Keyword status: Definition

A status for each keyword that describes whether it can trigger ads to run at the moment.

For each keyword, you'll see information about its current state listed in the 'Status' column on the 'Keywords' page. If several statuses apply to a keyword, we'll show you the most relevant status first.

Here are the keyword statuses that you might see:

Keyword statuses

The keyword is at a certain stage of the review process when Google reviews keywords to make sure that they meet our advertising policies.

Before review, your keyword will have this status:

  • Under review: The keyword won’t be able to trigger ads until it's been reviewed, which can take up to one working day.

After review, your keyword will have one of these statuses:

  • Eligible: The keyword has been reviewed and is eligible to show its ads.
  • Eligible (limited): The keyword's performance is being affected by some other factor.
    • Low search volume: The keyword is temporarily suspended because it's associated with very little search traffic on Google, indicating that it's not very relevant to most customers' searches.
    • Rarely shown due to low Quality Score: The keyword's Quality Score is very low and is preventing your ad from showing very often.
    • Below first page bid estimate: The keyword is active and can trigger your ad to appear. However, its cost-per-click (CPC) bid is lower than the amount that's likely to place your ad on the first page of Google search results.
    • Few page matches: The keyword is temporarily suspended because it matches very few pages, indicating that the phrase isn't common in Display Network content.
  • Not Eligible: The keyword is not triggering ads because it's contained in a campaign or ad group that is not eligible
    • Campaign paused or Ad group paused: The keyword is in an ad group or campaign that isn't running because you previously paused it.
    • Campaign removed or Ad group removed: The keyword is in an ad group or campaign that isn't running because you previously removed it.
    • Campaign pending: The keyword is in a campaign that hasn't started running yet because its start date is in the future.
    • Campaign ended: The keyword is in a campaign that stopped running because it passed its end date.
    • Campaign suspended: The keyword is in a campaign that's temporarily paused because your prepaid account balance has run out.
  • Disapproved: The keyword cannot trigger ads because it violates Google Ads policy.
  • Removed: The keyword is not triggering ads because you previously removed it.
  • Paused: The keyword is not triggering ads because you previously paused it.

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