Analyzing Display Ads Not Getting Impressions

You’ve created a new display campaign for your biggest client – your audience is perfect, you have the best images in the market and you couldn’t be happier. You launch your campaign, check on it the next day and … nothing. You dig a little deeper and notice your ads aren’t approved yet. Okay, you wait another day and still nothing. You’re not happy and the client is probably asking for a quick update. What do you do?

Read this, and you’ll be serving impressions before long. Note that we’re focusing on Google display ads, but many of these tips apply to all display networks.

Reasons Your Google Display Ads Have No Impressions or Low Impressions

Is it your ad, the bidding strategy, targeting, conversion tracking, remarketing setup or campaign settings?

These are some potential reasons your display ads aren’t serving:

1. There are billing issues.

You may have billing issues that are directly impacting account performance. Here are a few things to check:

• Do you have a budget order?
  • The start date must be in the past or today.
  • The end date must be today or in the future.
  • Spend is below the 100% budget threshold.
  • Your credit card was declined, and you need to add a new payment method.

2. Your campaign isn’t active.

Although very rudimentary, you want to double-check to ensure you activated your campaign. This applies to your ad group(s) and ads, too.

3. You have disapproved ads.

As we mentioned earlier, it may take a day or two for Google to approve your ads. Disapproved ads could be an additional delay.

• If your ad is disapproved or limited by policy, you can find out why and how to edit your ads and resubmit your ad for review by clicking on the “Status” column. Additionally, you can learn how to appeal a policy decision if you feel you meet the policy requirement.

4. Low volume due to restricted targeting.

Google has recently implemented rules to help with user privacy. This is aimed at improving inclusivity for users unreasonably affected by societal biases; housing, employment and credit products or services can no longer be targeted to audiences based on specific gender, age, parental status, marital status or ZIP code.

5. Display ad impression share lost to rank.

Display ad impression share is the percentage of time that your ads weren’t shown on the Display Network due to poor Ad Rank. Ad rank is based on the campaign targets, budget and quality score. This means that if your quality score is sufficiently higher than the score of the advertiser below yours, your ads can rank higher. You can improve quality score by making ads relevant to your audience, improving CTR and optimizing your landing page.

How to Fix Google Ads with Low Impressions

First and foremost, make sure your display ads follow Google best practices. Check your bids and exclusion lists for anything that may be preventing your campaign from serving. Depending on the issue, you may be up and running later that day or the next day. If you don’t have any luck getting your ads approved, you may want to consider using an alternative display publisher. Many companies offer good alternatives to the Google display network (GDN).

How Many Impressions Should I Expect on My Display Ad?

There are billions of display impressions served on the internet every day. This depends on your budget, location, audiences, etc. Once you know your budget, you can estimate how many impressions you could expect. The easiest way to estimate is using CPM, or cost per thousand impressions. The formula is budget ÷ CPM × 1,000 = Impressions. You can also calculate the budget needed to reach a certain number of people. The formula is impressions × CPM ÷ 1,000 = budget.

Improve your Display Network Campaigns

Double-check the ad format you’re using. Does it make sense for your campaign objective? Not sure? You can read one of our recent blogs to learn more about the different types of display ads available. Which combinations of your responsive ad are performing well? Have you tested a static image ad? Continue testing until you find what works best for your brand. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for every brand or company.

Are you spending too much time on your to-do list for an account, or if you’re still having trouble getting your campaign serving? Contact an expert at Oneupweb to talk about our managed paid media services. Leaning on an experienced team can take your campaign to levels of success you’ve never seen.