Google Ads will automatically begin pausing ad groups with low activity

Advertisers will have the option to resume working with ad groups, but it’s recommended to do so only if they anticipate receiving impressions in the coming weeks.

Google Ads is implementing an automatic pause for ad groups showing minimal activity.

When will Google Ads start pausing underperforming ad groups?

Starting from March 11th, ad groups created at least 13 months ago and haven’t garnered any impressions in the past 13 months will be paused to enhance advertisers’ budget efficiency.

The rollout is expected to span over seven weeks, with completion for all production Google Ads accounts set for April 30th.

Resuming ad groups

Should this change affect your ads, you have the option to re-enable them if necessary. However, Google advises a thorough review of ad groups beforehand, recommending only the re-enabling of those expected to receive impressions in the next few weeks. Should previously pause ad groups fail to receive any impressions over the following three months, Google will automatically pause them again.

Editing

Google has confirmed that you’ll still be able to update your ad groups and make changes while they’re paused, in case you need to reactivate them.

Why is this important?

Navah Hopkins, Evangelist at Optmyzr, expressed enthusiasm about this update, highlighting its potential to improve budget efficiency and campaign quality for advertisers. She stated on LinkedIn:

• “I am thrilled with this update! For years, I have been urging brands to pause what’s not working, so budget efficiency can prevail. This is a positive development.”
• “Google sets budgets at the campaign level. If you have too many ad groups (looking at your accounts with 10+), odds are your budget won’t be able to support all of them.”
• “Ad groups with no impressions drag down the overall quality of the campaign. If you have too many keywords and ad groups doing nothing, that averages in bad data. Zero impressions is not the same as low search volume, and it is confirmed low search volume keywords are not going to hurt you. However, if you have an otherwise “worthy” keyword/ad group that’s just not getting any action, it’s going to average in bad data.”
• “Pausing is not the same as removing. You can always get it back. Also, that the timeline is 13 months confirms this is looking at established accounts and factoring in seasonality.”

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