Pause or enable your ad groups

This article explains how to pause, enable, or remove your ad groups.

Before you begin

As of January 18, 2017, display and video ad groups that don’t have a targeting method will be eligible to show ads on the Google Display Network and YouTube. As a one-time exception, existing ad groups without targeting will be automatically paused as of January 18, 2017 to ensure that ads unintended to be shown are not running. Make sure to manually pause ad groups that aren’t ready to show ads. Learn more about targeting settings on the Display Network

Instructions

Note: The instructions below are part of the new design for the Google Ads user experience. To use the previous design, click the "Appearance" icon, and select Use previous design. If you're using the previous version of Google Ads, review the Quick reference map or use the Search bar in the top navigation panel of Google Ads to find the page you’re searching for.

How to pause, enable, or remove your ad groups

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Ad groups.
4. Find the “Status” column to see the current status of each ad group.
5. Click the checkbox beside the ad group or ad groups you want to change.
6. Click the "Edit" drop-down menu above the ad groups, and select Enable, Pause, or Remove.

How to find removed ad groups

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Ad groups.
4. Click Ad group status in the status bar on top of the table toolbar.
5. Click All.
6. Look at the “Status” column to see ad groups that have been removed, and ad groups within campaigns that have been removed.

Visit Google Ads

How to make changes to multiple campaigns, ads, or ad groups

If you want to make changes to multiple campaigns, ads, ad groups and more in bulk, you might want to use bulk uploads. With bulk uploads, you can download a spreadsheet, make changes offline, then upload it to have the changes take effect at the same time.

Tips

• You can pause or enable a single ad group simply by clicking its status icon.
• Make sure you have at least 3 ads in your ad group so that Google Ads can optimize what type of messaging works best for your potential customers.

How ad groups work with other levels of Google Ads

• Ad groups depend on campaigns: If your ad group is in a campaign that is paused or removed, the ads in your ad group won’t run. Similarly, if your ad group is in a campaign that is enabled, the ads in your ad group can run (but you can choose to pause or remove them).
• Ads depend on ad groups: If your ad group is paused or removed, the ads in that ad group won’t run. Similarly, if your ad group is enabled, then its ads can run (but you can choose to pause or remove them).

Related links

• About ad group status
• Pause, resume, or remove a campaign
• Pause or resume your ads