Ad groups running on a single ad

It is easy to miss. When every ad group runs exactly one ad, the obvious next step, pausing a poorly rated ad, silences the whole group.

With one ad, there is also no way to learn what message works better. Google recommends at least one responsive search ad per group, and a second one gives the account something to compare.

The check reads enabled ads in enabled ad groups, inside enabled campaigns only.

Checks that weigh money or clicks judge what they find on your own account's numbers, not on one figure applied to every account, so what counts as a problem on a small account is not the same on a large one. Checks on settings read how the account is set up.

When there is too little to go on, the check says so instead of guessing. A finding always comes with the rows behind it, so you can read the evidence before you decide.

1. In Google Ads, open Campaigns, then Ads, and filter to enabled ads in enabled campaigns.
2. Add the Ad group column and group or sort by it.
3. Count the enabled ads in each Search and Display ad group.
4. List the groups with exactly one.

Add a second responsive search ad to each group, with a genuinely different angle: price, speed, proof or guarantee, rather than a reworded copy of the first.

Start with the groups that spend the most, and give the new ad a few weeks before comparing.

• Ad group
• Responsive search ad

The checks next to this one in Ads and creative, each with its own page.

• A promotion still in the ads after it ended
• Ad groups where only one ad is still getting shown
• A campaign that lives on calls and does not offer one
• Ads Google has refused to show
• Landing pages that are slow on a phone
• Ads not using the space Google gives them