strength by adding more unique headlines and descriptions.
- Enhance Ad relevance: Make sure your ad copy is directly related to your target keywords.
- Optimize Landing page: Your landing page should be highly relevant to your ad and keywords. It should load quickly and have a clear call to action.
Improving these components of Ad Quality can lead to lower CPCs and better ad positions.
Learn more about and fix Google Ads not running: Low creative asset coverage and diversity (Ad strength).
5. Low bid targets and optimization goals
While it may be possible to serve ads with a very low bid, your campaign isn't likely to enter or win as many auctions and your ads may not have any impressions.
- For new campaigns or those with limited data, start with âMaximize Clicksâ or âManual CPC" for 5 to 7 days to gather data. After you have enough conversion data (for example, 30+ conversions in 30 days), you can switch to a conversion-focused strategy like âMaximize Conversionsâ or "Target CPA".
- If your bid strategy is "limited" because your targets are too restrictive, try increasing your Target CPA by 10 to 20% or lowering your Target ROAS.
- If you're using manual CPC, ensure your Max CPC is competitive enough to win auctions.
Learn more about and fix Google Ads not running: Low bid targets and optimization goals.
6. Low budget
When you have a low budget, your ads may not serve as often while Google Ads ensures your campaign doesn't spend more than your spending limit. Ensure your daily budget is sufficient for your goals. A good guideline is to set it at least 10 times your expected Cost-Per-Click (CPC) or 2 to 3 times your Target CPA. If your campaign status is "Limited by budget", a modest increase (for example, 20%) can help improve impression volume.
Learn more about and fix Google Ads not running: Low budget.
7. Targeting is too narrow
While targeting settings help you find the right set of users most interested in your business, each time you add targeting or if you have issues with your remarketing lists, you narrow the potential reach of your ads. To address this:
- Keyword match types: If you only using exact match, consider adding phrase match, or broad match keywords to expand your reach. Ensure to also use negative keywords to filter out irrelevant searches.
- Negative keywords: Regularly review your negative keyword lists to ensure you aren't accidentally blocking relevant traffic.
- Audience targeting: For new Search campaigns, set audience targeting to âObservationâ instead of âTargetingâ to avoid overly restricting your reach while still gathering audience performance data.
- Location targeting: If your location targeting is very specific, consider broadening it (for example, target âPresence or Interestâ instead of only âPresence").
Learn more about Google Ads not running: Targeting is too narrow
8. Targeting overlaps with other campaigns or ad groups
You may have multiple campaigns or ad groups in your account that are eligible to enter overlapping auctions due to similar keywords or other targeting.
Learn more about and fix Google Ads not running: Targeting overlaps with other campaigns or ad groups.
9. Conversion tracking issues
If your campaign uses automated bidding to optimize toward conversions, you need sufficient conversion data to serve ads. Verify your conversion setup to avoid limited ad serving.
Learn more about and fix Google Ads not running: Conversion tracking issues.
10. Auction dynamics
Other advertisers who participate in the same auctions as you can affect your campaignâs ability to serve.
Learn more about and fix Google Ads not running: Auction dynamics.
Tip: If youâd like additional information to troubleshoot your account, you can use the following resources:
- Connect with other advertisers in the Google Ads Community.
- Learn with Skillshopâs free Google Ads tutorials.
- Review YouTube videos from Google Ads experts.
