At times, you may find that your App campaigns are not serving as many impressions as you would expect, or are not able to spend much of your set daily budget. This article outlines the common reasons why your ads may not be serving, and how you can troubleshoot using the tools in Google Ads.
Before you begin
What to expect when a campaign is enabled
If you recently enabled your App campaign, it can take some time for your campaign to start serving impressions. There are a few reasons for this:
- If you make changes to creatives or assets in a newly created or existing campaign, it takes 24–48 hours for your ads to be reviewed to ensure that they meet all policy requirements.
- For App campaigns, it takes some time for the system to learn and optimise towards your set goal. You may see fluctuations or lower spend during this initial ramp-up period.
- It may take Google Ads some time to adjust serving if you make changes to your campaign settings.
Recommendations
Recommendations help highlight opportunities to improve performance when your App campaign is not running or is getting low traffic. For example, you can look out for the following example recommendation types when troubleshooting these issues.
Common recommendation types to fix campaigns not running:
- Campaign hasn’t started or has ended
- Create or unpause an ad group
- Account budget exhausted
- All ads disapproved
Common recommendation types to fix low traffic:
- Adjust your CPA targets
- Raise your budgets
- Improve Apps Ad Strength
- Remove cannibalising campaigns
If your ad still isn’t receiving any impressions after three working days, check the common reasons mentioned below.
10 common reasons why your ads may not be running or are getting low traffic
1. Account issues
If your account is suspended, or if you have a billing issue on your account, you won’t be able to run your ads until the problem is resolved.
Learn more about Account issues.
2. Date ranges and campaign start and end dates
Google Ads shows you performance data for the date range that you select.
Learn more about Date ranges and campaign start and end dates.
3. Low bid targets and optimisation goals
While it may be possible to serve ads with a very low bid, your campaign is not likely to enter or win as many auctions and your ads may not have any impressions.
Learn more about Low bid targets and optimisation goals.
4. Targeting is too narrow
While targeting settings help you find the right set of users most interested in your business, each time you add targeting or if you have issues with your remarketing lists, you narrow the potential reach of your ads.
Learn more about Targeting is too narrow.
5. Targeting overlaps with other campaigns or ad groups
You may have multiple campaigns or ad groups in your account that are eligible to enter overlapping auctions due to similar keywords or other targeting.
Learn more about Targeting overlaps with other campaigns or ad groups.
6. Conversion tracking
If your campaign is using automated bidding to optimise towards conversions, but is not getting sufficient conversion data or your conversion tracking is not set up correctly, your ad may have limited serving.
Learn more about Conversion tracking.
7. Ad policy review status
The review status of your ads, remarketing lists or assets can impact your campaign’s ability to serve.
Learn more about Ad policy review status.
8. Low creative asset coverage and diversity (Ad Strength)
App campaigns with a limited set of ads or assets may have more difficulty serving since they are eligible to enter into fewer auctions and have more limited reach.
Learn more about Low creative assets coverage and diversity (ad strength).
9. App status
The status of your app in Google Play or the Apple App Store may limit or prevent your app campaigns from serving ads.
Learn more about App status.
10. Auction dynamics
Other advertisers who are participating in the same auctions as you can affect your campaign’s ability to serve.
Learn more about Auction dynamics.
