A Google Business Help thread has Neetu Kurian from the Google AdWords Express team answering some frequently asked questions.
The first question tackled is why are my AdWords Express ads not running? Here is the full list of possible answers from Neetu:
1. AdWords Express ad Status:
For AdWords Express ad status, remember DU'DE' -- Disapproved, Under review, Deactivated.
- Disapproved - When the ad or the website you promote violates our advertising policies, the ad is disapproved. In such cases, you will be notified regarding the same via an email. So, please go through the email to find which ad was disapproved, why and then make the necessary changes to your ad/website to get it re-reviewed and approved. Here is a list of disapproval reasons and steps on how to fix it.
- Under Review - This means that your ad is still being reviewed and it will not be eligible to run with us until we review and approve it. Please keep in mind that every time you submit new ads or make changes to existing ads, they're automatically submitted for review to ensure that they adhere to all of our advertising policies. If this is the scenario and its been more than 2-3 business days since you created a new ad or made changes to it, then please contact our support team via this form and we will be more than happy to get your ad reviewed on priority.
- Deactivated - In such instances, it is likely that you have deactivated your AdWords Express ad and to cross check this, please sign into your AdWords Express account at adwords.google.com/express and choose the business you have created your AdWords Express ad for. If your ad for the chosen Business is deactivated, then you will receive a pop up message that reads - "You currently have no active ads associated with this business".
We just wish you resume running your AdWords Express ad again -- if so, you can by following these relevant steps.
2. Budget Issues
This is easy to figure out but advertisers tend to miss often, so here’s the best way to remember -- ‘MP’
- Monthly Budget - It is possible that your ad is not running with us because of your monthly budget that has exhausted and in such instances, our system will automatically ‘pause’ your AdWords Express ad or end your AdWords Express ad to ensure that you do not accrue costs more than your monthly budget. So, you may want to cross check your AdWords Express account to see if your monthly budget has already been met. Additionally, please also note that your monthly budget will be spread across the month to ensure that you have enough funds to show your ad through out the month. And, it is possible that your ad may stop running with us when the budget per day has been met.
- Pro-rated budget in AdWords Express - Please also note that the monthly budget for an AdWords Express ad is pro-rated which means that if the campaign is active for only half the calendar month, then only half the monthly budget will be available. So, for instance - if you activated your AdWords Express ad on 15th May and your monthly budget was set to $100, then only half the monthly budget will be available for the rest of May which is $50 and if this $50 gets exhausted by, say, May 26, your AdWords Express ad will stop running with us for the rest of the month (May 26 - May 31). But, however please be assured that our system will automatically resume your ad serving next month with your whole monthly budget of $100 ( in this example). So, you may want to cross check your account and do the calculations to see if this was the issue that impacted your ad serving!
3. Prepaid Balance exhausted (if on Manual Payments)
If you are on Manual Payments, check the ‘Billing’ Tab in your AdWords Express account to see if you have sufficient funds in your account for our system to continue running your ad. If not, please fund your account appropriately so that we can resume your ad serving and here are the steps you need to take to fund your account.
4. Credit Card declined (if on Automatic Payments)
When a credit or debit card payment is declined, we may suspend all the campaigns in your account until billing information is updated and the payment is successfully processed. So, you may want to cross check on this issue and correct any errors in your billing information within the account for the card.
There could be a list of reasons why your credit or debit card might be declined, so here’s how you can update your Billing information.
5. Listing status
Do remember that your AdWords Express ad will not run with us if your ad is directed to your Google+ or Local Page and if your listing is ‘pending review’. So, in such cases - please verify your listing which will resume your ad serving. And to verify your listing, please login to your Google Places account at google.com/places and to learn more about the ‘verfication options’, please see this.
Instead, if your ad is directed to your website, it will be eligible to run with us even when your listing is pending review. So, while your listing is pending review you may want to consider directing your ad to your ‘website’ (if you have one) to ensure that your ad runs with us even while you wait to verify your listing. If you wish to do so, please edit your ad by following the steps here
6. Searched for ad too many times
It’s also possible that you are unable to see your ad because you searched for it too many times. Ahhhh!!
In our ongoing effort to provide an optimal user and advertiser experience, our system may sometimes show your ads in different positions for different users. For this reason, what you see may sometimes not be representative of what most other users are seeing. For example, if a user often sees an ad but doesn't click it, our system may eventually show the ad in a lower position to that user. This ensures that you don't accrue several impressions unnecessarily and that your CTR (click through rate) won't be affected. So, to track your ad performance and to cross check if your ad is running (without affecting it’s CTR), I strongly recommend you to use the Ad Preview Tool and if you need assistance on how to use this tool, please see this video
TIP: When you use the Ad Preview Tool, try using one of your ‘top searched terms/keywords’ seen in the AdWords Express account as this will confirm if your ad is actually running with us.
7. Account suspended
Your AdWords Express ads will also not run with us if your AdWords Express account/Places account or the associated AdWords account is suspended for being in violation of our advertising policies and quality guidelines. So, cross check on this scenario as well. And, if you wish to get more clarity/confirmation on your account suspension, please contact our support team.
8. Account under Review
If none of the above, then it is also possible that your account is under review with us. Nothing to worry, these are periodic checks to ensure the security of accounts. If you need to cross check on this, please write to our support team.
Forum discussion at Google Business Help.
