7 Reasons Your Google Ads Aren't Showing Up
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If you’re reading this article, you’re likely asking yourself, “Why don’t I see my Google Ads when I search for them?” Don’t worry – this is a common question with several potential answers. In short, there are many reasons why your ads might not appear, including factors like ad scheduling, targeting settings, budget limits, ad rank, quality score, auction competition, ad fatigue, IP exclusions, or personalized search results. But what do these terms mean, and how exactly could they impact your ad’s visibility? More importantly, how can you ensure your ads are in fact showing up in Google’s search results?
Test Whether Your Google Ads Are Showing Using the Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool
The most effective way to confirm that your ads are displaying is by using the Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool. This tool is specifically designed to let you check the status of your ads without impacting your performance metrics, unlike searching for your ads directly, which can skew data. With the Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool, you can verify if your ads are appearing as intended on the search engine results page (SERP), and if they’re not, the tool helps you pinpoint and troubleshoot any issues. It’s an important resource for ensuring your campaigns are running smoothly without affecting important metrics like impressions or clickthrough rates.
Where Do I Find The Google Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool?
1. Accessing the Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool
Log in to your Google Ads account
On the left-hand sidebar, select Tools > Troubleshooting > Ad Preview & Diagnosis
2. Set your search criteria and perform a test search
Set the language, device, and audience parameters that you’d like to simulate
Enter the keyword or keyphrase you’d like to search for
3. View your ad preview and diagnose potential issues
Once you enter your test search, the tool will generate a preview of the SERP along with the diagnostic insights under the Results tab
If your ad isn’t displaying, the tool will provide potential reasons, such as location mismatches, keyword issues, or budget limitations, helping you quickly identify what might be preventing your Google ad from appearing.
7 Reasons Your Google Ads Might Not Be Showing Up
1. Your Ads Aren’t Running
If your Google Ads aren’t appearing in search results, it could be due to your account being under review or a payment-related issue. Google regularly reviews accounts to ensure compliance with advertising guidelines, during which ads might be temporarily paused. Payment issues, like an expired credit card or low balance, can also stop ad delivery until resolved. The quickest way to get back on track is to check for any alerts in your account and verify your billing information to ensure everything’s in order.
To check and see if your ads are under review:
Log into Google Ads
Expand the Campaigns dropdown
Click on the Ads tab
- Check the Status column to see if your ads are “Eligible”, “Not Eligible”, or “Pending”
If the ads are “Pending”, the only solution is to wait for Google to approve them.
If the ads are “Not Eligible”, view the stated reasons why and adjust them to align with Google’s advertising policies.
If your ad status shows ‘Eligible” with additional notes, such as “(employment),” it means your ads fall under one of Google’s sensitive category policies. These categories have extra restrictions that may limit the visibility or reach of your ads.
To check for billing issues:
Select Billing in the navigation bar
Click Summary
Verify that there is no outstanding balance preventing your ads from running
2. Ad Scheduling
Within the Google Ads platform, you can set your ads to display only during specific days and times. This feature helps you maximize your campaign's efficiency by only spending ad dollars during your preferred time frames, such as your business hours. If you search for your ads outside of those designated times, your Google ads won’t appear—neither for you nor for any other qualified searches.
To check and see if your ads are on a schedule follow these steps (or check out the official guide from Google):
Log into Google Ads
Expand the Audiences, Keywords, and Content section
Click Ad Schedule and view what time your ads are set to run
Important: Campaigns may run on varying schedules, so check at the “All Campaigns” level and ensure no filters are active.
3. Targeting
Google Ads offers robust targeting options allowing you to reach users based on factors like location, device, audience segments (based on search behavior), and demographics. If you don’t fall within the specific targeting criteria you’ve set, you likely won’t see your own ads when you search. This is a good thing, as it ensures your ads are only shown to qualified users that match the targeting settings you've carefully chosen.
To check your location targeting settings, follow these steps:
Log into Google Ads
Expand the Audiences, Keywords, and Content section
Click “Locations” and view what locations your ads are set to run in
4. Daily Budget Limitations
In Google Ads, you set a daily budget that determines your daily spending limits. While Google Ads may exceed this budget by up to 2x when a query has high conversion potential, it aims to keep your average daily spending within your set limits and will not exceed your monthly budget (30.4x your daily budget). For instance, if your average cost per click (CPC) is $10 and your daily budget is $100, you can expect around 10 clicks before your budget is exhausted for the day, after which your ads will stop showing.
To view your daily campaign budgets:
Log into Google Ads
Expand the Campaigns section
Click on Campaigns
View your daily budget for each campaign in the “Budget” column
To see when your budget is being exhausted each day, check your Day & Hour report. If you find that your budget is consistently running out early, this could explain why you’re not seeing your ads later in the day. In this case, consider increasing your budget to keep your ads running longer.
