this total in the keyword breakdown, does this mean my keywords are showing 100% or my ad is or both? my daily budget is below the google recommendation, but does the 100% served mean my ad and keywords are being shown all the time?
mthorpe, If I've understood you correctly, you're looking to the right of your ad at the Ad Group level, correct? If so, the 'Served - 100%' message is unrelated to how often your ad is showing within the context of your daily budget.
Instead, it refers to the 'Automatically optimize ad serving for my ads' setting that rotates multiple ads within the same Ad Group, when an advertiser has more than one. When there are multiple ads, the 'served - %' message tells you what percentage of the time each one of the multiple ads was served.
However, when there is only one ad, then it'll show 'Served - 100.0%'. This is almost certainly what you're seeing.
BTW, when there are multiple ads in an Ad Group, the default is that system will learn which ad is earning the better CTR, and start showing that ad more often. However, it may also be set to show the ads evenly. This setting is made on the 'Edit Campaign Settings' page of each campaign.
Hope that makes sense.
AWA
Google says i should match their recommended budget in order to get full showing of my ad. Is this true?
Google's estimator tool is based on a campaign wide 2% CTR. If your average CTR is below 2%, then it's possible to have a lower than recommended budget and have your ad shown all the time.
Conversely, if your overall CTR is higher, then you probably need to have a daily budget higher than whats recommended.
