Starting in September 2024, Google Ads will begin automatically pausing low-activity ad groups. Specifically, ad groups that were created over 13 months ago and haven't received any impressions during the last 13 months will be paused. This feature aims to improve ad campaign efficiency by stopping budget allocation to inactive groups, making it easier to focus on high-performing campaigns.
Advertisers will still have the option to manually unpause these groups if they anticipate future activity. However, Google warns that if unpaused groups remain without impressions for another three months, they will be paused again automatically. This change is intended to enhance the quality of your ad campaigns by preventing inactive groups from negatively impacting overall performance metrics​.
To adapt, advertisers should audit their ad accounts, identifying ad groups at risk of being paused, and either refresh or remove them depending on their strategic needs​