Need some advice regarding Google Ads behaviour for my taxi business.
For the last 2 weeks I’ve noticed a very strange change in my Search campaign performance, and I can’t figure out what’s causing it.
Before, my ads were getting clicks consistently throughout the day. But now, from around 9:00 in the morning until mid/late afternoon, I mostly get impressions with almost no clicks at all. Sometimes there will be a random 1-hour spike with 3–4 clicks, then again almost nothing for hours.
Then suddenly after around 16:00 the campaign “wakes up” and starts getting both impressions and clicks normally again.
A few important things:
- It’s not a budget issue - Search Lost IS (budget) is always 0%.
- Search Lost IS (rank) is usually only around 15–25%.
- During weekdays my campaign usually doesn’t even spend the full daily budget.
- This behaviour started almost out of nowhere around 2 weeks ago.
- Fridays and Saturdays still spend properly.
- This is a taxi/private hire business, so daytime traffic is very important for me. My ads start in the morning because people book airport runs, local rides, etc. during the day.
So basically:
Morning to afternoon = impressions but almost no clicks.
After 16:00 = clicks suddenly start flowing normally again.
Has anyone experienced something similar recently?
Campaign type: Search campaign for a local taxi/private hire company.
Bid strategy: Maximise Clicks with CPC limit.
Would really appreciate any ideas because it feels like something changed suddenly rather than gradual performance decline.