6 Reasons for a Drop in Google Ads Performance (+ How to Fix It)

The most common reasons for a Google Ads performance drop are seasonality, competition, and restrictive campaign adjustments. Our experts share first-hand advice to combat these issues and avoid them in the future.

When any marketer logs into their Google Ads account and is faced with the perplexing issue of a drop in Google Ads performance, panic can set in.

Don’t worry, it happens even to the most experienced of us.

In this guide, we’ll discuss the reasons behind these performance slumps and share strategies not only to recover but also enhance your Google Ads campaigns.

6 reasons for a drop in Google Ads performance

There are many reasons why your Google Ads performance might drop. Some are outside factors, but others you control and adjust yourself.

1. Your Ad Rank and Quality Score dropped
2. Level of competition
3. Ad fatigue
4. Seasonal trends
5. Keyword optimization
6. Changes to your landing page

1. Your Ad Rank and Quality Score dropped

Ad Rank determines where your ad appears in search results, which impacts its click-through rate (CTR).

Quality Score evaluates the quality and relevance of your ads, which impacts both your ad position and cost per acquisition (CPA).

To counter a drop in Google Ad performance, look for any changes in your Ad Rank and Quality Score. Then, assess why those changes happened.

A sudden drop in the performance of selected keywords or changes in user search behavior can influence Ad Rank. (Image: Adobe)

For example, the problem could be that a new algorithm update changed the criteria for the Quality Score. A solution is to examine the new algorithm criteria and adjust your ads to better align with it.

Then, stay informed about algorithm changes in the future so you can be prepared to make necessary adjustments when needed.

Additionally, a sudden drop in the performance of selected keywords or changes in user search behavior can influence Ad Rank. In this case, you would update the now underperforming keyword.

Then, stay vigilant for future shifts in search patterns that may affect your chosen keywords.

2. Level of competition

The PPC battleground is never the same from week to week.

You will experience:

• Changes in market dynamics
• New players entering the ring
• Shifting consumer behaviors

All of these factors influence the competitiveness of your ads. As the competition level increases, your ad campaign’s performance can drop.

The more ads fighting for attention on a specific search term, industry, or product, the less likely your ads are to stand out and deliver conversions.

Monitor industry updates and adjust your strategies to stay ahead of your competitors. Dive into competitor ads and keywords and tweak your bidding strategies to gain a competitive edge.

When you’re completing routine optimizations in your account, pay attention to search impression share and the auction insights report.

Tracking these will allow you to track your competitors and how often you’re missing out on valuable impressions.

Finally, avoid overly competitive keywords that can take up much of your ad budget but deliver little ROAS.

3. Ad fatigue

Ad fatigue creeps in when your audience becomes unresponsive due to repetitive exposure.

Your audience will get bored if you’re not regularly updating your ads — which will result in a drop in your Google Ads performance.

To combat ad fatigue, you need a diverse range of ad creatives and copy to keep things fresh.

You can introduce new offers, change up your visuals, and explore new ad formats to keep your audience engaged and intrigued.

The goal is to maintain relevance over time, prevent user burnout, and ensure continued interest in your brand and products.

4. Seasonal trends

Consumer behavior goes through natural shifts with the changing seasons. These shifts impact search queries and ad performance.

For example, the National Retail Federation reported that U.S. retail sales hit a record $994 billion during the 2024 holiday season. So, if you have a retail store, you probably saw a big jump in clicks and conversion rates during that period.

But if you’re still running your Christmas ads in January, you’ll see a drop in performance because the Christmas season ended.

Adjust your campaigns to align with seasonal trends, and you will ensure that your ads remain relevant and speak to the changing needs of your target audience. (Image: Adobe)

Or if you advertise ski pants all year, instead of only during the build-up to and during the ski season, you’ll naturally see drops in performance outside of those times.

Acknowledge and adapt to the seasonal variations in your industry. Adjust your campaigns to align with seasonal trends, and you will ensure that your ads remain relevant and speak to the changing needs of your target audience.

5. Keyword optimization

Just because a keyword performs well one week does not mean it will the next — trends and current events can impact consumer behavior.

For example, an ecommerce store that sells beauty products could see a surge in sales for a specific hair wand after it received a celebrity endorsement.

But the next week, negative TikTok reviews of the product might go viral. In this case, ad performance for keywords with that brand or product name will probably drop.

These days, keyword optimization means paying attention to your search terms report and adding negative keywords to combat irrelevant terms in addition to watching keyword quality scores.

