Given your current situation, I’ll get straight to the point. It’s concerning that your Google ads aren’t appearing. If you’re not seeing them on Google search, don’t panic yet: always use the Ad Preview tool to verify your ad’s visibility.

However, if they’re absent from the Ad Preview tool, that’s a problem we need to solve. The good news is that this issue, whether performance-related or not, has several explanations that we’ll explore in this article. Want a shortcut? Our free Google Ads Performance Grader provides an immediate, customized audit of your account!

Google Ads Not Appearing: Non-Performance Factors

Let’s clarify “non-performance issues.” Your Google ads might not be appearing due to factors unrelated to your ad quality, landing pages, or ad groups. This means even with excellent Google Ads practices, your ads might still face visibility issues. Here are seven such reasons.

1. Payment Issues

If you utilize automatic payments for your Google Ads account, like many advertisers, Google charges you when (1) you hit your preset payment limit or (2) your billing cycle ends, whichever comes first. For these transactions to proceed smoothly, your account’s payment details must be accurate and current. Your ads won’t appear in search results if Google can’t charge you.

2. Bid Discrepancies

You set a daily budget for each Google Ads campaign. If your maximum cost-per-click (CPC) bid for a keyword surpasses its campaign’s budget, your ads won’t display for matching queries. Ensure your account has no such budget-bid conflicts. Conversely, excessively low bids can also hinder ad visibility. Your ad rank depends on both your keyword quality score and your bid. In your Google Ads account’s Keywords section, bid simulators help estimate the impact of bid increases.

These columns can be added to your Keywords report.

3. Insufficient Keyword Search Volume

Ads linked to keywords with minimal monthly search traffic might be ineligible for display. Google temporarily deactivates keywords with extremely low volume. It reactivates them if the volume increases sufficiently. However, passively waiting for volume to rise isn’t ideal. Utilize Google’s Keyword Planner (included with your account) or our Free Keyword Tool to find similar, higher-volume keywords.

4. Ad Status: Paused, Removed, or Disapproved

Your Google ads might not be visible simply because they’ve been paused, or their ad groups or campaigns have been paused. If so, switch them from Paused to Enabled. Another possibility is that your ads, ad groups, or campaigns have been removed from your account. Regrettably, this requires starting over. To check for accidental pauses or removals, navigate to Change History. Filter by Status to see account changes.

If everything seems active and your ads are still invisible, they might be disapproved, making them ineligible for display. To fix disapproved ads and restore them on search engine results pages (SERPs), check out Google’s ad policies.

5. Scheduling or Targeting Errors

Just like campaign budgets, you also set ad schedules, specifying display days and times. In your campaign’s Ad Schedule tab, ensure your schedule isn’t overly restrictive.

The location targeting settings for your campaign are adjacent to the Ad Schedule tab. Insufficient keyword search traffic from your targeted region can also hinder ad visibility. Ensure your settings aren’t too narrow. Pro tip: To gauge audience segment responses without limiting your reach, use the Observation setting instead of Targeting. While targeting restricts reach to a specific audience, observation allows broader reach while tracking performance within a specific segment, providing insights without excessive limitations.

6. Negative Keyword Conflicts

Negative keywords, preventing ads from matching irrelevant queries, can be set at ad group or campaign levels. If some ads aren’t showing, negative keywords might be overriding active ones.

For instance, if you’re bidding on the phrase match keyword “CRM free trial” and have set “free CRM” as a campaign-level broad match negative, the negative keyword overrides the active one. Switching to the exact match negative [free CRM] solves this, allowing you to target users seeking free trials while excluding those looking for completely free CRMs.

7. Excessively Large Negative Bid Adjustments

Lastly, overly aggressive negative bid adjustments can significantly lower your ad rank, impacting visibility. These adjustments automatically decrease bids under specific conditions (device, time, location, etc.). While useful, extreme adjustments can hinder your competitiveness.

Negative bid adjustments based on specific times of day (which I can’t disclose!). Again, the simulated bid columns in your Keywords report prove useful here.

Google Ads Not Appearing: Performance-Related Issues

Sometimes, your ads might not appear because they don’t meet Google’s PPC best practices. In other words, optimization is key to regaining visibility. We’ll focus on this for the rest of the guide. (Since optimization is more complex than adjusting keywords or payment details, these sections are lengthier.)

8. Unfocused Ad Groups

Each Google Ads ad group comprises keywords and ads, intentionally grouped by Google. These linked elements mean that when a user’s search triggers your keyword, Google selects a corresponding ad.

Your ad’s relevance to the query determines your ad auction performance; higher relevance means higher ranking. The crucial question is: How do you ensure relevance? The answer lies in crafting ad groups with closely related keywords. This ensures ad relevance regardless of the triggering keyword or selected ad. Your ad group structure might be why your ads aren’t appearing. Ad groups with loosely related keywords often underperform in ad auctions.

9. Unoptimized Ad Copy

Ad relevance goes beyond ad group structure; optimizing ad copy is equally crucial. Luckily, this is more straightforward. Optimizing ad copy for higher ranking involves incorporating your target keyword. This signals relevance to Google.

(Notice a recurring theme? Relevance is paramount when optimizing for visibility!) This highlights the importance of focused ad groups. Having more closely related keywords than ads within an ad group makes keyword incorporation easier. Consider this: writing copy incorporating both “dog food” and “10-foot dog leash” within the same ad group is challenging. However, using “dog food” and “dog snacks” is much smoother. Therefore, your ads might be underperforming simply due to insufficiently keyword-focused copy.

10. Irrelevant Landing Pages

Google assesses landing page relevance alongside ad copy. Landing pages that fail to address user intent (derived from search queries) result in poorer ad auction performance. Therefore, carefully analyze each targeted keyword. Understand the user’s intent: their struggles, goals, and how you can help.

Landing page for an ad triggered by the query “collaboration software.” Use these insights to shape your landing page content. Effectively addressing user needs on landing pages improves your Google Ads auction performance. Incorporating target keywords in landing page copy further enhances relevance.

11. Low Click-Through Rate

Lastly, a low click-through rate (CTR), the ratio of impressions to clicks, can hinder ad visibility. CTR reflects ad appeal; high CTR indicates resonating messaging, while low CTR suggests the opposite. Google favors advertisers with engaging ads. Lower ad or keyword CTR leads to poorer ad auction performance. To enhance visibility, craft compelling ad copy that encourages clicks.

The advice for crafting clickable ad copy echoes that of relevant landing pages: analyze the target keyword, understand user intent, and address their specific problem or pain point. Essentially, it’s about aligning ad copy with user needs based on their customer journey stage. Prospects at the beginning (top of the funnel) appreciate informative, question-answering ads. Those nearing the end (bottom of the funnel) prefer ads facilitating conversions or purchases. If low CTR is hindering your ad visibility, review your ad copy and ensure it effectively maps keywords to the customer journey while addressing user needs.

Google Ads Not Appearing: The Bigger Picture

Discovering your Google Ads aren’t appearing can be unsettling for marketers and business owners. It’s easy to panic and overthink. While understandable, remember there’s always a logical reason for this issue. Whether performance-related or not, steps can be taken to rectify the situation and restore ad visibility. As mentioned earlier, our free Google Ads Performance Grader can help identify performance issues.