If you’ve ever typed “why my Google ads not showing” or stared at a Meta column that says below average, you’re already doing ad diagnostics—you just need a system.
The fastest advertisers don’t “guess and tweak.” They run structured PPC diagnostics to pinpoint what’s broken (eligibility, bidding, targeting, quality, or landing page experience)
and then fix the one lever that actually moves delivery.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to diagnose (and improve) two of the most common performance blockers: Google Ads Quality Score and Meta’s Facebook ad relevance diagnostics—including ad quality ranking Facebook and Facebook engagement rate ranking.
You’ll also get a step-by-step workflow for why my Google ads not running, low impressions, and “eligible but not serving.”
What Is Ad Diagnostics (and Why It’s Different From “Optimization”)
Ad diagnostics is the process of identifying the single biggest constraint that prevents an ad from delivering or performing.
Optimization is what you do after you know the constraint. Diagnostics answers: “What’s the bottleneck—eligibility, auction rank, relevance, budget, targeting, or landing page?”
- Eligibility (policy, approvals, billing, or account limits)
- Auction competitiveness (bids, budgets, learning phase, or low search volume)
- Relevance & quality (Google Ads Quality Score / Meta rankings)
- Targeting mismatch (wrong audience, geo, device, schedule, or intent)
- Landing page experience (slow, irrelevant, confusing, or low trust)
This matters because “more tweaks” can actually reduce performance—especially on Meta (reset learning) and on Google (dilute ad relevance by mixing mismatched keywords).
A 10-Min PPC Ad Diagnostics Checklist (Works for Google + Meta)
Use this quick workflow before you change creatives, audiences, or budgets. It’s designed to solve the question: “why are my Google ads not running?“and “below average” Meta rankings.
| Step | What to check | If it fails | Fix first |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Account & billing OK? Ads approved? | No delivery at all | Resolve policy/payment/limits |
| 2 | Targeting (geo, language, devices, schedule) | Few impressions | Loosen constraints, validate location |
| 3 | Budget vs bids vs competition | Eligible but not serving | Increase bid / budget or narrow intent |
| 4 | Quality signals (QS / Meta rankings) | High CPC/CPM, weak CTR | Improve relevance + creative |
| 5 | Landing page experience | Clicks but low conversions | Speed, message match, trust, UX |
Google Ad Diagnostics: Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool (When You Should Use It)
The Google Ads Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool is the safest way to answer:
“why isn’t my Google ad showing” without inflating impressions or skewing performance.
It simulates a search for a specific keyword, location, language, and device so you can see whether your ad is eligible in that exact scenario.
- You’re troubleshooting why my Google ads not showing for a specific query
- A keyword shows “eligible” but impressions are near zero
- You need to confirm which assets are actually appearing
- You want a preview without harming CTR
A practical walkthrough (fast + reliable)
- Set location to your target city/region (don’t leave this vague).
- Set device to match your customer (mobile vs desktop can change results).
- Search your target keyword and review the diagnostic message.
- If it says your ad isn’t showing, treat that message as the starting hypothesis—not the final answer.
Tip: When you’re collaborating with a client or team, save/share the exact tool preview so everyone diagnoses the same auction context.
Why Are My Google Ads Not Showing (or Not Getting Impressions)?
“Not showing” can mean different things: your ads aren’t eligible, your ads are eligible but losing auctions, or your ads show sometimes but not for your test search.
Below is a diagnostic sequence that covers the most common cases for Google Ads troubleshooting.
| Symptom | Most likely cause | What to do first |
|---|---|---|
| No impressions across the campaign | Billing/policy, paused items, or account limits | Check status + approvals + billing |
| Eligible but not serving | Bid too low, budget too low, or targeting too narrow | Raise bids / broaden targeting / adjust match type |
| Impressions but near-zero clicks | Weak relevance, poor message match, or poor offer | Rewrite ads to match intent; test hooks |
| Clicks but no conversions | Landing page mismatch or friction | Fix landing page experience + speed + trust |
| Tool says “ad not showing” but you still see some data | Auction context differs (location, device, schedule, budgets) | Re-run with exact settings; check time/day & budgets |
- Check status: campaign/ad group/ad enabled + ads approved.
- Check targeting: location, language, schedule, device, audiences.
- Check auction strength: bids + budgets + keyword volume.
- Check quality signals: QS components and relevance.
- Check landing page: speed, clarity, and message match.
If you’re stuck, don’t rely on manual Googling. Use the ad preview and diagnosis tool with the right context to avoid false negatives.
Google Ads Quality Score: What It Is + How to Improve It
Google Ads Quality Score is a diagnostic estimate of how strong your ads are relative to competitors for a keyword.
It’s not a single “magic number” you game—it’s a signal that your expected CTR, ad relevance, and landing page experience Google Ads are aligned with user intent.
- Expected CTR: How likely your ad is to be clicked when shown.
- Ad relevance: How closely your ad matches the intent behind the search.
- Landing page experience: How useful and relevant your landing page is after the click.
How to improve Quality Score (without “busy work”)
When people ask how to improve quality score, the best answer is: tighten message match across keyword → ad → landing page.
Here’s how to do it in a way that also improves conversion rate.
- Split ad groups by intent (don’t mix “pricing,” “free trial,” and “definition” keywords).
- Write headlines that mirror the query (use the same language your customers use).
