Charges and your average daily budget

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Average daily budget

You might see that your advertising costs each day are a little higher or lower than what you set for your average daily budget. If you do, don't worry: Over a month-long billing cycle, you won't be charged more than your average daily budget would've allowed for over 30.4 days.

Basically, 30.4 is the average number of days in a month (365 days in a year / 12 months = 30.417). Google multiplies your average daily budget by this number so we know what your budget should be over the course of a month.

Overdelivery

We allow up to 2 times the clicks in a day than your average daily budget allows for campaigns that aren't paying for conversions. This is called overdelivery, and it's a good thing. If we end up showing your ad too much — to the point where you accrue more costs than your average daily budget allows for over a billing cycle — then we'll give you a credit for those extra costs.

For more, check out our FAQ.

Example

Let's say you set your budget at $5 a day and your billing cycle is 30 days. Over the course of the month, you notice that your charges vary. Some days you're charged $2, on others you're charged $10. At the end of the month, your charges won't exceed $152 (that's 30.4 multiplied by your $5 budget).

So even though your campaign costs tipped above and fell below your $5 budget from day to day, at the end of the month, you're still charged no more than what you budgeted.

Fluctuating internet traffic might make your daily costs go up and down, but at the end of the month, you'll find your costs where you expected them to be.

Check for overdelivery

Sometimes we deliver over your monthly budget. In those cases, we'll credit the overdelivery cost back.

If you'd like to check if we've given you overdelivery credits, follow these steps:

In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon .
Click the Insights and reports drop down in the section menu.
Click Report editor.
In the "Billing" section of the "Template gallery" card, select the Billed cost report.

You’ll see a report that lists served and billed costs for each campaign. To calculate overdelivery, subtract “Billed cost” from “Served cost.” To perform these calculations in bulk, select the download icon in the top right of the report and save as a .csv file.

By default, the data is displayed daily and sorted by served cost. If you wish to see for a certain date range, remove the “Day” filter and set a date range in the upper right section above the table.

Frequently asked questions about overdelivery

Open the links below to answer questions about overdelivery.

Will overdelivery of my average daily budget increase the maximum that I can be charged for the month?

No. The monthly charging limit remains unchanged. Even though you may see higher spend on some days, this overdelivery is balanced by days of the month during which your spend is below your average daily budget.

When exactly will my spend exceed my average daily budget?

There are no changes to how spend is prioritized throughout the month. Google Ads will continue to optimize your spend based on daily fluctuations in traffic, what you've spent on previous days of the month, and other factors.

In general, spend may exceed your average daily budget on days that are more likely to drive clicks and conversions.

If my campaigns aren’t limited by budget, will overdelivery affect my spend?

If your campaign isn’t limited by budget, your monthly spend will remain the same. There are no changes to how campaigns that aren’t limited by budget work.

If your campaigns are limited by budget for one or more days in the month, then you’ll see some variation in your daily spend. However, you’ll never be charged more than the monthly charging limit. Flexibility in your budget helps balance days with low traffic by increasing spend on days that are likely to drive more clicks and conversions.

Learn more about what it means to be limited by budget.

What happens if I adjust my average daily budget during the month?

There’s no change to how adjusting your budget impacts what you’ll be charged for the rest of the month. As before, when you change your budget, your spend for the rest of the month won’t exceed your new average daily budget multiplied by the remaining days in the month.

For example, let’s say you set an average daily budget of $10 on the first day of September, and you change it to $20 on day 16. For the first 15 days of the month, your spend will be capped by your monthly charging limit of $10 * 30 (number of days in September). After changing your average daily budget to $20, your spend for the rest of the month will be $20 multiplied by the remaining 15 days.

For the first 15 days of the month, your spend may be more than half your monthly charging limit. This is because spend may exceed your average daily budget on some of those days. However, as soon as you change your budget, you won’t be charged more than $20 multiplied by the remaining days in the month. If you already had ad spend on September 16 before you changed your budget, your total spend from September 16-30 could be slightly higher than $300.

Learn more about Why daily costs might exceed your average daily budget.

Is it possible to opt-out of overdelivery?

There’s no opt-out. Overdelivery is designed to help you optimize spend for days of the month when you’re more likely to get clicks and conversions.

Can I set a cap on my daily spend?

No. You won’t be able to place a cap on your daily spend using your campaign’s average daily budget.

Will I be able to set a monthly budget?

Currently, you can't set a monthly budget within Google Ads. However, you can use your average daily budget multiplied by the number of days in the month to determine what your monthly spend will be. Learn more about campaign budgets.

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