Why are my ads not showing as much this week?

First, confirm what “not showing as much” actually means

When someone tells me, “My ads aren’t showing as much this week,” I start by pinning down whether the drop is real (impressions are down), visual (you personally aren’t seeing them), or positional (your ads are showing, but lower on the page so it feels like they “disappeared”). A quick reality check matters because Search layouts have become more dynamic, and “top” placement isn’t as simple as it used to be. Top ads typically appear above organic results, but for certain queries they can also appear below organic results—so you may still be serving while feeling less visible. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/14660113))

Next, validate you’re looking at the right date range and that you’re not being fooled by reporting delays. Reporting isn’t real-time; it’s normal to not see the most recent clicks and impressions immediately (for very recent windows, you may be missing the last few hours of activity). ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1704360?hl=en))

Don’t use your own searches as the “proof” your ads aren’t running

Manually searching your own keywords over and over is one of the fastest ways to create false alarms. You can rack up impressions without clicks (hurting CTR signals), and you can also stop seeing your own ads because the system learns you’re unlikely to click. Use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis workflow inside the platform when you need to check eligibility and what might be blocking a specific query. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1704360?hl=en))

The top reasons your ads show less this week (and what’s usually behind them)

1) Budget pressure is forcing throttling

The most common “sudden” visibility drop is simply that your campaigns are spending earlier in the day, or your budget is no longer enough for the traffic you’re eligible for. When a campaign is “limited by budget,” the platform intentionally reduces how often ads appear so spend can be paced, even though the campaign can still be successful. The practical takeaway is: if budget is the constraint, you’re not “broken”—you’re rationed. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2616012?hl=en-WS))

This can happen even if you didn’t lower budget. Competition can increase, CPCs can rise, or your settings can make you eligible for more auctions (for example, changes that broaden reach). In those cases, the same budget buys fewer impressions and fewer clicks.

2) Ad Rank pressure (you’re entering fewer auctions, or losing more of the ones you enter)

If budget isn’t the limiter, the next place I look is Ad Rank. Ad Rank is what determines whether you’re eligible to show and where you appear relative to other advertisers. It’s not just bid; it’s also ad/landing page quality, thresholds, auction competitiveness, query context (device, location, time, signals), and expected impact from assets and formats. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1752122?hl=en))

That’s why a week-over-week drop often correlates with competitor changes, shifts in query mix, or performance changes on your landing pages (slowdowns, errors, mobile experience issues). Even small quality swings can move you from “consistently visible” to “only shows sometimes.” ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1752122?hl=en))

3) Eligibility and review friction (policy, “under review,” disapprovals)

Another frequent culprit is simple: your ads (or assets) are not eligible to run as often as you think. Reviews usually finish within one business day, but complex reviews can take longer. If something is “Under review,” serving may be limited until the review clears; if it’s disapproved, it won’t run. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722120?hl=en))

This can show up “this week” because you edited ads, swapped final URLs, changed assets, or launched new creative. Even routine edits can send items back through review.

4) Smart Bidding is adapting to signal changes (learning + conversion data shifts)

If you’re on automated bidding, week-to-week volatility is often the system responding to what it believes is changing: conversion volume/value, conversion delays, or tracking consistency. It’s also normal to see fluctuations as bidding learns and re-optimizes after meaningful edits. New or edited ads can take time to be reviewed, and automated bidding can show performance fluctuations while it learns toward your goal. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9208915?hl=en-UK&ref_topic=13676205))

In practice, this shows up as impressions and spend becoming “more selective” for a few days, especially if your conversion signal got weaker, noisier, or delayed.

5) Your impression share diagnostics are telling you exactly what’s happening (but you’re not looking at the right ones)

For Search campaigns, impression share metrics help you separate “not enough budget” from “not strong enough to win.” The key is splitting losses into budget vs rank: Search Lost IS (budget) reflects time you weren’t shown due to insufficient budget, while Search Lost IS (rank) reflects time you weren’t shown due to Ad Rank. Also note that these metrics update with a lag (typically within 1–2 days), so don’t overreact to yesterday’s partial story. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7103314?hl=en-IN))

One nuance many advertisers miss: Lost IS (rank) may not show at the ad group level if you ran out of budget during the date range, which can mislead you into thinking rank is fine when budget actually interrupted delivery. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7103314?hl=en-IN))

6) Targeting got narrower (or you’re cannibalizing yourself with overlaps)

If you tightened location, language, audience restrictions, scheduling, or added exclusions, you can easily shrink reach enough that you only show intermittently. Another “silent killer” is overlap: multiple campaigns/ad groups eligible for the same queries or audiences, causing internal competition and unpredictable distribution. When overlaps exist, the system has to choose which entity enters, and your “main” campaign might lose out more often than it used to.

A practical troubleshooting workflow to restore visibility (fast, without guesswork)

Here’s the exact sequence I use when a client says, “This week looks bad.” It’s designed to isolate the cause in under 15–30 minutes before you change anything.

