Top Reasons Why Your Property Google Ads Aren't Showing

So, your property Google ads aren’t working? First things first – do not panic. This is a very common problem and one that is easily solvable. If you’re looking for solutions to this problem, then you are in the right place! We have gathered some of the most common reasons why your real estate ads aren’t showing up as well as how you can fix them.  

Keep on reading! 

1. Keyword search volume is too low

Search volume is the number of searches made for a keyword within a period. When the ads you associate with a keyword receive little to no monthly search traffic, your property ad won’t be displayed. Because think about it – how would your ad show up in Google’s result page, when no buyer is using that keyword to make searches in the first place? 

So, as soon as Google realizes you're targeting a keyword with very low search volume, it will temporarily deactivate the ad in your account. However, if Google then detects an increase in your keyword’s search volume at any point, your ad will automatically get reactivated once again. 

How do you know if your real estate ad has been temporarily deactivated due to this issue? 

All you need to do is to check the ‘Status’ column in the ‘Keyword’ section of your account. If "Low search volume" appears, you can click on it to learn more about whether or not your ad is appearing and the exact nature of the problem you are experiencing. 

But don’t worry, this problem can be easily taken care of – it just needs a little more research on your part. Instead of waiting for your previous keyword’s search volume to increase, try actively searching for other relevant keywords you can use in your ad as a replacement. A great way to do this is by using Google’s Keyword Planner, which is automatically equipped in every Google ads account, or to get in touch with professionals who can easily take this task off your hands! 

Another explanation for your missing property ads could simply be because your keyword bids were too low compared to your competitors. In an auction, your ad rank is determined by both your quality score for the keyword you're bidding on and the bid itself. And if others have higher keyword bids than you, they end up taking the top spots on Google’s search engine result pages, pushing yours to the second or third page. So, be sure to check if your real estate ads are actually in the following pages. 

If your property ads haven’t showed up in any of the other pages, you can try increasing your keyword bids. A safe way to do this is by using the bid simulators in the ‘Keywords’ section of your Google Ads account to check what increasing your bids by different amounts can do for you. This will help you determine your ad’s performance under different bidding scenarios to better modify and improve your bidding strategy.

Pro-tip: Remember, bidding too high could even pose a problem if you end up overshooting the daily budget you have set for your Google ads campaign. The key here is to do some testing and find that sweet spot where you’re not bidding too low or too high. This way you can continue to keep your ads functioning and generating the real estate leads you need.

3. Your ad has been paused or disapproved

We all make mistakes, and sometimes that means accidentally clicking on a button that ends up pausing your property ad, entire new launch campaign, or ad group (we’re neither confirming, nor denying anything). But the solution to this problem, no matter how huge it may seem, is quite straightforward. You only need to go to ‘Change History’ where you can view changes made to the account. Then filter it by status, and switch your ad’s status from ‘paused’ to ‘enabled’ – problem solved! 

If nothing has been paused but your real estate ad is still not appearing in search results, it's possible that it has been rejected by Google for ad policy violations. If that’s the case try; 

• Changing the page that your ad lands on  
• Altering your final URL
• Making minor edits to your headlines or descriptions 
• Adding in assets to your Responsive Search/Display ad

If you still find no fault in your ad after looking through their policy, submit an appeal to Google to question the issue. You should receive a response within a couple of business days. 

4. There are targeting issues

As one of its many benefits, Google ads allows you to target your audiences based on their locations. While this is an amazing opportunity for realtors to catch the attention of buyers in a specific area, it can quickly pose a problem if you end up narrowing down the ad’s location by too much. As we mentioned previously, if there aren’t many searches for your ad in that location, Google will simply deactivate your ad until further notice of increased searches. 

So, don’t make the mistake of limiting yourself to only one location when it is possible to target more than one location for one property ad. To find out if your audience is too small to target, click the ‘Display Network’ tab in your ad group, followed by the ‘Interests & Remarketing’ tab.

Also, instead of using the ‘targeting’ setting on your property ads, try switching to the ‘observation’ setting. This will help you better monitor how your ad performs without narrowing your property campaign’s reach. 

There is nothing more frustrating than spending money on something that doesn’t work. If your Google ads still aren’t showing even after identifying and improving on these suggestions, it might be time to contact local Google ads experts. SMC has aided more than 80 property marketing agencies in Singapore to produce thousands of leads. As such, we have successfully helped many agencies earn up to $90,000 in comms with our highly effective property lead system as well as Google ads, microsite, and landing page services. Get in touch with us today for more information!