To view your time-of-day report:
Log into Google Ads
Click on Overview
Scroll down to the Day & Hour card
Set the metric dropdown to Impressions
Click the Hour tab
If your impressions go to zero early in the day, you may want to consider increasing your budget
5. Ad Rank, Quality Score, and Auction Dynamics
At its core, Google Ads operates as an auction. This means that if you’re targeting highly competitive keywords, competitors’ ads may show instead of yours when you search. Google determines which ads to display using a combination of factors:
Bid Amount: How much you’re willing to spend
Quality Score: Google’s assessment of the quality of your ads and landing page
Expected Clickthrough Rate: your ad’s performance compared to other advertisers
These elements are calculated in real time and can vary with each search query. So, if a competitor has a higher ad rank at the time of your search, their ad may appear instead of yours. Although you can’t view your Ad Rank score directly, you can use other metrics to gauge it. Learn more about improving your ad rank.
Where to find these metrics:
Navigate to Campaigns > Columns > Modify Columns > Competitive Metrics
Add the Search Top Impression Share and Search Absolute Top Impression Share columns
- Check your Impression Share metrics to see how well your ads are positioned on the SERP:
Search Top Impression Share shows the percentage of times your ads appeared above the organic search results.
Search Absolute Top Impression Share reflects the percentage of times your ads appeared in the first ad position (the absolute top).
You can also enable the columns Search Top IS Lost (Rank) and Search Abs. Top IS Lost (Rank) tells you the percentage of potential impressions lost due to a low Ad Rank.
6. IP Address Exclusions
Google Ads allows you to use IP address exclusions to block traffic from specific IPs. This feature is useful for preventing your ads from displaying on your own devices, office devices, or even from malicious sources. While Google’s automatic systems already detect and filter invalid clicks (like those from bots), IP exclusions offer additional control over who can see your ads. This feature helps your budget be spent more efficiently by focusing on the most qualified traffic.
Here’s how to exclude IP addresses from your ads account:
Log into Google Ads and click the “Admin” icon
Expand the IP exclusions dropdown
Enter the IP addresses you want to exclude from seeing your ads
7. Ad Fatigue & Personalized Search Results
When you search for your ads on Google, you're likely not inclined to click on them to avoid wasting part of your ad budget. However, repeatedly searching your ads without clicking can signal to Google’s algorithm a potential lack of interest, a phenomenon called "ad fatigue." Google prioritizes showing ads to users who seem relevant and engaged, so if you consistently skip your own ads, it may conclude that you’re not a qualified viewer.
This behavior can also impact your clickthrough rate (CTR). Each time you view your ads without clicking, you increase impressions without corresponding clicks, which lowers your CTR. A lower CTR can reduce your quality score, harming your ad rank and making your ads less competitive in future auctions.
Additionally, Google’s algorithm relies heavily on personalized search results, analyzing your past search behavior to determine what's most relevant to you. If you're not actively in-market for your own product or service, Google will prioritize displaying your ads to users who are, further decreasing the chances you'll see them.
To avoid these issues, rather than searching for your ads directly in Google search, it’s best to use Google Ads’ official Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool. As a reminder, this tool will allow you to check your ads’ visibility without affecting your performance metrics or wasting your ad budget.
Organic Impacts of Searching for Your Website
Like with Paid Search, frequently searching for your business can be counterproductive and negatively impact your website’s performance metrics. Regularly looking up your business using your non-branded keywords without clicking on your site sends signals to Google that your site may not be relevant from an Organic perspective for those search queries. Even if you do click, low engagement on the site can also negatively impact your organic rankings.
Search engine results are also highly personalized based on historical behavior, so while you may see your site in your own search results, this may not reflect the average user’s experience. Instead, use tools like Semrush to track your website’s rankings. These types of tools gather ranking data through crawlers, which don’t impact your organic rankings.
For more insights on this topic, check out our blog post: Why You Shouldn’t Google Your Business.
Avoid Costly Mistakes—Use Google’s Ad Preview Tool Instead
There are several reasons your ads might not appear when you search for them, and it’s generally best to avoid searching for your own ads in the live search results. Doing so can negatively impact your ad rank and skew your performance metrics, complicating issue diagnosis and campaign optimization.
Instead, use Google’s Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool to check your ads' visibility. This tool lets you view your ads without affecting metrics or wasting budget, enabling you to make informed adjustments based on accurate data, so your ads reach the right audience at the right time.
For more insights on Google Ads best practices, stay up to date by signing up for our bi-weekly newsletter, or reach out to Workshop Digital for a free consultation!