• Validate measurement: Confirm date range, compare same days-of-week, and sanity-check recent-hours reporting lag. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1704360?hl=en))
• Confirm eligibility: Check campaign, ad group, ad, and asset statuses; look for “Under review,” “Disapproved,” or anything “Eligible (limited).” ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722120?hl=en))
• Check budget constraint signals: Look for “Limited by budget” status and review pacing/spend patterns. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2616012?hl=en-WS))
• Read impression share like a diagnosis: Compare Search Lost IS (budget) vs Search Lost IS (rank) to determine budget vs rank as the primary limiter. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/7103314?hl=en-IN))
• Audit changes: Review recent edits (bids, targets, keywords, audiences, locations, schedules, assets, landing pages). Performance fluctuations are often change-driven, even when changes seem “minor.” ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/12266223?hl=en))
• Assess auction pressure: Use competitive/auction diagnostics to see whether you’re losing more often (rank) or simply eligible for less inventory (targeting/demand shift).

If the issue is budget: create headroom without blindly increasing spend

If Search Lost IS (budget) is elevated or you’re “limited by budget,” you have three clean levers. First, raise budget only on the campaigns that are already proving efficient, because adding budget to a weak campaign just buys more inefficient traffic. Second, narrow wasted eligibility by trimming low-intent queries (especially broad match that isn’t converting) and tightening geographic reach to the areas that actually monetize. Third, consider whether your bid targets are too aggressive for your budget; if you’re forcing high CPCs, you’ll burn through daily spend early and disappear later.

If you need a quantified estimate of what budget changes might do to exposure, use the built-in budget simulation workflow to preview incremental visibility before committing. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2616012?hl=en-WS))

If the issue is rank: stop thinking “raise bids,” start thinking “win more auctions efficiently”

When Search Lost IS (rank) climbs, you’re either not entering enough auctions or you’re losing too many. Bids can help, but the more sustainable solution is improving the ingredients that feed Ad Rank: relevance, expected engagement, and landing page usefulness, plus smart asset coverage. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1752122?hl=en))

Use Quality Score the right way: not as a KPI to “maximize,” but as a diagnostic to spot whether expected CTR, ad relevance, or landing page experience is the likely weakness. Quality Score is explicitly positioned as a diagnostic tool (not a direct input to the auction), and it’s built from those three components. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6167118?hl=en))

In practical terms, that means writing ads that tightly match the query intent, rebuilding ad group/keyword theming so ads aren’t trying to be everything to everyone, and making sure the landing page immediately delivers what the ad promised (especially on mobile). When you fix that alignment, you often regain impression share without having to permanently inflate CPCs.

If the issue is approvals/policy: treat “Under review” as a delivery risk, not an annoyance

If you edited ads or assets recently, expect some turbulence until reviews clear. Most reviews complete within one business day, but if you’re beyond two full business days, it’s time to investigate status details and escalation paths rather than continuing to iterate and resetting reviews again. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722120?hl=en))

A good operational habit is batching edits, then letting the account stabilize for a few days. Constant micro-changes can keep you in a rolling review/learning state where delivery never fully normalizes.

If the issue is bidding/learning: stabilize signals before you touch targets

When automated bidding goes “quiet,” it’s usually reacting to signal quality. Before changing CPA/ROAS targets, validate that conversion tracking is stable, that your primary conversion action still reflects real business value, and that you didn’t accidentally reduce conversion volume (for example, by changing forms, breaking thank-you pages, or altering attribution inputs). Once the signal is trustworthy again, you can adjust targets incrementally rather than making a big swing that forces another learning period. ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9208915?hl=en-UK&ref_topic=13676205))

If the issue is demand or layout perception: make sure you’re measuring the right “visibility”

Sometimes impressions fall because demand genuinely softened, but sometimes you’re still serving and you’re simply less prominent. Since Search ad placement is more dynamic, your “top” impression expectations may not match how the results page is currently rendering for your query class. If your business is sensitive to above-the-fold visibility, you’ll want to monitor top/absolute top style metrics and not rely purely on “I searched and didn’t see it.” ([support.google.com](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/14660113))

The best immediate action here is to separate: (1) total impressions, (2) impression share lost to budget vs rank, and (3) top placement metrics. Once you know which one moved, the fix becomes obvious instead of emotional.

If your ads aren’t showing as much this week, the fastest way to get clarity is to separate perception from delivery by checking real impression/placement metrics (and accounting for reporting lag), then diagnosing whether you’re constrained by budget pacing, Ad Rank/Quality Score shifts, policy or review status, Smart Bidding relearning, or recent targeting changes and overlap; Blobr can help streamline that process by connecting to your Google Ads account and using specialized AI agents to continuously monitor what changed, pinpoint whether losses are due to budget vs rank (e.g., via impression share diagnostics), and suggest concrete, prioritized fixes—like tightening wasted queries, improving ad/landing-page relevance, or stabilizing bidding—without relying on manual self-searches.