You search for your own keyword and your ad isn't there. Or the campaign shows Limited by budget next to its status, and clicks dried up halfway through the day. Both feel urgent, but they usually have ordinary causes that you can find in a few minutes.
An ad can fail to show for many reasons. The account may have a billing problem, the ad may be disapproved, the keywords may have too little search volume, or your Ad Rank may be too low to enter the auction. And sometimes the ad is running fine, just not for you: Google stops showing it to people who keep searching without clicking.
Limited by budget is different. It means the campaign is eligible and showing, but the daily budget runs out before it can enter every auction it could win. The fix there is about money and focus, not settings.
This guide gives you a fixed order of checks: start at the top, stop when you find the problem, and apply the fix that matches it.
Quick answer
- Check the account: billing, policy issues and verification. Ads don't run while the account is suspended or unpaid.
- Check statuses at every level: campaign, ad group, ad and keyword. Look for Paused, Disapproved, Not eligible or Low search volume.
- Run Ad preview and diagnosis for your keyword and location instead of searching Google yourself.
- Add the Search lost IS (budget) and Search lost IS (rank) columns. Budget losses need more budget or tighter focus. Rank losses need better bids or quality.
- For Limited by budget, raise the budget, move budget from weaker campaigns, or narrow keywords, locations and schedule.
Before you start
You need a few things before you start clicking around.
- Access: Standard or Admin access to the Google Ads account. Billing checks need billing access too.
- Time: About 30 minutes for the checks below.
- A keyword and a location to test: Pick the exact search you expected your ad to show for, and the city where you looked.
- A note of recent changes: New bid strategy, budget cuts, new ads or a paused campaign. Look at Change history if you're not sure.
Don't make big changes until you know the cause, because changing budgets and bid strategies repeatedly resets learning and makes diagnosis harder.
Step 1: Rule out account-level blocks
Start with the account, because nothing else matters if the ads can't serve at all.
Look at the top of any page in Google Ads. Red or yellow banners point to account problems: a declined payment, a policy suspension, or advertiser verification that isn't complete.
Then open Billing > Summary. Check that a valid payment method is on file and there's no failed payment. If you use monthly invoicing or prepay, make sure the balance or budget order hasn't run out.
Google's help is clear here: ads don't run during billing verification or a temporary security suspension, so fix these before anything else.
- Account-level alerts show in red banners. These stop all ads, not just one campaign.
- Fix payment first, then check whether campaigns resume within a few hours.
Step 2: Check statuses at every level
Go to Campaigns and look at the Status column for your campaign. Google uses these campaign statuses:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Eligible | Running and able to show ads. |
| Eligible (limited) | Running, but something restricts how often ads show. Hover to see why. |
| Limited by budget | Running, but the budget limits how often ads show. |
| Not eligible | No active ad groups, ads or keywords. |
| Paused | You paused it. |
| Pending | The start date is in the future. |
| Ended | The end date passed. |
| Removed | Deleted. |
Then drill down: click into the campaign and check Ad groups, Ads and Keywords. A campaign can be Eligible while every ad inside it is Disapproved.
At the keyword level, watch for Low search volume. Google holds those keywords back from serving until searches pick up, so add broader or more common variations.
Also check the Bid strategy column, because statuses like Learning, Limited or Misconfigured explain a lot. A strategy marked Misconfigured often means its conversion goal has no active conversion action. See Google Ads conversion tracking if that's the case.
- Limited by budget means eligible but capped. Hover to see Google's budget suggestion.
- A campaign can't show if every ad inside it is disapproved.
Step 3: Use Ad preview and diagnosis, not Google search
Searching your own keyword over and over doesn't work as a test. If you see your ad and never click, Google may stop showing it to you, and you also add impressions that skew your data.
Use the tool instead: go to Tools > Troubleshooting > Ad preview and diagnosis. Labels may vary slightly in your account.
Enter the search term, then set the Location, Language and Device to match the customer you care about. The tool shows a simulated results page and tells you whether your ad would appear. If not, it gives a reason.
Common reasons it shows:
- Your ad group is paused or the ad isn't approved.
- Another ad in your own account won the auction for that search.
- A negative keyword blocks the search.
- Your bid or Ad Rank is too low.
- The ad is outside its ad schedule or location targeting.
Google notes the tool is a simulation, so it doesn't catch everything. Compare its answer with real impressions in your reports.
- Use the exact search and set the location and device of a real customer.
- The diagnosis line is the answer. Note it before you change anything.
Step 4: Read impression share to split budget from rank
Now look at how many auctions you're missing, and why. Go to Campaigns, click the columns icon, open Competitive metrics, and add:
- Search impr. share: the share of eligible impressions you got.
- Search lost IS (budget): the share you lost because the budget ran out.
- Search lost IS (rank): the share you lost because of low Ad Rank (bid and quality).
These three add up to roughly 100%, and the split tells you which fix to use.
- High lost IS (budget): you're Limited by budget. Go to Step 5.
