ShareWelcome to the first in a series of blogs that are focused on answering questions we, as a digital marketing agency are frequently asked by our clients. The question we’re going to cover in the first blog of the series; “Why aren’t my paid ads showing?” is a question we are asked a lot and understandably so. When searching for a phrase that you’ve seen an ad for in the past, it’s easy to panic and start increasing bids if you’re not seeing the ad the next time you search.
1. Google Take Into Account More Than Just Keywords You’re Searching
Google results are influenced by your personal search history and also increasingly by social signals – e.g. what your social connections have liked.
Paid search campaigns can target specific locations and if you are located outside of the targeted area, you won’t see the ad when searching for it.
Similarly, paid search can be set up to target users searching at a specified time of day, like business hours. If you are searching outside of these hours your ads will not show.
2. Google Thinks That You Aren’t Interested
Google wants to show you the most relevant ads that you are most interested in and therefore are most likely to click. If Google has shown you an ad multiple times from the same IP address and you haven’t clicked it, Google assumes that you aren’t interested in the offering.
3. Your Budget is Too Low
If your budget is too low in an ad auction, Google will not show the ad for every search of your selected keywords. Additionally, if your ad rank is low (not in the top three positions) your ad may not show for all searches. It’s not uncommon for a daily budget to be exhausted by as early as 10 am, which means that anyone searching after this time will not see the ad.
You are able to see in Google AdWords how much of your impression share you are losing due to budget restrictions and ad rank.
4. Your Competition
If you are advertising in a competitive space it could be the case that your competitors have outbid you on most auctions.
5. Your Quality Score
The Quality Score is used by Google to estimate the relevancy of your keywords, ads and landing pages. It is influenced by a number of factors which include;
- Your account history
- The CTR (Click Through Rate) of your ads, keywords and destination URL’s
- The quality of your landing page
- Your performance on different device types
The quality score affects your ad position and if they are shown at all. In a nutshell, typically the higher the Quality Score the lower the costs for better ad positions.
Why You Shouldn’t Repeatedly Search For Your Ads
Now that I have explained some of the reasons your PPC ads may not be showing, it’s important to explain why you shouldn’t repeatedly search for your ads. We understand that it’s reassuring to see your ad in the top position for your searches, but doing so can have a detrimental impact on the campaign performance. If you search for your own ad and do not click it, it will negatively affect your Click Through Rate and Quality Score, if you click the ad it simply costs you money.
We hope that this advice helps clear up this common PPC query – be sure to download our PPC Guide for more tips and digital guidance!
