What should I do when my Google Ads campaign is limited by budget?

By: Jyll Saskin Gales, Google Ads Coach

Is your Google Ads campaign giving you a "Limited by budget" warning? Or perhaps you're losing a lot of impression share due to budget? A limited budget can make it tough to effectively reach your campaign goals.

In this post, I'll share practical tips on how to optimize your Google Ads campaigns when you're on a tight budget. We'll cover targeting strategies, bid adjustments, and keyword optimization to help you make the most of every dollar. By the end, you'll have a clear plan for spending your budget effectively and getting the best results possible.

Maximize Your Budget by Limiting Your Targeting

One of the fastest ways to stop being limited by budget is trying to use your budget to do less; that is, reach fewer people. Here are four ways you can reduce your targeting in order to stop being limited by budget.

1. Reduce Your Location Targeting

Are you casting too wide a net? Narrow down your location targeting to focus on areas where your ideal customers are most likely to be found. This could mean focusing on specific cities, regions, or even zip codes rather than states or countries or (gasp) the whole world.

2. Narrow With Audience Targeting

Are you showing your ads to the right people? Add audience segments that are less likely to convert as exclusions, or add audience segments that are more likely to convert on "Targeting" mode to your Search or Shopping campaigns. This will limit your reach to users who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. These segments could include demographics, affinities, in-market segments, remarketing and more.

3. Optimize Keywords Through Negatives and Match Types

Are you using the right keywords? Regularly review your keyword list and remove any that aren't performing well. Focus on high-intent keywords that are most likely to lead to conversions. It may be swifter to pause entire ad groups rather than piecemeal pausing keywords.

Remember to review your search terms report and add negative keywords to exclude irrelevant searches and avoid wasting your budget. If you're showing on too many irrelevant searches, consider switching your keywords to Exact Match to limit your reach even further.

4. Bid More Efficiently

Are you bidding effectively for your keywords and audiences? If you're using a  Smart Bidding strategy like Target ROAS or Target CPA, drive more efficiency by increasing your ROAS target or decreasing your CPA target. This will limit the number of people Google Ads can profitably reach, effectively making your target audience smaller and more manageable for your budget. If you're using a Manual bidding strategy, like Manual CPC or CPV, then lower your bids to achieve a similar effect.