Google Ads shopping ads bug results in huge CPC increased; issue now resolved

Jason November 14, 2021 0 Comments

Google has confirmed a bug with its Google Shopping Ads product where the cost per click (CPC) prices spiked from 50% to over 200% over the weekend. The issue happened last night, Friday, November 12th between 9pm EST (6pm PST) through this morning, Saturday, November 13th at 12am EST (3am PST).

Confirmation. Google confirmed the issue after 1pm EST today, November 13th on Twitter saying “The Google Ads system encountered an unexpected issue between 6pm PST on Friday Nov 12 – 3am PST Saturday, Nov 13 that affected Shopping Ads. We identified and fixed the issue. Everything is working as expected now.”

The Google Ads system encountered an unexpected issue between 6pm PST on Friday Nov 12 – 3am PST Saturday, Nov 13 that affected Shopping Ads. We identified and fixed the issue. Everything is working as expected now.

— Google Ads (@GoogleAds) November 13, 2021

What’s next. It appears that if you were impacted, a Google Ads representative will be in touch with more details. Ginny Marvin, the Google Ads Liaison from Google wrote on Twitter “impacted advertisers will be notified with more details.” Of course, it doesn’t hurt for you to check your Google Ads reporting and see if you were impacted and then to proactively reach out to Google for help and refunds.

How bad was it. Well, look at this chart from one Google Ads advertser:

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Look at percent change on these different accounts https://t.co/WdmIwcMW9W pic.twitter.com/xqdhoWWVgS

— Mike Ryan (@mikeryanretail) November 13, 2021

Why we care. If you have any Google shopping campaigns in Google Ads, you will want to check to ensure your ads were not impacted. If they were, make sure to reach out to Google for some sort of remedy so that you are not over-billed and your ad campaigns do not suffer in other ways.

The post Google Ads shopping ads bug results in huge CPC increased; issue now resolved appeared first on Search Engine Land.

AboutJason Richardson

Jason specializes in digital marketing strategies and founded a digital marketing agency Richardson Digital Media™. Richardson Digital Media™ has quickly become a preferred marketing provider for real estate companies and nationwide mortgage lenders. Jason has won 9 President’s Circle of Excellence Awards for loan production over his career and was most recently honored as one of National Mortgage Professional Magazine’s “40 Under 40: The 40 Most Influential Mortgage Professionals.”