Your keyword status lets you know whether your keywords are active or not. If your keyword isn’t resulting in any of your ads being shown, we’ll tell you what the issue is.
This article describes how to find your keyword status, the different keyword status types and what they mean.
Find your keyword status
Your keyword status tells you if your ads are running. To find your keyword status, use the following instructions.
Instructions
Your keyword status can be found in the 'Status' column in your statistics table. Here's how to access it:
- In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon
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- Click the Audiences, keywords and content drop-down in the section menu.
- Click Search keywords.
- Review the 'Status' column. Next to each keyword, you'll find your keyword's current status.
.Types of keyword statuses
Below are the different status types:
| Status type | Examples |
| Not Eligible | Campaign paused; Ad group removed |
| Eligible | Keyword is eligible to show ads |
| Eligible (limited) | Low search volume; Below first page bid estimate |
| Pending – Under review | Keyword is under review. The keyword won’t be able to trigger ads until it's been reviewed, which can take up to one working day. |
What they mean
Your keyword status tells you whether your keyword is causing ads to show to your target customers. In general, your keyword will be in one of three general states:
- Showing ads
- Not showing ads because you paused or removed a keyword, ad group or campaign
- Not showing ads because there is a problem with your account or keyword
Here are the different types of keyword statuses and what they mean:
| Keyword status | What it means | Next Step |
| Not Eligible | Campaign paused: keywords are inactive because you paused your campaign. If your campaign is paused, then keywords in that campaign will also stop showing ads. | Find out how to resume your campaign. |
| Campaign pending: keywords are inactive because your campaign is scheduled to begin on a future date and is not yet showing ads. | Find out how to change your campaign’s start date. | |
| Campaign removed: keywords are inactive because you removed the campaign that contains these keywords. | Find out how to re-enable your campaign. | |
| Campaign ended: keywords are inactive because your campaign is past its scheduled end date and has become inactive. | Find out how to change your campaign’s end date. |
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| Ad group paused: keywords are inactive because you paused your ad group. If you pause your ad group, then the keywords in that ad group will stop showing ads. | Find out how to resume your ad group. | |
| Ad group removed: keywords are inactive because you removed your ad group. If you remove your ad group, then the keywords in that ad group will stop showing ads. | Find out how to re-enable your ad group. | |
| Paused | Keyword is inactive because you paused it. Pausing a keyword means that it won't show ads or accumulate new costs until restarted. | Learn how to enable your keyword. |
| Paused (with a secondary status of 'Keyword paused due to low activity') | Keyword is inactive because it had zero impressions in the past 13 months. Google automatically pauses low-activity keywords, and you’ll be notified of the pause in your Google Ads account. | Learn more About auto-pause for low-activity keywords. |
| Removed | Keyword is inactive because you removed it. Removing a keyword means that it won't show ads. | Learn how to add keywords. |
| Eligible | Keyword is eligible to show ads. | No action needed. |
| Disapproved | Keyword is inactive and isn't showing ads. A disapproved keyword usually means that there's an issue with one or more of our advertising policies, such as our destination or final URL policy. | Hover over the status bubble for more details and review our advertising policies to check whether your keyword violates one of our policies. |
| Eligible (limited) | Below first page bid estimate: keyword is active and can show ads. However, your keyword isn't currently showing ads on the first page of Google search results. | Find out about getting your ad to show on the first page of Google search results. |
| Low search volume: keyword isn't eligible to show because it's associated with very little search traffic on our properties. This means that your keyword might not be relevant to people's searches, or maybe it's too specific or unusual. | If the number of searches for these keywords increases, your keywords may be reactivated and could start triggering your ads to show again. Find out how to use Keyword Planner to get keyword ideas and traffic estimates. | |
| Rarely shown due to low quality score: keyword isn't eligible to show ads due to a low Quality Score | You should consider removing this keyword and adding a more relevant keyword to your account. Other factors, like your landing page, could also affect your Quality Score. Learn more About Quality Score. | |
| Few page matches: the keyword is temporarily suspended because it matches very few pages, indicating that the phrase isn't common in Display Network content. | Consider adding a more relevant keyword to your account. |
Tip: Try optimising your account by improving your ads and keywords.
