Using the Google Ad Diagnostic Tool

Anne-Christine Johnson
Google Pay-Per-Click Expert

I recently read a blog about active keywords in Google and I was curious to see what actually makes a keyword ‘active.’ With that in mind, I randomly selected a new account I am managing and chose an ad group I thought was getting a high amount of traffic. Using the Google Ads Diagnostic Tool I learned that all three keywords were not showing ads. With some quick research I discovered that there is a policy on Google keywords; keywords with low search volume and/or new keywords will not show ads no matter how high the maximum bids are.

In the same Google account, I checked out a separate ad group with a keyword that received 27 clicks and held a very high Click-Through-Rate, or CTR. Surprisingly, that keyword was not showing ads either. Unfortunately, the pop up box could not give me enough information so I decided my next step would be to call Google directly, which is always a great idea if you’re stuck in a situation and you don’t know what to. Whether it is Google, Yahoo, or MSN you can always call search engine providers.

I asked Google how this could happen seeing as how that specific keyword had received such a high traffic volume in so little time. I wasn’t thrilled to get the same answer from a live person that the Diagnostic Tool pop-up had already given me but once they actually went into the account I was looking at, the information was extremely useful.

The keywords were not showing the ads because the account’s budget was too low and only receiving a small percent of eligible impressions. They recommended increasing the budget or deleting irrelevant keywords. Google also strongly suggested the use of negative keywords to reduce any other irrelevant traffic and once you do that, you can only increase your quality score while getting potential customers you want.

To sum it up, be aware of keywords, their clicks and impressions. Don’t forget how important the Ads Diagnostic Tool is because even though Google may say a keyword is active, doesn’t mean it really is.