Google AdWords FAQ

Last updated by shaneshuford 2 years ago

My Ads Aren’t Showing:

Question (examples):

We have been searching incognito.

We are searching several different keywords

Our competitors are at the top of the page while we rarely show.

Is there anywhere where you can see if they are just spending more?

What can we do to be #1 for keyword “[insert keyword here]”

Should we increase our ad budget?

Answer:

There are several reasons why your ads may not show up for you during a search.

Location Targeting, Ad Scheduling, Ad Rotations, Audience Groups, and Recent Views are the most common reasons.

Location:

The ads are currently set to display for specific locations to remove clicks from individuals outside of the service area.

Scheduling:

The ads will automatically adjust display scheduling based on likelihood to convert.

Rotations:

It is possible that budgets on some competitor accounts may allow a top position until budget depletion at the cost of a higher cost per click for them.

Audience Groups:

Ads are displayed more frequently to individuals within specific audience groups, individuals are placed within these groups based on their likelihood to convert, google's algorithm may see you as unlikely to convert.

This can happen even if you are doing a search within an incognito window. Here is a quote from Google Support articles: "If you search for your own ad using Google Search but do not click on the ad, you may stop seeing it, that's because Google's system detects the IP address of your computer and stops showing you ads that it thinks you aren't interested in".

Recent Views:

Similar to Audience Groups, if you have visited the website recently, Google Analytics passes data to Google AdWords. It's possible to be placed in a group that will not see ads for the business until some time has lapsed.

We do have some tools at our disposal that can give a good estimate of competitor AdWords budgets, but they are not 100% accurate.

These tools work by rotating servers in different locations doing searches for different keyword phrases, then captures their ad copy, search phrase, and position.

We are happy to run some reports on some of your competitors if you would like to see them, Just let us know!

Ranking #1 for the keyword [insert keyword here] may not be the best idea.

Just because someone is searching for the keyword [insert keyword here] may not necessarily mean that they are interested in your business, they may be interested in

[examples of other reasons someone is searching for that keyword]