6. Changes to your landing page

Assess any recent changes to landing pages. If the changes result in a disconnect between the ad content and landing page experience, it may lead to a decrease in ad performance.

Your audience may have a less cohesive experience moving from ad to landing page, and their interactions could indicate to Google that your Quality Score and Ad Relevance need to be lowered.

Subsequently, this can impact your cost per click (CPC).

What to do when you see a drop in Google Ads performance

Here’s a step-by-step guide on what to do when you see a drop in Google Ads performance:

1. Identify the start of the decline
2. Examine the change history and (possibly) revert
3. Analyze the competitive landscape
4. Check your tracking code
5. Account for seasonality
6. Look for seasonality

1. Identify the start of the decline

Delve into your historical data to pinpoint the exact start date of the decline to find potential events that triggered it.

“Looking at weekly or daily account performance fluctuations over a relevant time period (say, past 30 days) allows us to pinpoint exactly when the problem started to arise,” says digital marketing expert Steven Dang.

2. Examine the change history and (possibly) revert

Next, look at the change history within your Google Ads account to identify any recent adjustments or modifications.

“Provided the problem is traceable to a certain period or point in time, we can also go to the change history to review our past actions to see if there is a cause/effect explanation for the change in performance,” says Dang.

Revert to a prior state if any alterations are unwanted or correspond with the decline.

3. Analyze the competitive landscape

Use tools like Spyfu and the Auction Insights report to see competitor data. This helps discern if shifts in competitor strategies coincide with your drop.

Understanding how competitors are faring can shed light on external factors influencing your campaign performance, such as changes in the market.

4. Check your tracking code

Verify the tracking code on your website to ensure accurate data collection. Faulty tracking codes can distort performance metrics.

5. Account for seasonality

Recognizing seasonal patterns helps give context to ad performance variations and allows you to make adjustments in expectations.

Industries like pest control, travel, health insurance, and ecommerce are prone to seasonal fluctuations.

6. Look to other marketing channels

Investigate how your ads are performing across different channels, like social media and SEO, to gain a holistic understanding of your overall marketing efforts.

If there is a drop in other channels, it might mark a more serious issue, such as damage to your company’s reputation.

From here, you can inspect the reasons that might be causing your drop and then make the proper adjustments to your strategy to bring up the decline.

How to prevent future drops in your ad performance

Recovering from a dip in Google Ads performance is crucial. However, the fundamental goal of a PPC manager or marketer is to prevent them from happening in the first place.

Here are some steps you can take to do just that.

1. Conduct regular ad audits and monitoring

An audit is the process of regularly reviewing your account settings, ad groups, and performance metrics to assess performance and catch any issues before they escalate.

To conduct an audit:

• Double-check your conversion tracking settings
• Assess your PPC account naming structure
• Review keywords and search terms
• Analyze ad copy
• Optimize assets (FKA ad extensions)
• Audit sales landing pages
• Review bid strategy
• Listen to ROI and ROAS
• Inspect targeting settings
• Check for outdated scripts or rules

Further reading: How to Conduct a PPC Audit: 10 Easy Steps (+ Checklist)

2. Learn and adapt to the trends

Stay up-to-date on algorithm updates and changes in markets and consumer behavior to adapt your strategy accordingly.

Make staying informed a habit. Subscribe to industry newsletters, attend webinars, and network with other marketers to gain insights and anticipate shifts in the digital marketing landscape.

3. Use analytics to make data-driven decisions

A data-driven approach can help you more accurately predict what will perform well and when you might see a drop in ad performance.

The right analytics tools can unveil hidden patterns and opportunities. For example, HawkSEM’s ConversionIQ can help you gain insights from your wealth of data provided by tools like Google Analytics and Google Ads Insights.

4. Build your funnel

Search ads may allow us to capture leads with a high purchase intent, but focusing on bottom-funnel advertising alone is a short-sighted strategy, vulnerable to economic and industry changes.

Instead, it’s best to focus on a full-funnel strategy with a variety of campaign types — from Performance Max to garner impressions from all of Google’s networks and Display ads to retarget past purchasers and website visitors.

The takeaway

To troubleshoot and reverse a drop in your PPC campaign’s performance:

• Identify the start date of a decline
• Look at your change history
• Analyze competitive metrics
• Verify tracking code integrity
• Consider seasonal influences and examine changes made to landing pages

Constant vigilance, adaptability, and a proactive and data-driven mindset in your marketing teams can help you avoid drops in the future by making changes when or before issues start rather than waiting for them to become a problem.

This article has been updated and was originally published in March 2024.