- High lost IS (rank): your bids or quality are too low. Improve Quality Score, raise bids, or relax a strict target CPA.
- Both low, impressions still low: demand is small. Add keywords or broaden match types or locations.
Look at a period of at least two weeks, since daily numbers jump around too much to read.
- Here one campaign loses mostly to budget and another mostly to rank. The numbers are only an example.
- Find these columns under Competitive metrics in the column picker.
Step 5: Fix "Limited by budget"
First, understand how budgets work. Google says a campaign can spend up to twice its average daily budget on a given day, but you won't be billed more than 30.4 times the daily budget over a month. So one expensive day isn't a bug, and you don't need to fix it.
Now choose the fix that fits your situation.
Option A: Raise the budget
If the campaign is profitable, this is the simplest fix. Hover over Limited by budget or click the chart icon next to the budget. Google shows a recommended daily budget and the estimated extra clicks or conversions. Pick a value you're comfortable with and click Save.
Google won't always show a recommendation, and it skips one when you rarely hit the budget or when there's little data.
Option B: Move budget between campaigns
Look at cost per conversion by campaign, then lower the budget of a weak campaign and raise the limited one by the same amount. Your total spend stays exactly the same.
Option C: Spend the same budget more carefully
If you can't add money, shrink what the campaign tries to cover:
- Pause keywords that spend without converting.
- Add negatives from the search terms report. See negative keywords.
- Narrow locations to where you actually serve customers.
- Limit the ad schedule to hours when leads convert or the phone is answered.
- With Maximize clicks, set a Maximum CPC bid limit so clicks cost less.
- With Target CPA or Target ROAS, a stricter target can reduce spend, but it can also lower volume.
A small budget spread across many broad keywords runs out early in the day, while focused campaigns stay visible for longer.
- Treat the recommendation as an option, not an order. Check profitability first.
- Apply changes the budget immediately. Avoid changing it every day.
Still not working? Common causes
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No ads at all, every campaign | Billing problem, suspension or unfinished verification | Check the account banners and Billing. Complete verification. |
| Campaign Eligible, no impressions | All ads disapproved or keywords have Low search volume | Fix policy issues. Add common keyword variants. |
| Ad shows in preview tool but not for you | You searched it often without clicking, or you're outside targeting | Stop searching manually. Trust the tool and reports. |
| Impressions dropped after a bid strategy change | Bid strategy is Learning | Wait a week or two before judging. Don't stack changes. |
| Search lost IS (rank) high | Low bids, low Quality Score or strict target CPA/ROAS | Raise bids or targets gradually. Improve ads and landing pages. |
| Budget spent by noon | Budget small for the keyword set or CPCs | Narrow keywords and locations, or schedule ads for peak hours. |
| Ads only in some locations | Location option set to presence or interest | Under location options, choose Presence if you only serve people there. |
| Ad missing for one search | A negative keyword or another ad group wins | Check negatives and overlapping keywords in the preview diagnosis. |
| Not eligible campaign | No active ad groups, ads or keywords | Enable at least one ad group with an approved ad and keywords. |
| Ads stopped at month end | Account budget or budget order exhausted | Add a new budget order or raise the account budget. |
The bid strategy is waiting for conversions
Target CPA and Target ROAS need conversion data, so if conversion tracking broke, the bid strategy may barely bid. Check your conversion action statuses in Goals > Summary first.
Your schedule or location excludes you
Check the campaign Settings first. If ads only run on weekdays from 9 to 5, they won't show at 8 p.m. If you target one city, someone searching from another city won't see them.
How to confirm it's fixed
- Same day: Run Ad preview and diagnosis again for the same search. The ad should show or the diagnosis should change.
- Within 24 hours: Impressions appear in the Campaigns view after fixing billing, statuses or disapprovals.
- After 7 days: Search lost IS (budget) should drop if you raised the budget or narrowed focus. Compare the same days of the week.
- After 2–3 weeks: For bid strategy changes, judge performance only after learning ends.
If impression share stays the same after a budget increase, the limit wasn't really budget. Go back to Step 4 and look at rank.
FAQ
Is "Limited by budget" always bad?
No. It just means more traffic is available at your current bids. If your current spend is the maximum you can afford, being limited is fine. In that case, focus the budget on what converts.
Why did Google spend more than my daily budget?
Google can spend up to twice the average daily budget on some days. It balances out over the month, and you won't be billed more than 30.4 times your daily budget in a month.
Should I search for my own ad to check it?
No, use Ad preview and diagnosis instead. Repeated searches without clicks can make Google stop showing you the ad, and they add impressions to your reports.
Why does my ad show on mobile but not desktop?
Check device bid adjustments, the ad preview device setting, and whether the ad schedule or audience differs. With Smart Bidding, Google may bid lower on devices that convert less.
How long after a fix do ads start showing?
Billing and status fixes usually take effect within hours. Policy reviews can take a day or more. Bid strategy changes take a week or two to stabilize.
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