Google Ads is making a significant change to its platform that will benefit both advertisers and users. Starting from March 11, ad groups that have been inactive for at least 13 months will be automatically paused. This move aims to improve budget efficiency for advertisers and enhance the overall quality of campaigns.
The rollout of this feature is expected to take just over seven weeks, with completion for all production Google Ads accounts by April 30. Advertisers whose ads are affected by this change can manually turn them back on if necessary. However, Google advises reviewing the ad groups first and only unpausing those that are expected to receive impressions in the coming weeks. If ad groups remain inactive for three months after being unpaused, Google will automatically pause them again.
This update is a positive step towards optimizing budget efficiency and campaign quality. Navah Hopkins, Optmyzr Brand Evangelist and President of Navah Hopkins LLC, expressed her excitement about this change on LinkedIn. She has been advocating for advertisers to pause underperforming ad groups for years, emphasizing the importance of budget efficiency. By automatically pausing inactive ad groups, the overall quality of campaigns will improve as ad groups with no impressions tend to drag down performance.
Hopkins also highlights the difference between low search volume keywords and ad groups with zero impressions. While low search volume keywords do not harm campaigns, ad groups that are not receiving any action contribute to bad data and negatively impact overall performance. With this update, Google aims to address this issue and ensure that advertisers are working with meaningful data for their campaigns.
It’s important to note that pausing an ad group is not the same as removing it. Advertisers can always reactivate a paused ad group if they find it necessary. Furthermore, the 13-month timeline for this change indicates that Google is targeting established accounts and considering seasonality factors.
Overall, this update from Google Ads is a welcome change for advertisers. By automatically pausing inactive ad groups, budget efficiency can be improved, and campaigns can benefit from higher quality data. Advertisers are encouraged to review their ad groups and only unpause those that are expected to perform well. With these changes, Google Ads is taking a step towards creating a more effective and efficient advertising platform.
