In this article, we’ll outline different reasons for Smart campaign fluctuations and changes, why they may lead to changes in campaign performance over time, and how you can use the tools in your Google Ads account to understand what’s driving these changes.
Bear in mind: It’s normal for your campaign performance to vary.
Seven common reasons why your performance is fluctuating
1. Recent changes to account or campaign settings
Editing any account or campaign settings, such as budget, keyword themes, search terms, ad text, landing page, location targeting and ad scheduling can change your performance.
Learn more about Smart campaign performance fluctuations: Changes to account or campaign settings.
2. Budget settings
Your campaign may be more likely to have performance fluctuations when its budget is limited.
Learn more about Smart campaign performance fluctuations: Budget settings.
3. Low creative coverage and diversity
Smart campaigns are created using the assets you upload, so it’s important to ensure that you have a diverse set of creatives across ad formats.
Learn more about Smart campaign performance fluctuations: Creative coverage and diversity.
4. Targeting settings and overlaps
If your campaign is targeting a smaller subset of users with very specific keyword themes, location, ad schedule or language settings, it may also be more likely to have performance fluctuations. You may have multiple Smart campaigns in your account that are eligible to enter overlapping auctions due to similar keyword themes or other targeting.
Learn more about Smart campaign performance fluctuations: Targeting.
5. Policy and ad review status
Changes to the approval status of your campaign can affect your performance. Make sure the status of your campaign is set to 'active'.
Learn more about Smart campaign performance fluctuations: Policy and ad review status.
6. Other account issues
Issues with your payments, billing transfers or other account level issues can affect the performance of your account and the performance of your campaigns.
Learn more about Smart campaign performance fluctuations: Account issues.
7. Certain features used in campaigns
Your campaign may be paused if:
- You’re using certain features
- Your account does not have a good history of policy compliance and positive user engagement.
Learn more about Certain features used in ad campaigns.
