Occasionally, you may find that your Smart campaigns are not serving as many impressions as you would expect, or are not able to spend much of your set daily budget. In this article, we’ll outline common reasons why your ads may not be serving, and how you can troubleshoot using the tools in Google Ads.
Before you begin
What to expect when a campaign is enabled
If you recently enabled your Smart campaign, it can take some time for your campaign to start serving impressions. There are a few reasons for this:
- If you make changes to creatives or assets in a newly created or existing campaign, it takes 24-48 hours for your ads to be reviewed to ensure they meet all policy requirements.
- It may take Google Ads some time to adjust serving if you make changes to your campaign settings.
Preview your ad
Your ad is appearing in search results if it is receiving clicks or impressions. Follow these instructions to preview how your ad will look to customers (without affecting its performance):
- In your Google Ads account, click on the relevant Smart campaign.
- Go to the "Ad text, images & landing page" card. You may have to click the scroll arrow if you have more than one ad to view all ad previews.
- To edit the ads within the campaign, click Edit on the "Ad text, images & landing page" card, then click Edit Ad.
- Note: If you have multiple ad versions, click Edit on the ad version you’d like to preview.
- Click See how your ad will appear.
If your ad still isn’t receiving any impressions after 3 business days, check the reasons listed in this article.
6 common reasons why your ads may not be running or are getting low traffic
1. Account issues
If your account is suspended, or if you have a billing issue on your account, you won’t be able to run your ads until the problem is resolved.
Learn more about Account issues.
2. Date ranges and campaign start and end dates
Google Ads shows you performance data for the date range that you select.
Learn more about Date ranges and campaign start and end dates.
3. 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.
Learn more about Targeting is too narrow.
4. Targeting overlaps with other campaigns
You may have multiple campaigns or ad groups in your account that are eligible to enter overlapping auctions due to similar keyword themes or other targeting.
Learn more about Targeting overlaps with other campaigns.
5. 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.
Learn more about Low budget.
6. Ad or website may not be high quality
Google is committed to showing high-quality, useful ads.
Learn more about Ad or website may not be high quality.