How to End a Google Ad Campaign

Thinking about ending a Google Ad campaign? Sometimes, stopping a campaign is the smartest and most profitable move you can make. This guide will walk you through exactly what to do, covering the crucial difference between pausing and removing a campaign, a step-by-step process for each, and the key data points to review before you make a final decision.

First, Should You Pause or Remove Your Campaign?

Before you click anything, it's essential to understand the distinction between pausing and removing a Google Ads campaign. They achieve a similar immediate result - your ads stop running and you stop paying - but have very different long-term implications for your account.

When to Pause a Campaign

Pausing is a temporary stop. Think of it like hitting the pause button on a movie, you can press play again whenever you're ready, and everything will be right where you left it. When you pause a campaign:

Your ads immediately stop showing.
All your campaign data - settings, ad groups, ads, keywords, and performance history - is preserved.
You can reactivate the campaign with a single click at any time.

You should choose to pause a campaign if:

It's a seasonal campaign. For example, a campaign promoting a Black Friday sale should be paused after the event, ready to be reactivated next year.
You need to reallocate your budget temporarily. If a different campaign is a higher priority this month, you can pause lower-priority campaigns and shift the funds.
You run out of inventory temporarily. Pause ads for a specific product until you're restocked to avoid paying for clicks that can't lead to a purchase.
You need time to optimize. If a campaign is underperforming, pausing it gives you a chance to analyze the data, rewrite ad copy, or build a better landing page without wasting more money.

In most situations, pausing is the best choice. It gives you maximum flexibility and preserves the valuable data and structure you worked to build.

When to Remove a Campaign

Removing a campaign is a permanent action. This is the "delete" button. Once a campaign is removed, it's gone for good. While its historical performance data will still be available in your reports, the campaign itself cannot be reactivated or edited.

You should only consider removing a campaign if:

It was created by mistake. You might have duplicated a campaign or launched one you didn't intend to.
You're doing a major account restructuring. As part of a massive cleanup, you might decide to permanently remove very old, irrelevant, and messy campaigns to declutter your account.

A word of caution: Always think twice before removing. Even failed campaigns contain valuable data on what didn't work. Pausing is almost always the safer, non-destructive option.

How to Pause a Google Ad Campaign (Step-by-Step)

Pausing a campaign is quick and straightforward. Here’s how to do it in just a few clicks.

Step 1: Navigate to Your Campaigns

Log in to your Google Ads account. In the main navigation menu on the left side of your screen, click on "Campaigns." This will take you to your main campaign dashboard, where you can see a list of all your active, paused, and removed campaigns.

Step 2: Find the Campaign and Its Status

Scan the list to find the campaign you want to pause. To the left of the campaign's name, you'll see a colored dot indicating its status:

A green dot means the campaign is currently Enabled.
A gray dot with two vertical bars means it's Paused.
A red dot means it's Removed.

Step 3: Pause the Campaign

Click on the green dot next to the campaign name. A small dropdown menu will appear with three options: Enabled, Paused, and Removed. Select "Pause." The dot will turn gray, and your campaign will immediately stop running.

That's it! The campaign is now paused until you return and enable it again.

How to Pause Multiple Campaigns at Once

If you need to pause several campaigns simultaneously, you can do it in bulk. Simply check the boxes next to each campaign you want to pause. A blue bar will appear at the top of the campaign list. Click "Edit" on this bar, and then select "Pause" from the dropdown menu.

How to Remove a Google Ad Campaign (Permanently)

Remember, this is a permanent action. We generally recommend pausing over removing, but if you're certain you need to delete a campaign for good, here's how.

Step 1: Select the Campaign(s) to Remove

First, navigate to your "Campaigns" dashboard. Find the campaign you want to remove and click the checkbox to its left.

Step 2: Use the "Edit" Menu to Remove it

Once you’ve selected your campaign(s), a blue bar will appear at the top of your list. Click the "Edit" dropdown on this bar.

Step 3: Confirm the Removal

From the "Edit" menu, select "Remove." Google Ads will display a confirmation pop-up to make sure you understand that this action is permanent and cannot be undone. If you're 100% sure, click "Confirm." The campaign's status icon will change to a red dot, solidifying its removed status.

