Google Ads Not Running

So I'm trying to run Google Ads for a cleaning business in a city of 2.4 Million people.

Exact Match keywords (high buying intent) with Max Clicks set to just below Top of Page Bid. Going to switch to Maximize Conversions after 1 month of conversion data is gathered.

Search volume for keywords is good so no issue there.

My negative keywords do not cancel out my Exact Match keywords as they don't share any words or similarities (negatives such as buy, how to, etc.)

The campaign went into Bid Strategy Learning for 5 days which was all good and now the ads are ready to run. I logged into my Google Ads account to see why the ads weren’t running and I saw this message:



My Google Ads manager called me within about 10 minutes of me logging in and introduced himself.

He has of course recommended that I use Broad Match only and Maximize Conversions

I said I will not use Broad Match under any circumstances and that I will switch to Maximize Conversions after 1 month and he then said “I understand. Since the ad strength is good, if you'd prefer not to use broad match, we can certainly use phrase match. Phrase match offers a wider reach than exact match while maintaining more targeted relevance than broad match.”

I then stated that there is nothing wrong with Exact Match and Maximize Clicks. I am well aware of the difference between different match types and how they impact my budget and relevant search queries that my ads will appear for.

He is now not replying to me and the campaign just sits there with 0 Clicks and 0 Impressions.

How am I able to get around this and have these ads running?

Thank you.

I think, it's related to budget first of all.

And you say, "My Google Ads manager called", where? Is that, listed on Third-Party partner page?

My advice would be to check:
1. Whether there is money on the account balance. As cliché as it sounds, I've encountered this
2. Whether your advertising budget for the campaign is sufficient. If your price per click is high, but your budget is enough for just a couple of clicks - this may be the problem. Also you said that you set the price per click just below Top of Page Bid and the strategy “Maximum clicks”, in this case you are limiting all keywords with the same price per click, which may require very different cpc.

If everything is in order with the balance and budget, try to put manual bid control and try different cpc gradually increasing and tracking when the ads will show.

Good luck with that

You need to edit your landing page

Genesis said:

The campaign went into Bid Strategy Learning for 5 days which was all good and now the ads are ready to run. I logged into my Google Ads account to see why the ads weren’t running and I saw this message:

Click to expand...

See that your bid strategy is correctly set. If using Max Clicks, check that your bids are competitive enough to show ads. Consider increasing your daily budget

EnginTopcuoglu said:

I think, it's related to budget first of all.

And you say, "My Google Ads manager called", where? Is that, listed on Third-Party partner page?

Click to expand...

He called me and introduced himself as my account manager and said that there needs to be a few changes before the campaign can run. He is an approved contractor and knew my campaign details without me telling him those details. He really just wanted me to switch to Broad Match and Maximize Conversions so that I would waste as much money as possible.

I'm not sure what the Third-Party Partner Page is?

hustlersshop said:

1. Whether there is money on the account balance. As cliché as it sounds, I've encountered this
2. Whether your advertising budget for the campaign is sufficient. If your price per click is high, but your budget is enough for just a couple of clicks - this may be the problem. Also you said that you set the price per click just below Top of Page Bid and the strategy “Maximum clicks”, in this case you are limiting all keywords with the same price per click, which may require very different cpc.

Click to expand...

1. The money is linked to a credit card that I have used before with Google Ads, so it shouldn't be an issue.

2. I set a manual maximum CPC as $7.50. The Top of Page Bid was about $7.70 for the most expensive keyword and all other keyword Top of Page Bids are cheaper than that with some of them even being around $4.40. So being 20 cents shorter than the highest should still get more than zero clicks and impressions right?

I set the daily budget to $90 which should get over 10 clicks per day.

hustlersshop said:

If everything is in order with the balance and budget, try to put manual bid control and try different cpc gradually increasing and tracking when the ads will show.

Click to expand...

So maybe set it to $8 or $9 and see if it works?


I've been emailing the Google Ads Account Manager and he just keeps saying to switch to Broad Match or Phrase Match and the ads will show. Which is bullshit because Exact Match should show if nothing else in the campaign is different.

The search volume is there for Exact Match (Think something like pressure cleaning "city" and similar buyer-intent keywords) so the actual keywords I've chosen definitely have advertiser competition and the ads should be appearing for them.

Based on what the Account Manager said, I really don't know what else could be stopping this campaign from running.