- Qualify early (price, location, audience fit) to improve CTR quality, not just CTR volume.
- Fix landing page experience: speed, above-the-fold clarity, and a CTA that matches the ad promise.
- Use negatives strategically to remove mismatched traffic (this often reduces wasted impressions and improves relevance).
If your keyword is relevant but still has low impressions, re-check bids and auction competitiveness.
Quality fixes help—but they can’t overcome a campaign that’s priced out of the auction.
Meta (Facebook) Ad Relevance Diagnostics: How Rankings Actually Work
Meta replaced the old Facebook ads relevance score with three diagnostic rankings that compare your ad to other ads competing for the same audience.
These appear as quality ranking Facebook ads, Facebook engagement rate ranking, and conversion rate ranking.
In everyday language: Meta is telling you what kind of “weak” you are—creative quality, engagement likelihood, or conversion likelihood.
| Diagnostic | What it means | What usually improves it |
|---|---|---|
| Facebook ad quality ranking | Perceived quality vs competing ads for the same audience | Better creative, clearer offer, less “spammy” messaging, strong landing page trust |
| Facebook engagement rate ranking | Expected engagement vs competing ads | Hook & thumb-stopping creative, faster value delivery, social-proof style messaging |
| Conversion rate ranking | Expected conversion rate vs ads with the same optimization goal | Stronger intent match, simplified landing page, better offer, better tracking + fewer friction steps |
- Treat it as a directional comparison, not a permanent grade.
- Fix the lowest ranking first (don’t chase “above average” everywhere).
- If engagement is low, changing landing pages won’t help much. If conversion ranking is low, creative-only changes may not be enough.
A simple “diagnose → fix” playbook for each ranking
Below are high-leverage fixes that map directly to each ranking. Keep the rest of the campaign stable when testing these so you can attribute improvements.
- Make the offer clearer in the first 2 seconds (or first line).
- Remove exaggerated claims, clickbait, or “too-good-to-be-true” framing.
- Improve creative quality: clean typography, one message, one CTA, mobile-first layout.
- Strengthen trust on landing pages: reviews, guarantees, pricing clarity, and fast load.
- Test 3 new hooks (pain → promise, curiosity, “this vs that”).
- Use short-form video or motion elements when static fatigue is high.
- Try UGC-style creatives (native tone, “real person” framing) or create viral challenge videos.
- Check frequency—ad fatigue can crush engagement even with a great offer.
- Match the landing page headline to the ad promise (exact phrase match often wins).
- Reduce steps: fewer fields, faster checkout, fewer distractions.
- Use a stronger “reason to believe” (proof, demos, comparisons).
- Validate conversion tracking + event priority (mis-tracking can distort optimization).
Want creative ideas that naturally lift engagement ranking? Short-form formats and social-native challenges can help.
Ad Diagnostic Tools: What to Use (and What Each Tool Answers)
There are dozens of ad diagnostic tools, but most fall into three buckets:
platform diagnostics (eligibility + delivery), quality diagnostics (relevance/experience), and competitive diagnostics (what others are doing).
| Tool | Best for | What question it answers |
|---|---|---|
| Ad Preview and Diagnosis (Google) | Eligibility + “ad not showing” | Why isn’t my Google ad showing for this keyword/context? |
| Quality Score components (Google) | Relevance + landing page experience | Is low quality limiting my ad rank and efficiency? |
| Meta Relevance Diagnostics | Why CPM/CPC is high | Is the issue quality, engagement, or conversion likelihood? |
| Competitive intelligence (AdSpyder) | Hooks, offers, creatives that win now | What patterns are competitors using that I can model? |
Competitive context is the missing layer in most diagnostics.
If your ad is “fine” but still loses, it’s often because competitors have a better hook, better proof, or a clearer offer. This is especially stricter for B2B marketing.
Key PPC Ad Diagnostics Statistics (Why Measurement Beats Guessing)
Diagnostics matter because paid advertising is huge—and measurement is still a struggle. When teams don’t track the right metrics, they default to random changes
that mask the real cause of poor delivery.
How AdSpyder Fits Into Ad Diagnostics (The Competitive Layer)
Platform tools tell you what’s wrong.
Competitive intelligence tells you what to do next.
That’s where AdSpyder helps: it shows you what your market is already responding to so you can build better relevance faster.
- Use PPC Strategies with AdSpyder: Find competitor hooks, offers, and CTAs that consistently get attention
- Compare multiple creatives to identify the pattern (not the one “lucky” ad)
- Reverse-engineer landing page structures that convert (and improve conversion rate ranking) with AdWords ads spy tool.
FAQs: Ad Diagnostics, Quality Rankings, and “Ads Not Showing”
What is ad diagnostics in PPC?
Why my Google ads not showing even though the campaign is enabled?
What is the Google Ads Ad Preview and Diagnosis Tool used for?
What are Meta’s Facebook ad relevance diagnostics?
How to improve quality ranking Facebook ads?
What are the main quality score factors in Google Ads?
Why are my Google ads not getting impressions?
Conclusion
The fastest way to fix underperforming ads isn’t “more optimization”—it’s better diagnostics.
Use Google’s preview/diagnosis tool to validate context, improve Quality Score by tightening message match, and treat Meta’s rankings as a clue to whether you need better creative, stronger engagement hooks, or a higher-converting landing page.
Once the bottleneck is clear, improvements become obvious—and far cheaper.
