Have you ever Googled yourself, and not shown up in the results? Yeah… me neither. ?
This can be particularly frustrating when you’re checking in on your own dealership’s ads, but there are a lot of factors that determine whether or not your ad will show up in your search results, so don’t worry! Let’s go over the the most common reasons your ad might not be showing up for you.
1. Your search lost impression share due to budget & rank
These metrics will tell you which impressions your ad is eligible for but didn’t show up either due to budget constraints or ad rank respectively. If you have a high search lost impression share due to budget, review your campaigns and budget allocation to see where you can reallocate ad dollars for the campaigns that are most important to your business. If you are looking to improve your search lost impression share due to rank, look at your bids and quality scores to see where you can improve. Another thing to keep in mind is if you just started a new account, you won’t have the same quality score as an account that’s been running a long time. This is because there is no past performance so Google has to rely on other predictions.
Tip: Make sure you have enough budget on your account as a whole. If you don’t find yourself when you perform a search, chances are your potential customers aren’t seeing your ad either. However if you’re on a tight budget, search for yourself earlier in the day when your allotted daily budget isn’t used up.
2. The results are personalized to each individual IP address
Keep in mind that search results are specific to each user, the results aren’t populated the same for everyone. Your past history of searches will be taken into account for any future searches and will affect which ads show up. According to Google Support, “If you repeatedly search for your own business on Google but you don’t click your ad, you may stop seeing the ad after a while. That’s because Google’s system recognizes your computer and stops showing ads that it thinks you aren’t interested in ¹.” Additionally, Google’s algorithm is smart enough to detect if you’ve frequently visited a certain website and know that you’re already aware of that brand so that ad wouldn’t be served to you.
Tip: Try searching through 1) An incognito window or 2) Google’s Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool.
3. You’re not searching the right keywords
Review your account to ensure you are searching with the keywords that you are actually bidding on and that they are enabled. You could be searching for keywords that you might have paused, removed, or not yet added into your account.
Tip: When deciding which keywords to search, try using longer-tail keywords. It’s less likely that a competitor is also bidding on those.
4. You’re not inside the campaign’s geo-target
Each campaign has its own geo-target, so make sure you are actually in that physical location. However, there is an advanced location setting where you can choose whether you want your ad to show not only if someone is actually in that location but also if someone is searching for or showing interest in that location. If your account has that setting, perform a few searches that include that location beforehand to “express interest” and you might see your ad pop up even if you’re not physically there.
Tip: You can use an alternative search site like isearchfrom.com that lets you simulate a Google Search from a custom destination.
Still Not Coming Up?
There are always other factors that could prevent your ad from showing aside from this short list. If you’ve gone through these above reasons and you are still unable to pull up your ad, give us a shout! Me and my fellow paid search specialists are always here to help!
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