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How does the Budget Pacing Agent work?

This article provides an overview of the Budget Pacing Agent and how it works.

Overview

The Budget Pacing Agent is an AI-powered agent that runs automatically every day at 6:00 AM. It compares each account's month-to-date (MTD) spend (including spend from both active and paused campaigns) against the monthly budget, then adjusts daily campaign budgets to help the account stay on pace for the month.

It also monitors total MTD spend and automatically pauses campaigns when the monthly budget is reached to prevent overspend, then automatically re-enables them on the 1st of the following month.

 

How the Budget Pacing Agent Works

The agent operates in one of two modes:

Account-Level Mode (Default)

By default, all accounts use Account-Level Mode.

In this mode, the agent automatically distributes budget across active campaigns based on the account's existing spending patterns while keeping the overall account on pace for its monthly budget.

No campaign-specific budget targets are required.

Example:

Campaign-Level Mode

Campaign-Level Mode is used when you want individual campaigns to spend a specific portion of the monthly budget.

Each campaign is assigned a monthly dollar target, and the agent adjusts daily budgets throughout the month to help each campaign reach its assigned target.

The agent:

  • Only adjusts daily budgets.
  • Does not optimize toward better-performing campaigns.
  • Does not change bids or campaign targets.
  • Simply works to ensure each campaign reaches its assigned monthly budget.

Any campaign allocation changes made today will be applied during the agent's next scheduled run at 6:00 AM the following morning.

When campaign allocations are configured, the agent displays both the assigned monthly budget and percentage allocation for each campaign.

Example:

Built-In Guardrails

The agent includes several safeguards to prevent unexpected budget fluctuations:

  • Daily budget changes are limited so budgets don't change dramatically overnight.
  • The agent stops adjusting campaign budgets if the combined campaign allocations exceed the overall account budget.

 

Navigation

Use the Practice filter to search for a specific client.

Use the Mode filter to display either:

  • Account-Level Mode
  • Campaign-Level Mode

Use the Status filter to view accounts with a specific pacing status.
Screenshot 2026-07-29 at 2.18.11 PM

Toggle to Needs Review to view all accounts that require approval for their daily budget changes. 
Screenshot 2026-07-29 at 2.16.17 PM

Select Export CSV to export all information. 
Screenshot 2026-07-29 at 2.20.17 PM

 

Statuses

Each account receives one of the following pacing statuses:

  • On Track - Within 10% of the target
  • Underpacing - More than 10% under target
  • Significantly Underpacing - More than 20% under target
  • Overpacing - More than 10% over target
  • Significantly Overpacing - More than 20% over target
 

You can filter the agent by pacing status to quickly review accounts that require attention.

 

Adding New Accounts to the Agent

An account will only appear in the Budget Pacing Agent if all of the following conditions are met:

  • Google Ads ID exists in (must be formatted as XXX-XXX-XXXX).
  • Google Ads Budget has been entered and it is greater than $0.
  • Customer Type is Active or Trial.
  • Google Ads Pacing Agent is set to Yes.
  • The Google Ads account contains at least one active campaign.

If an account is missing from the agent, verify that all of the above requirements have been met.

 

Adding New Campaigns

Whenever a new campaign is added to an account:

  1. Wait until the agent runs the following morning.
  2. Review the account.
  3. If the account uses Campaign-Level Mode, update the campaign allocations as needed to include the new campaign.

 

Approving Daily Budget Changes

Some larger daily budget adjustments require manual approval before they are applied.

If approval is required:

  1. Locate the account with the Needs Review flag.
  2. Expand the account row to review.
  3. Review the recommended budget changes under Applied/Day.
  4. Scroll to Review & Feedback.
  5. Select Approve (or Reject if appropriate).
  6. Enter your name in the Reviewed By field.
  7. Click Submit Feedback.

If no action is taken, the recommendation is ignored and no budget changes are applied.


Reporting Issues

If you identify a bug or unexpected behavior within the Budget Pacing Agent:

  • Notify your Team Lead.
  • Report the issue directly to Mark Inge, who maintains the Budget Pacing Agent.