Google announced on 4 October that AdWords can now double your daily budget. The change was publicized in a brief Tweet which was short on detail to say the least, and did not go down well with advertisers.
AdWords Help gives more detail. It also makes it clear that you won’t be charged more than your monthly charging limit, calculated as 30.4 times your average daily budget.
Google says any overdelivery on the monthly charging limit will be credited back and can be checked via the Reports tab in your AdWords account.
AdWords has always had the ability to spend over your daily budget to account for peaks and troughs in activity but up to now this was capped at 20%, so it’s a big increase to move to a doubling of the daily budget. Google’s aim is to put your ad in front of as many people as possible (upping spend on busy days, dropping on less busy days), but this change reduces the chance of budget underspend, so maximising ad revenues.
How the monthly charging limit works
While the monthly charging limit is reassuring, it only applies if your daily budget is the same for the entire month.
Google says if your daily budget changes or is paused, then no monthly charging limit is used.
So, if you have a short campaign which doesn’t last for the entire month, change your budget during the month or pause your campaign, the monthly spending limit does not apply and you may end up with an overspend.
Google’s own example shows how a campaign might end up spending more.
Monitor your campaigns
It makes sense to monitor your campaigns more closely following this change, especially if you make changes to your daily budgets or have short term campaigns. The change also applies to shared budgets so again, worth keeping a closer eye.
Reactions
Google’s unexpected and non-optional change drew irate reactions on Twitter.
You can see more details in the AdWords help articles: Charges and your daily budget and Why costs might exceed your average daily budget.
Let us know what you think of these changes in the comments below.
