Each time someone nearby your shop searches in Google for a product you stock, Google search goes through a super-fast 'ad auction'.
The auction determines whether or not your product ad appears in the results. Auctions are ongoing for every search on Google — and each one can have potentially different results depending on a combination of factors at that moment. So you may see fluctuation in your ad's position on the page and even whether your ad shows at all.
We know it might be tempting, but it is best to resist the urge to search on Google to check your ads. By searching for things that might trigger your ad, you'll accumulate impressions without clicks which can prevent your ad from appearing as often as it should.
Also, if you repeatedly look for your own ad using Google search but never click on it, you might stop seeing it entirely as Google's system will stop showing you ads it thinks you aren't interested in.
Here's a list of additional factors that affect whether or not your ad will appear in results:
Affecting Factors
Budget: With your Local Ads daily budget we pay Google every time someone engages with (or clicks on) one of your products, so a larger daily budget means your products can be found by more people on any given day. (Find more here: What can each budget get me?)
Distance from shop: We bid higher for your products to appear in locations closest to your shop to target customers with a higher probability of conversion. This means you are more likely to see your products appear when you’re nearby to the shop.
Location turned on: Make sure you’re searching on mobile and that your location tracking (bottom of the Google search page) is turned on. This tells Google that you’re close to the shop.
Devices: We target only mobile devices to optimise your products for shoppers searching remotely near to your store. However, you can see your Google 'See What's In Store' is available on both desktop and mobile.
Time of day: We aim to stretch your budget evenly across the day. Sometimes, if your products have been particularly popular within a day, your daily budget can be spent early. Your ads will resume running the following day.
Competitive bids: Your ad competes with other ads each time there’s an opportunity to be seen by a potential customer. Although the winner isn’t simply the highest bidder, some competitors bid higher for certain popular products to show more often in certain areas.
If you are interested in knowing more about how many customers you could reach with Local Ads, just head over to your MyShop and in the 'Local ads plan' tab we will show estimations based on stores similar to yours. Also, it may be good to read our short guides about activating Local Inventory Ads and What can each Local Ads plan get me?.
Please reach out using the chat bubble in the right-hand corner if you need any help!