Using deactivated Ad Group generators – Channable

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What are deactivated Ad group generators?

Deactivated ad group generators behave just like activated ad group generators, but new objects that are generated by them are not pushed to Google. In case they already exist on Google, they get paused as soon as the ad generator runs.

Objects that are generated by activated ad group generators are activated. The ones generated by deactivated ad group generators are deactivated. Deactivated objects have a special status in the preview which helps to distinguish them from the activated ones that just have their Google status.

You can create ad group generators without deactivating the whole ad generator. It’s possible because they are deactivated on creation, so they don’t affect what is pushed to Google.

Differences between activated and deactivated ad group generators

To make sure the differences between activated and deactivated ad group generators are clear, this table shows the differences between them.

Activated ad group generator	Deactivated ad group generator
New objects are pushed to Google when the ad generator runs.	Adding new objects doesn’t result in any actions on Google.
Removed objects are paused on Google when the ad generator runs.	Removing objects doesn’t result in any actions on Google.
Activating a deactivated ad group generator results in its objects being pushed to Google when the ad generator runs.	Deactivating an active ad group generator results in its objects being paused on Google when the ad generator runs.
The preview tab shows the target status on Google.	The preview tab shows a special label instead of the status.
The ad group name cannot be changed.	The ad group name can be changed.

Deactivated ad group generator use-cases

We introduced deactivated ad group generators to allow more flexibility and nuance in how and when ad generators are set up. Below you see a number of use cases when it is relevant to use deactivated Ad group generators:

You can add new ad group generators without deactivating the whole ad generator and pausing campaigns as a result. New ad group generators are created deactivated.
You can create temporary ad group generators and use them for short-lived events, for example sales. After creating a new ad group generator, you can set it up to contain only what you need for this event. It can be then activated when the event starts and deactivated as soon as it ends.
You can use deactivated ad group generators to safely test a new ad group set up in an existing ad generator. It’s both convenient and safe, because you don’t have to create a new ad generator and, because nothing will be pushed to Google.

Creating a new deactivated ad group generator

Whenever you need a new ad group generator, you can do it by clicking the button at the bottom of the list of ad group generators—even if the generator is activated. The new ad group generator will be created as deactivated.

Then, you can set up the templates as usual and see the results in the preview. The objects that come from deactivated ad group generators will show a special label instead of the status. You can even run the whole generator instead of just the preview. It’s safe to do so, because the objects from deactivated ad group generators are never pushed to Google.

Activating and deactivating ad group generators

Activating ad group generators

Activating an ad group generator will mean that all new objects will be pushed to Google, the existing ones will be enabled and their actual status will show up in the preview.

Deactivating ad group generators

Deactivating an existing ad group generator results in the opposite of activating it. It will prevent new objects from being created on Google, the ones that already exist on Google will be paused and special labels will show up in the preview instead of the statuses.

Adding & removing new objects from deactivated ad group generators

Adding new objects deactivated ad group generators

Let’s say you want to add a new ad to a deactivated ad group generator. You can do it whenever you want. The next time the ad generator runs, the new ad will be added to the preview. Note that it won’t be pushed to Google, because the ad group generator is deactivated.

Removing objects from deactivated ad group generators

Removing objects from deactivated ad group generators works similarly to adding them. You can remove them whenever you want and the preview will be refreshed as soon as the whole ad generator runs.

Note: In this case, nothing will be paused or removed on Google. The reason here depends on if the ad group generator used to be activated.

If not, then nothing has ever been pushed to Google from this ad group generator—objects from this generator only exist in the preview.
If so, all objects from this generator got paused when the ad group generator got deactivated.

However, it is also possible to deactivate an ad group generator and remove objects from it without running the ad generator. Then the removed objects will get paused on Google the next time the ad generator runs.