Budget Pacer
Set up budget trackers and check whether spend is on pace for the month.
How-to guides
- Change a tracker's budget by month or quarterYou change tracker budgets on the Budget Tracker page in Budget Pacer. Click a budget cell, type the new amount, then click Save in the bar at the bottom.
- Get started with Budget PacerThe first time you open Budget Pacer, a short setup takes you from connecting an ad account to your first tracker.
- Get help in Budget Pacer: Albert, the pacing assistant, and supportFor a quick answer, ask Albert inside Budget Pacer. For questions about your own pacing numbers, use the pacing assistant.
- Add a KPI target to a trackerA KPI target sets what good performance looks like for a tracker, so it can say whether spending faster or slower is a problem.
- Track budgets in multiple currenciesCan Budget Pacer show my USD and EUR clients on one dashboard? Yes.
- Planning tags: give each campaign an audience, indication and categoryPlanning tags label each campaign with an Audience, an Indication and a Category, and choose whether it counts in Projections.
- Use the budget from your Google Ads or Microsoft Ads insertion orderA tracker can take its monthly budget from the insertion order (I/O) on its ad account instead of a number you type.
- Find active campaigns that are not in any trackerBudget Pacer can flag active Google Ads campaigns that are in no tracker, so their spend does not slip past your pacing.
- Group trackers on the dashboardYou can organize your trackers into groups, which work like folders, such as one per client or per team, and show the dashboard in sections with a subtotal
Reference
- Read the pacing dashboardThe dashboard is the first page Budget Pacer opens. It shows every tracker's budget, spend and pace for the period you pick.
- Read the Advanced dashboard viewThe Advanced view of the Budget Pacer dashboard adds period cards, total KPI cards, a burn-down chart and a wider tracker table.
Questions and answers
Troubleshooting
- Connect Microsoft Ads when your company admin must approve itSome companies require a Microsoft admin to approve PPC Ad Editor before anyone can connect Microsoft Ads to Budget Pacer.
- Fix common pacing problemsStart with the message Budget Pacer shows. Most problems come from data that has not refreshed yet, campaigns that are not in a tracker, or a period with
Common questions
Where do I see yesterday's spend?
In the Yesterday's spend column of the tracker table, in both the Simple and Advanced dashboards. Open a tracker row in Simple to see it in the details too.
Can I hide or shrink the Budget Pacer sidebar?
Yes. Click Collapse sidebar at the bottom of the left sidebar on any Budget Pacer page. It shrinks to a narrow rail of icons, and you can still hover each icon to see its name. Click Expand sidebar to bring it back. Your browser remembers the choice the next time you open Budget Pacer.
What does Set up as Google mean under a tracker name?
Set up as and a platform name, such as Google, under a tracker name means you picked that platform when you created the tracker, but the campaigns in it now all come from the other platform. Nothing is wrong with the numbers. The dashboard puts the tracker under the platform its campaigns really come from, in the Engine menu and in Group by, and pacing follows those campaigns. To make the note go away, check the campaigns on the tracker page with Manage campaigns, or create a new tracker for the right platform.
Do my budget edits save on their own?
No. Cell edits wait in the bar at the bottom until you click Save. If you leave the page or reload before you save, those edits are lost. Renaming a tracker is different, because a new name saves as soon as you press Enter.
Can I plan next year's budget?
No. The year menu at the top of the page only lets you pick the current year, and other years are greyed out. Budget Tracker plans one year at a time.
How do I know if we're on pace?
To know if you're on pace, open the Budget Pacer dashboard and read the Status column. On track means 95% to 105% of the ideal spend for the days that have finished. Spending a bit fast or Spending a bit slow means slightly off pace, up to 115% or down to 80%. Spending too fast or Spending too slow means well off pace, and the tracker needs attention. Current Pace shows the same thing as a percent, where 100% is exactly on plan, above 100% is faster than planned and below 100% is slower. The Advanced view shows Current Pace for all trackers together at the top, and each tracker has its own Current Pace.
Is Spending a bit fast a problem?
Spending a bit fast is a gentle warning, not a problem yet. It means the tracker has spent more than 105% and up to 115% of the ideal spend for the days that have finished, so it is shown in amber and still counts as on track in the summary. Check Projected Spend to see how far over budget it would land if nothing changes, and Required Daily Spend for the daily average that lands it on budget. Above 115% the Status turns to Spending too fast, shown in red, and the tracker needs attention. Spending a bit slow works the same way below the ideal pace, from 95% down to 80%.
Where will we land at the end of the month or quarter?
Read Projected Spend on the Budget Pacer dashboard. It extends completed-day spend at the same daily rate to the end of the period, and says how far over or under budget that lands. Today's partial spend is not part of it.
What should we spend per day?
Read Required Daily Spend on the Budget Pacer dashboard or a tracker's page. It is the daily average needed to land on budget from here. It is planning guidance and never changes a budget in Google Ads or Microsoft Ads.
Which campaigns are driving a tracker's spend?
Open the tracker from the Budget Pacer dashboard and read Spend breakdown by campaign. Share and Contribution show which campaigns move the tracker most.