Google Ads Local campaign displaying/active while closed

[Chris Ratchford]

I'm managing a local campaign in Google Ads for a dentist whose office hours are 7:00am - 3:30pm Mo - Th but they're getting clicks on the weekends (specifically days they're not open).

How can I stop this (besides manually pausing the campaign each afternoon and restarting at 7am)? I only want ads showing when there's someone answering the phone.

 

[Josh_M]

Hey @Chris Ratchford

Do you already have an ad schedule set for the local campaign? If not, this would solve your issue!

I swear they change the smart campaign interface more than chameleon in a candy store!

To get to the ad schedule you just open the campaign, scroll to the bottom where it says "Location & ad schedule", hit update and edit the ad schedule to the office hours
View attachment 7306 View attachment 7307

 

[Chris Ratchford]

My reply was just deleted?!?!?

 

[Chris Ratchford]

I don't know why my replies keep getting deleted, but I'm retyping...

Thanks Cedric! You're right, I can't keep up w/ the ever changing dashboard... I found it but then when I tried to set the schedule I got the following error:
This operation is not allowed for the given context.

 

[Josh_M]

@Chris Ratchford are you still getting this "operation" issue? If you try logging into an incognito window (or doing a hard refresh) and updating it that way, it might do the trick. If that doesn't work you'll likely need to contact Google Support get them to take a look at the issue

If for some reason Google Support is not able to fix it, you could use automated rules to pause and enable the campaign each day

 

[Chris Ratchford]

Yeah, I'm already logged into the client's Google account (created by me to manage all their Google assets under one account) and I'm in incognito. I'll try logging in/out and hopefully that will fix it.

 

[Chris Ratchford]

According to Google Ads support chat, Ad scheduling is not compatible with local campaigns!!!

I swear I've setup schedules for Google local Ads for other clients in the past. I don't know why or when that changed... but the CTR is crazy low... 1.81 MILLION impressions and only 423 clicks.

So if you can't set a schedule for local ads (when the office is open), I don't see the value in Local campaigns... seems very limited on what you do as an advertiser.