A campaign that runs out of budget most days

When a budget is too small, Google paces it by entering fewer auctions through the day. The campaign misses searches it could have won, and the reports show only what was bought, not what was missed.

It is a different question from how much impression share is worth buying. That one asks how much. This one asks how often, and a campaign capped on most days is a decision waiting to be made.

The check reads each campaign day by day over recent weeks.

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 for the last 30 days and segment by Time, then Day.
2. Add the column Search lost IS (budget).
3. For each campaign, count the days it lost a real share to budget, and the days it ran at all.
4. Note the campaigns capped on most of their running days.

First check the campaign deserves more money: is its cost per conversion acceptable? If it is, raise the budget step by step, or move money from a campaign that does not use its own. The budget pacing calculator helps size it.

If it is not, the cap is doing you a favour. Tighten the campaign before giving it more.

• Limited by budget
• Impression share
• Lost impression share

The checks next to this one in Budgets and pacing, each with its own page.

• A budget split until no campaign can learn
• A shared budget hiding which campaign is capped
• Budget sitting where it is not being used