You can review your Google Ads keywords status to determine whether your keywords are active, under review, experiencing a low search volume or inactive.
This article describes how to find your keyword status, the different keyword status types and what they mean.
On this page
- What your keyword status means
- How to find your keyword status
- Keyword status: Not eligible
- Keyword status: Paused
- Keyword status: Paused (with a secondary status of 'Keyword paused due to low activity')
- Keyword status: Removed
- Keyword status: Eligible
- Keyword status: Disapproved
- Keyword status: Eligible (limited)
What your keyword status means
Your keyword status tells you whether your keyword is causing ads to show to your target customers. In general, your keyword will be in one of three general states:
- Showing ads
- Not showing ads because you paused or removed a keyword, ad group or campaign
- Not showing ads because there’s an issue with your account or keyword
Tip: Try optimising your account by improving your ads and keywords.
How to find your keyword status
Your keyword status tells you if your ads are running, and it can be found in the 'Status' column in your statistics table. To find your keyword status, use the following instructions.
Instructions
Your keyword status can be found in the 'Status' column in your statistics table. Here's how to access it:
- Go to Keywords within the Campaigns menu
.
- Review the 'Status' column. Next to each keyword, you'll find your keyword's current status.
.Keyword status options
Below you'll find the different types of keyword statuses and what they mean.
Keyword status: Not eligible
| What it means | Next step |
|---|---|
| Campaign paused: Keywords are inactive because you paused your campaign. If your campaign is paused, then keywords in that campaign will also stop showing ads. | Find out how to resume your campaign. |
| Campaign pending: keywords are inactive because your campaign is scheduled to begin on a future date and is not yet showing ads. | Find out how to change your campaign’s start date. |
| Campaign removed: keywords are inactive because you removed the campaign that contains these keywords. | Find out how to re-enable your campaign. |
| Campaign ended: keywords are inactive because your campaign is past its scheduled end date and has become inactive. | Find out how to change your campaign’s end date. |
| Ad group paused: keywords are inactive because you paused your ad group. If you pause your ad group, then the keywords in that ad group will stop showing ads. | Find out how to resume your ad group. |
| Ad group removed: keywords are inactive because you removed your ad group. If you remove your ad group, then the keywords in that ad group will stop showing ads. | Learn how to re-enable your ad group. |
Keyword status: Paused
| What it means | Next step |
|---|---|
| Keyword is inactive because you paused it. Pausing a keyword means that it won't show ads or accumulate new costs until restarted. | Learn how to enable your keyword. |
Keyword status: Paused (with a secondary status of 'Keyword paused due to low activity')
| What it means | Next step |
|---|---|
| Keyword is inactive because it had zero impressions in the past 13 months. Google automatically pauses low-activity keywords, and you’ll be notified of the pause in your Google Ads account. | Learn more about auto-pause for low activity keywords. |
Keyword status: Removed
| What it means | Next step |
|---|---|
| Keyword is inactive because you removed it. Removing a keyword means that it won't show ads. | Learn how to add keywords. |
Keyword status: Eligible
| What it means | Next step |
|---|---|
| Keyword is eligible to show ads. | No action needed. |
Keyword status: Disapproved
| What it means | Next step |
|---|---|
| Keyword is inactive and isn't showing ads. A disapproved keyword usually means that there's an issue with one or more of our advertising policies, such as our destination or final URL policy. | Hover over the status bubble for more details and review our advertising policies to check whether your keyword violates one of our policies. |
Keyword status: Eligible (limited)
| What it means | Next step |
|---|---|
| Below first page bid estimate: Keyword is active and can show ads. However, your keyword isn't currently showing ads on the first page of Google search results. | Find out about getting your ad to show on the first page of Google search results. |
| Low search volume: keyword isn't eligible to show because it's associated with very little search traffic on our properties. This means that your keyword might not be relevant to people's searches, or maybe it's too specific or unusual. | If the number of searches for these keywords increases, your keywords may be reactivated and could start triggering your ads to show again. Find out how to use Keyword Planner to get keyword ideas and traffic estimates. |
| Rarely shown due to low quality score: keyword isn't eligible to show ads due to a low Quality Score | You should consider removing this keyword and adding a more relevant keyword to your account. Other factors, like your landing page, could also affect your Quality Score. Learn more About Quality Score. |
| 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. | Consider adding a more relevant keyword to your account. |
