homer

What I found the other day with a Google Adwords account I have actually seen before, which makes me think this mistake could possibly be a common one new Adwords users make when opening an account.

The problem:

The advertiser opened a new Google Adwords account and generated no impressions or clicks for days. When he went to look at the ad diagnostics tool, it said that campaign had already exceeded his daily budget. How could he have exceeded his campaign budget if he’s never received any impressions or clicks?

The mistake:

The mistake the advertiser made was he set his keyword bids too high, and his daily budgets were too low. This combination can cause a lot of frustration when first beginning a new account. I had this happen to an account of mine, and the explanation I got from Google was that my bids were too high for the daily budget – and that it essentially got turned off as soon as it was turned on. Essentially, Google thinks that if it starts showing the ads and people click on them, they won’t be able to shut them off in enough time to not go over budget, so they just turn it off as soon as it is turned on.

The fix:

Simply lower your bids or increase your daily budget. Once the advertiser did this, his ads immediately began showing. There was no technical problem with the account or with Google.

Has this happened to you? If so, what did you do to fix it? I think for newer advertisers it’s incredibly important to read as many PPC blogs as possible to avoid making mistakes like this one. And it’s just as important for experienced PPC advertisers to write about common mistakes and tips on running an account.