In this article, you’ll learn the common factors that cause iOS campaign fluctuations and changes, why they may lead to changes in campaign performance over time, and how you can use the tools in your Google Ads account to understand what’s driving these changes.
On this page
- Before you begin
- Bid targets and budget
- Fluctuations in SKAdNetwork
- Campaign in learning phase
- Fluctuations in deterministic signals
- Running more than 8 iOS campaigns per iOS app
Before you begin
Ensure your Google Ads iOS campaign adheres to the recommended best practices as detailed here. Following these guidelines is crucial for optimizing campaign performance, maximizing return on investment, and ensuring efficient ad delivery.
Bid targets and budget
Editing any account or campaign settings, such as bid strategy, bid and budget adjustments can affect campaign performance. Bid and budget changes can cause your app campaign’s spend to shift within networks such as Search, YouTube, and the Google Display Network to align with your campaign’s goal.
Where can I check bid targets and budget fluctuations?
What can I do to resolve bid targets and budget fluctuations?
Fluctuations in SKAdNetwork
Fluctuations in SKAdnetwork can cause fluctuations in your campaign’s spend and conversions.
Where can I check SKAdNetwork fluctuations?
What can I do to resolve bid targets and budget fluctuations?
Campaign in learning phase
A campaign enters a learning phase in the initial period after it’s created or significantly changed. This is when the Google Ads system is adapting to optimize performance. Examples of significant changes:
- New strategy: When you start using a new bid strategy such as Maximize Conversions, Target CPA.
- Setting changes: When you modify settings like bids, budgets, or targeting.
- Spend shifts: When spend shifts significantly between different networks.
- New campaign: When a new campaign is set up or an existing campaign is paused and resumed.
What can I expect when the campaign is in the learning phase?
Fluctuations in deterministic signals
Review your iOS app's ATT consent prompt and on-device measurement settings for significant SDK changes. Sparse data or disrupted deterministic signals can affect campaign spending and conversions. If you’re bidding on In-app action or In-app action value, we encourage you to prompt for ATT consent and/or implement on-device conversion measurement to enable optimal performance. If you don’t plan to implement the ATT consent prompt or on-device conversion measurement, we recommend utilizing target cost per install (tCPI) bidding.
How to check for fluctuations in deterministic signals?
What to expect when fluctuations in deterministic signals happen?
Running more than 8 iOS campaigns per iOS app
Having more than 8 active campaigns for your iOS app can hinder measurement within SKAdNetwork. iOS modeling and campaign optimization are intended for the top eight campaigns per iOS app ID. If you exceed this limit, conversion modeling and SKAdNetwork measurement may be obscured for campaigns with smaller budgets.
