max I have had five year experiences in search engine optimization (SEO). I am interested in SEO, Pay Per Click (PPC) especially Google AdWords, and Google Adsnese. View all articles | Contact author

Why can't I see Google AdWords?

You may not be seeing your ad for a couple reasons.

First, you are located outside of your target country which limits the visibility of your ad from where you are searching. If you have chosen United States to be a target, you have to live in United States then you can see your Ads.

Secondly, your keyword phrases within in the different Ad Groups are similar, which can also cause difficulty when trying to locate your ad from specific Ad Groups.

Please allow me to explain in more detail below.

OUTSIDE OF TARGET COUNTRY
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If you are currently residing in Thailand, but your campaign is currently targeting users located in the United States. Even though you may be searching on www.google.com with your keywords, your Internet Protocol (IP) address indicates that you're in Thailand, and it will not show ads targeted to the United States to you.

I would suggest using the Ads Diagnostic Tool to see whether your ad is appearing on the first page of search results and to identify why a particular ad or group of ads may not be showing. You can access the tool at any time via the 'Tools' link on the 'Campaign Management' tab. Please be sure to enter 'www.google.com' as the domain that you are searching from.

However, there is easily way that you can see you Ads, you can change the search command, such as,

Normal Search Command

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=internet+answering+machine

USA Search Command

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=internet+answering+machine&gl=us

Canada Search Command

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=internet+answering+machine&gl=ca

• Adding "&gl=us at the end of normal search command for USA target
• Adding "&gl=ca at the end of normal search command for USA target 

SIMILAR KEYWORD PHRASES
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First, please note that only one ad from your account will show to a user. To maintain the quality of our search results, Google will only run one ad per advertiser per search. If you have the same or similar keywords in multiple Ad Groups or campaigns, our system uses various factors, including CTR and cost per click (CPC), to determine which ad shows.

In this case, I would suggest deleting any duplicate keywords within the same Ad Group and from different Ad Groups. In addition, I suggest editing your keywords to ensure that each Ad Group has a unique and different keyword.