Are my ads live?

Here's a short list of common mistakes to watch out for as you get your campaign up and running.

There are some common mistakes that can stop your ad from going live. Take a few minutes to check that your campaign is set up correctly.

Check your payment method expando image

You need a primary payment method before your ads will run. Additionally, if this is a prepay account, you need to add funds. Learn how to add a payment method and how to add funds.

Check your campaign, ad group, ad, and keyword status expando image

Your campaign, ad groups, ads and keywords must have a Status of Enabled to be up and running. To learn how to check the status of these items, see Change your status, bid, and other settings. If you find that you need to activate a campaign or ad group, don’t forget to click save. You also might need to refresh your screen to show that the change has taken effect.

Check your delivery status expando image

The Delivery column must indicate eligible for each of your ad groups, ads and keywords. If there’s a different status, Campaign Paused for example, you might need to take some sort of action to correct the issue. Click on the little arrow next to the delivery status to get more information about the specific issue.

New ads and keywords can take up to a couple of days to pass editorial review and become eligible.

Make sure your keywords were entered correctly expando image

Make sure that you have entered your keywords correctly. Keywords must each be entered on a single line. If you entered keywords separated by commas or semicolons, Microsoft Advertising interprets that as just one long keyword (which is probably not what you want!). To learn more about changing your keywords, see How to add, edit or delete keywords.

Make sure your negative keywords were entered correctly expando image

Make sure you have entered your negative keywords correctly. It is easy to accidentally enter negative keywords as normal keywords. Double check the Keywords table to ensure that only keywords you want to bid on are listed in the first (Keywords) column. Negative keywords should not be listed here. To learn more about viewing, editing and adding negative keywords see How to add keywords that won't trigger my ads (negative keywords).

Remember that PPC requires regular and frequent attention. Make sure to monitor your campaign’s performance and make adjustments as necessary to get the performance you want.

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