Our Pay Per Click team had a brainstorming session in which we were thinking of reasons why sometimes one cannot see ads on Google.com. We tried to think of every possible reason which we can. There was once a very good link at WebmasterWorld Forums. You can Click Here to visit that link. It was originally posted by eWhisper in Jan 2004 but Google AdWords has come a long way since. There were many updates in AdWords system and I thought why not try to post a new one. We came up with following reasons. Let me know if we have missed anything:

1. Account Inactive: As long as the billing information is not submitted and the account not activated, the delivery of ads will not begin.
2. Review Process: Sometimes although the account has been activated but the ads may not be seen in Google as they are in the “Review Process”. So here the ads will be seen only after they are reviewed and approved by the AdWords specialist.

3. Not on 1st Page: Some times the ads’ rank may be very low and so it may not appear on the 1st page. But it may appear on next page.

4. Inactive Keyword (Minimum Bid) : If the keyword required minimum bid is higher than the actual bid set, then the keyword will be inactive and not appear in search results.

5. Daily Budget Depleted: If the daily budget is depleted then the ads will not be shown for the rest of the day.

6. Ad Delivery Method (Recommended Budget More than Set Budget): There are two possibilities here.

• Ad Delivery – Standard Method: If the recommended budget is higher then the set budget then the ads may not appear all the time throughout the day.

• Ad Delivery – Accelerated Method: If your daily budget got used up in the morning due to accelerated method and you are searching in afternoon then you may not see your ad.

7. Disapproved Ads: If the Ads are disapproved, let’s say there are 2 ads in an Ad Group and both are disapproved due to some reason not meeting the Editorial guidelines in AdWords. So when the keywords belonging to that Ad Group are searched for, the ads will not be shown.

8. Network Selected: If you have selected only Content network and you are searching in Google.com then you won’t see your ad.

9. Ad Scheduling: If the Ad Scheduling feature is ON, then the ad may not appear at the time when it is searched for as the time may be outside the scheduled time.

10. Position Preference: If the Position Preference is enabled in the Edit Campaign Settings then the ads may not be seen if the bid is not high enough for the ad to be placed in the position that we have selected.

11. Server Delays: When new account is activated, sometimes due to server delays the ad may not appear online instantaneously.

12. Geo Targeting: If you are searching any ad outside the targeted geo graphical settings then the ad will not be seen. As an example if the geo targeted area is only set to USA and if someone is searching in UK then the ads will not be seen online.

13. Sensitive keywords: There are keywords which can trigger Google’s red flag. Google content policy can give you some idea of keywords which are flagged by Google. However one cannot know exactly which keyword can trigger the red flag.

14. Billing Problem: Because of the Google billing issues or credit card problems ads stops running online.

15. Active Campaigns and Adgroups: Campaign and adgroup must be active for ads to appear online. If by accidentally someone pauses the ads or keywords or campaigns then the ads may not appear online.

16. Campaign Scheduled End Date: As an example if the campaign was scheduled to run only till June 10th and if you are searching for ads on June 11th onwards then you may not see your ads online.

17. Affiliate Policy: Due to new affiliate policy, Google displays only one ad for affiliates and parent companies sharing same display URL. The most performing ad is selected and shown on Google results. If you are an affiliate and share same display URL with the merchant and your ad is not top performing then chances are that your ad will not be seen on Google search results.

18.Negative Keywords: Sometimes when negative keywords overlap with the searched keyword then Google will not show your ad. So check again for all negative keywords inserted at campaign level and at ad group level. Remove any unnecessary keywords which can bring you potential customers.

These are the ones which we can think of. If there are any more then do feel free to inform me. I would add those reasons here.