Overview
Some users have reported that Google Smart Ads campaigns become stuck in a "setting up" or similar pending state after creation. Campaigns remain unresponsive even after multiple attempts to cancel and restart them. This issue requires intervention from the Search Atlas support or engineering team to resolve.
Is This Happening to You?
You may be affected if:
- One or more Smart Ads campaigns have been in a setup or publishing state for several hours or overnight.
- You are unable to activate, pause, or cancel the affected campaigns.
- Retrying campaign creation does not resolve the issue.
What You Should Do
Because this issue requires platform-side intervention, the most effective path to resolution is to contact the Search Atlas support team directly. Before reaching out, try the self-serve steps below — in some cases these can unblock your campaign immediately.
- Confirm the campaigns are genuinely stuck. If a campaign was just created, wait at least one hour to allow the system time to process it. Stuck states that persist beyond one hour are unlikely to self-resolve.
- Refresh your browser and clear your cache. Close and reopen your browser, clear your cache and cookies, then log back into Search Atlas. Navigate back to Campaign Hub and check whether the affected campaigns now show an updated status.
- Check your Google Ads account connection. Go to your Search Atlas integrations or connected accounts settings and confirm that your Google Ads account is still properly connected and authorized. A broken or expired connection can cause campaigns to stall in a setup state. If the connection shows an error, disconnect and reconnect your Google Ads account, then check whether the stuck campaign resumes processing.
- Do not repeatedly cancel and recreate campaigns. Additional cancellation or recreation attempts while campaigns are in a stuck state can make the issue harder to resolve. Avoid making further changes to affected campaigns until the status updates or support has reviewed your account.
- If the above steps do not resolve the issue, contact the Search Atlas support team. Reach out through the in-platform chat widget. To speed up resolution, have the following ready: the names of the affected campaigns and how long they have been stuck. A screen recording showing the stuck state is also helpful. Sharing this information allows the support team to escalate your case to engineering quickly.
- Work with support to test after the fix is applied. Once the support or engineering team resolves the issue on the platform side, verify that your campaigns are now active and running correctly.
Tips to Avoid Issues in the Future
- After creating a new campaign, allow it adequate time to fully publish before making edits or attempting to cancel it.
- Periodically verify that your Google Ads account connection is active and authorized in your Search Atlas integration settings.
- If you notice a campaign entering a stuck state, contact support promptly rather than attempting repeated cancellations, as early intervention tends to result in faster resolution.
If you have tried the steps above and are still experiencing this issue, please reach out to us via the in-platform chat widget and we will work to get your campaigns back on track as soon as possible.