Hi genesis
Can I ask what your keywords are? It's surely because of your daily budget or on-page optimization. Some keywords have low SV, so you need to optimize your landing to get the most clicks on your exact keywords. Maybe it's better to increase your daily budget to $200 just to test it.

amanguy said:

Hi genesis
Can I ask what your keywords are? It's surely because of your daily budget or on-page optimization. Some keywords have low SV, so you need to optimize your landing to get the most clicks on your exact keywords. Maybe it's better to increase your daily budget to $200 just to test it.

Click to expand...

Hi,

Keywords are along the lines of: pressure cleaning city, pressure cleaning, pressure cleaning near me, pressure cleaning service, pressure washing city, pressure washing, pressure washing near me, pressure washing service

All quite high volume keywords with both advertiser and organic competition.

The landing page is basically set up like you would optimize for On Page SEO. So main keyword in H1, first sentence, H2, H3 and sprinkled throughout every section of the page.

I could try raising the daily budget to see if it works but I still would have thought that at 10 to 15 clicks a day it should still run.

Genesis said:

He called me and introduced himself as my account manager and said that there needs to be a few changes before the campaign can run. He is an approved contractor and knew my campaign details without me telling him those details. He really just wanted me to switch to Broad Match and Maximize Conversions so that I would waste as much money as possible.

Click to expand...

I don't know if it's allowed and all but you may want to share the screenshots of your emails with the manager. No one can wrap their head around now. According to what you say, he's threatening you by keeping your campaign inactive till you switch to broad match. Doesn't make much sense for now.

hustlersshop said:

Whether your advertising budget for the campaign is sufficient. If your price per click is high, but your budget is enough for just a couple of clicks - this may be the problem. Also you said that you set the price per click just below Top of Page Bid and the strategy “Maximum clicks”, in this case you are limiting all keywords with the same price per click, which may require very different cpc.

Click to expand...

Ok, so I've had a few clicks and impressions since I've created this thread but it's still not spending much of my daily budget at all.

I'm thinking of raising the daily budget and also Max CPC to see if this gets it going.

I'm now going to be a bit above the Top of Page Bid for all of the keywords in my campaign. Should I be removing certain keywords that have a much lower Top of Page Bid and put them in a separate campaign?

When you see "An ad isn't showing now", it is not necessarily so. You need to wait for a few days (2 to 3 days) and then check for any impressions / clicks and then decide what to do.

#. Check Your Bid Strategy & Adjust Bids​

• Since you're using Max Clicks, ensure your Max CPC bid is competitive(slightly below the top of page bid might be too low). Try:
  • Increasing your Max CPC bid slightly to test if it starts generating impressions.
  • Running an experiment with "Maximize Conversions" alongside "Max Clicks" (if possible).

#. Expand Keyword Match Types (Temporarily)

• While sticking to Exact Match is great for control, Google may not serve ads due to low volume perception.
  • Try adding Phrase Match variants of your keywords. This can help Google see your campaign as scalable without going fully Broad Match.
  • After getting some impressions/clicks, revert to Exact Match if needed.

#. Check Ad Strength & Quality Score

• Even if Google says "Ad Strength is Good," check for:
  • Low Expected CTR or Quality Score (under "Keywords" > Columns > Quality Score).
  • If necessary, tweak headlines/descriptions to improve Ad Relevance and Landing Page Experience.

#. Look at Campaign Settings

• Location Targeting:
  • Ensure your targeting settings are "People in or regularly in your target location", not "interested in".
• Ad Rotation:
  • Set to "Prefer Best Performing Ads" if it's on "Rotate Indefinitely".

Final Thoughts​

• Google favors Broad Match + Smart Bidding for revenue, but Exact Match + Manual Strategies can work with persistence.
• Make small changes, track results, and escalate to support if necessary.

1. You can expand the type of keyword matching, increase the range of target audience and reduce restrictive conditions.
2. Check the payment method (credit card / PayPal is normal)
3. Increase your daily budget to make sure you can cover enough clicks

Hello, constantly updated Google Ads accounts are available, any date you want, invoiced accounts

It can be an issue of network connection

In Europe the external contractor is called sellbytel or teleperformance. These kids get paid poorly and have very basic knowledge of google ad strategies. It is true that they have read-only access to your account, so they can see how you setup the campaign.

Maybe adjust your location targeting or dayparting, Google can be picky with certain settings.