Before You Click Pause or Remove: A Quick Performance Checklist

Deciding to end a campaign shouldn't be a gut feeling, it should always be motivated by data. A campaign that feels like it’s failing might just need a small tweak to become profitable. Before pulling the plug, run through this quick analysis checklist.

1. Check Your Core KPIs

Your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) tell the story of your campaign’s health. Look at these metrics over the last 30 days or so:

Conversion Rate: This is arguably the most important metric. Are people who click your ads actually taking the desired action (e.g., making a purchase, filling out a form)? A low conversion rate could point to an issue with your landing page or audience targeting, not necessarily the ad itself.
Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): How much are you paying for each conversion? If your CPA is higher than your customer's value, the campaign is unprofitable. However, if it's close, you might be able to lower it with bid strategy optimizations instead of ending the campaign entirely.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): For e-commerce businesses, this is critical. For every dollar you spend on ads, how many are you getting back in revenue? A ROAS below 1 means you're losing money. The goal is to identify your breakeven point and see if the campaign is exceeding it.
Click-Through Rate (CTR): A low CTR suggests your ad copy and creative aren't resonating with your target audience. You might be able to fix this by A/B testing new headlines and descriptions instead of scrapping the whole campaign.

2. Review Targeting Down to the Ad Group Level

Don’t just judge the campaign as a whole. One bad ad group can drag down the average performance of an otherwise solid campaign. Drill down into your ad groups and ask:

Are all ad groups underperforming, or just one or two? You can pause individual ad groups that are wasting your budget.
Are your keywords relevant? Check the search terms report to see what people are actually typing to trigger your ads. You might be paying for irrelevant clicks that can be blocked by adding negative keywords.
Is your audience targeting too broad? Perhaps you need to narrow your focus to a more specific demographic or geographic area.

3. Analyze Your Landing Page Experience

Sometimes the campaign is working admirably - it's getting lots of cheap, relevant clicks. The problem is what happens after a person clicks. The issue might not be Google Ads at all, but your landing page. Before pausing, check:

Message Match: Does your landing page reflect the promise made in your ad? If your ad talks about "50% off running shoes," your page better feature a prominent sale for running shoes.
Load Speed: Does your page load quickly on both desktop and mobile? Slow-loading pages crush conversion rates.
Clarity and Call-to-Action (CTA): Is it immediately clear what a visitor should do on your landing page? Is the CTA button easy to find and compelling?

Often, improving your landing page is a much higher-leverage activity than pausing an otherwise healthy campaign.

What to Do After You End a Campaign

Your work isn't done once the campaign is paused or removed. To make the most of your ad budget and efforts going forward, take these final steps.

Secure and Analyze Your Data

Especially if you removed the campaign, export its performance data. Create a report in Google Ads filtering for just that campaign and download it as a CSV or Google Sheet. This creates a permanent record you can reference later to understand past performance and avoid repeating mistakes.

Reallocate the Budget Intelligently

The budget that was assigned to the ended campaign is now free. Instead of letting it go unspent, create a plan to strategically reinvest it. You could double down on your top-performing existing campaigns or use the funds to test a completely new channel.

Document Your Learnings

Finally, take a few moments to write down why you decided to stop this campaign. Was the CPA consistently too high? Did the keywords drive low-quality traffic? Keeping a log of these key insights helps build institutional knowledge and makes your team's marketing efforts smarter over time.

Final Thoughts

Ending a Google Ads campaign is a normal part of managing an advertising account. It's about responsibly allocating your budget. Knowing how and when to pause or remove a campaign ensures you stay in complete control, while taking the time to analyze your performance data ensures your decisions lead to better results.

Digging through Google Ads reports to find out which campaigns have the best ROI can feel like a full-time job, especially when you also need to consider data found in Google Analytics, your CRM, and your order management system like Shopify. At Graphed , we built our tool to eliminate this friction. You can connect all your data sources in one place and simply ask questions in plain English like, "compare ROAS for all my Google Ads campaigns this quarter," and get an instant dashboard. Deciding what campaign to pause becomes a simple, data-driven conversation, instead of an hour-long reporting headache.