Why Aren't My Google Ads Getting Impressions?

Confirm it’s really an impression problem (not a visibility or reporting issue)

Check the date range, time zone, and reporting delay first

If you’re seeing “0 impressions,” start by making sure you’re looking at the correct date range and that you’re not expecting real-time data. Google Ads reporting can lag, and it’s normal to not see very recent impressions reflected immediately. Also confirm your account time zone (this matters when you launch a campaign “today” and expect it to serve right away).

Use Ad Preview & Diagnosis instead of searching on Google

One of the most common traps is repeatedly searching for your own ads on Google. That can generate impressions without clicks (which can hurt performance signals), and over time you may stop seeing your own ads because the system learns you’re unlikely to click. When you need to test visibility, use the Ad Preview & Diagnosis tool and match the exact conditions you’re targeting (location, language, device, and keyword/query).

Run a fast “10-minute zero-impressions checklist”

• Account: Is the account active, not suspended, and billing is fully set up with no payment issues?
• Campaign: Is the campaign Enabled (not Paused/Removed), and not Pending or Ended due to start/end dates?
• Ad group/assets/ads: Do you have at least one active ad group and at least one approved (or eligible) ad/asset?
• Keywords/targeting: Do you have eligible targeting that can actually match real searches (or audiences/placements for non-search campaigns)?

The most common reasons Google Ads get zero impressions (and how to fix each)

1) Account-level blockers: billing, suspensions, and compliance holds

If the account is suspended or billing isn’t valid/complete, your campaigns can look “set up” but won’t serve. This is the first place I look because it overrides everything else. In practical terms: even perfect keywords and ads can’t enter auctions if the account can’t run ads.

Fix approach: resolve billing setup, payment verification, or any account suspension first. Don’t rebuild campaigns to “test” while this is unresolved—you’ll just burn time.

2) Start/end dates and scheduling are quietly preventing eligibility

If your campaign has a future start date, it will sit in a Pending state until that date. If it has passed an end date, it will stop running until you extend or remove that end date. Start dates also interact with review: if you leave the start date as “today,” the campaign typically won’t meaningfully start until your first ads are approved.

Ad scheduling can also create accidental “no-serve windows.” If you restrict your ads to narrow hours or a couple of days per week, impressions can look like zero simply because there’s not enough eligible search activity during those windows.

3) Policy and approval status: “Eligible” isn’t always “fully eligible”

Always check the Status column and then go one layer deeper by adding the Policy details column. Disapproved ads do not receive impressions. Ads can also be marked eligible but limited, meaning they can only serve to a restricted audience or in limited locations due to policy restrictions or missing certifications.

Fix approach: address disapprovals at the ad/asset level (not just the campaign level), then request a review if appropriate. If you’re in a restricted category, confirm you’ve completed any required verifications/certifications; otherwise, you can stay “limited” indefinitely.

4) Keyword status problems: Low search volume and “below first page” realities

On Search campaigns, keyword status is a frequent culprit. If your keywords are too niche, too long-tail, misspelled, or simply not searched often enough, they can be marked Low search volume and become inactive until search demand increases. Importantly, changing bids or ads doesn’t fix Low search volume; you must change the keyword strategy.

Separately, you can be technically eligible but not competitive. If your bids/targets are too low, you may not enter (or win) enough auctions to generate impressions. This often shows up as keywords being eligible but the campaign still sits near zero.

Fix approach: broaden intent coverage (more commercially relevant terms), loosen match types where appropriate, and remove “vanity” keywords that never get searched. If you’re using Smart Bidding, consider pairing broader match coverage with conversion-based bidding only after tracking is solid and goals are realistic.

5) Targeting is too narrow (especially location targeting and tiny radiuses)

Over-targeting is one of the biggest “silent killers” of impressions. Common examples: a very small radius around a point, layering multiple audience restrictions, overly tight demographics, or language/location combinations that don’t match real user behavior. If you target a very small radius or micro-location, ads can show intermittently or not at all because the target may not meet eligibility criteria consistently.

Fix approach: widen location targets (or test “presence” targeting thoughtfully), confirm language aligns with the people in that geography, and remove stacked restrictions until you see stable serving—then tighten back down with data.

6) Budget and “Limited by budget” dynamics (including why you can be limited even if you’re not spending)

“Limited by budget” doesn’t always mean you’re spending your full daily average; it often means your settings could capture more traffic than your budget can support, so delivery is throttled to spread spend out. The result can be fewer impressions than expected, especially in competitive auctions or when bid adjustments push eligibility into more auctions than your budget can handle.

Fix approach: either increase budget to support the opportunity, or reduce the reach drivers (loosen bid adjustments, narrow to your highest intent themes, or simplify targeting) so the system can show more consistently within your constraints.

When everything is “eligible” but impressions are still low: how to win more auctions

Use impression share and lost impression share to diagnose the real bottleneck

Once the basics are clean (active, approved, eligible), you’re usually dealing with an auction competitiveness issue. This is where impression share becomes your best friend. If you’re losing impression share due to rank, you need to improve Ad Rank (bid and quality). If you’re losing due to budget, you need more budget or tighter targeting so the budget can concentrate where it matters.

Raise competitiveness the right way: bid strategy, targets, and Smart Bidding statuses

If you’re on automated bidding, watch bid strategy status. A Learning phase after changes can cause fluctuations. If the strategy is Limited by inventory, it means there simply aren’t enough eligible searches for your current targeting set—so expanding targeting (keywords, match types, or other coverage like dynamic expansion) is the lever. If it’s Budget constrained, you’re effectively telling the system to achieve goals without enough spend to participate consistently.

Also sanity-check your targets. Ultra-low tCPA or overly aggressive tROAS often results in the system refusing to bid into auctions, which looks like “no impressions,” even though everything is technically enabled.

Improve Ad Rank without just “throwing money at it”

Ad Rank is not only your bid. It’s also the quality and usefulness of your ad experience. In plain English: if your ad is less relevant than competitors’ ads (or your landing page doesn’t satisfy the search intent), you’ll struggle to win auctions at efficient costs—and you can end up with extremely limited impression volume. Tighten ad-to-keyword intent alignment, ensure your landing page directly answers the query, and avoid sending broad traffic to generic pages that don’t match the promise of the ad.

Use Recommendations and diagnostic insights as a second opinion (not autopilot)

When a campaign isn’t serving, in-platform Recommendations and diagnostic insights can surface issues like account budget exhaustion, disapprovals, missing/unpaused components, or overly tight settings. Treat these as a guided checklist—then apply human judgment before accepting changes, especially if recommendations push you toward broader automation without confirming tracking and business goals are ready.

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If you’ve worked through the usual “zero impressions” checks—date range and reporting delays, campaign/ad/asset eligibility, billing or policy blockers, start dates and ad schedules, overly narrow targeting, low search volume keywords, budgets, and whether you’re losing auctions on rank vs. budget—Blobr can help you keep an eye on these issues continuously. Blobr connects to your Google Ads account and uses specialized AI agents to monitor delivery signals, surface what’s likely suppressing impressions, and turn best-practice troubleshooting into clear, prioritized actions (from keyword and targeting expansion to ad copy and landing page alignment), while you stay in control of what runs and where.