Google Ads Frequency Capping: How Often One Person Sees Your Ads

This guide uses Google Ads Help: Use frequency capping, Frequency capping: Definition and the other Help pages linked in each section. Checked on 8 November 2026.

What frequency and a frequency cap are

Google defines frequency as "the minimum number of times a unique user saw your ad over a given time period." A frequency cap is "a feature that limits the number of times your Display or Video ads appear to the same person." You pick a number and a time window, and once a person reaches it, Google stops showing them the capped ads until the window resets.

Caps matter most in awareness work, where the same people can see the same banner or video many times. Too few showings and the message may not stick; too many and you pay for impressions that add little. Google Ads gives you different tools for this depending on the campaign type, and they behave differently enough that it is worth knowing which one you are using.

Which campaign types support caps

Google's Help page is short on this point: "You can use frequency capping in Display campaigns and Video campaigns", and "Frequency capping isn't supported in Demand Gen campaigns." The table sums up the four cases this guide covers.

Google's Reach Planner page adds that "Frequency caps don't apply to all campaign types in Google Ads, such as Demand Gen and Target Frequency."

Display campaigns

For Display campaigns, Google says you can "allow Google Ads to optimize how often your ads show to users, or you can set a frequency cap manually to manage the number of impressions on the campaign, ad group, or ad." The window is a day, a week or a month.

Three details from Google's page are easy to miss:

• Only after the campaign exists. "You can't adjust frequency capping settings when you create a new campaign." You add the cap afterwards from the Frequency management section of the campaign settings.
• Only viewable impressions count. "For Display campaigns, only impressions that were viewable count toward frequency caps."
• Cookies, not people. "Third-party cookies are used by default, but if those aren't available, then first-party cookies are used to approximate impressions."

To set it, Google's steps are:

1. Go to Campaigns within the Campaigns menu.
2. Open the Settings tab and select the Display campaign.
3. Select Additional settings, then Frequency management.
4. Choose to let Google Ads optimize how often your ads show (Google marks this "recommended") or enter your own cap.
5. Select Save.

Video campaigns: impressions, views or both

For Video campaigns, "Frequency caps for Video campaigns can only be set on the campaign level." You can cap:

• Impression frequency: "how many times ads in this campaign can show to the same user";
• View frequency: "how many times ads in this campaign can get a view or interaction from the same user";
• or both.

The value "must be a whole number (such as 4, not 4.5)", and the time interval is per day, week or month. In a new campaign the setting sits under Additional settings > Frequency capping before you select Create campaign; in an existing one, open the campaign's Settings tab, then Additional settings > Frequency capping, and save.

Who is counted: Google's definition page says Video caps "apply to signed in users, or to devices if the user is signed out." Within the campaign, "all ad formats (in-feed, in-stream, and bumper) contribute to that campaign's frequency cap."

The same video in other campaigns also counts, but Google's two Help pages describe this slightly differently. The definition page says that if the same video is used in other Video campaigns, "only in-stream and bumper ad impressions or views from those other campaigns will count towards the frequency cap of the original campaign." The how-to page says those other impressions and views count, and that the cap "only applies to in-stream and bumper ads in the auction." In practice: if you reuse one video across several campaigns, expect people to hit each campaign's cap sooner.

A note on view caps (our reading of Google's metrics page): Google's YouTube view metrics page says a TrueView view is counted when "a viewer watches 30 seconds or until the end of the video, whichever comes first" (or interacts), and that "TrueView views are not counted" for bumper and non-skippable in-stream ads. For a campaign built on those formats, an impression cap is the one that limits how often people see the ad. Our YouTube video ads guide covers the formats and campaign setup.

Demand Gen: no manual cap

Demand Gen campaigns have no frequency cap setting. Google's Demand Gen FAQ answers "Can I control impression frequency in Demand Gen campaigns?" with: "No. The system automatically controls impression frequency to show your ad to the right people, at the right time, and the right number of times." It suggests the unique reach (campaign level) and impressions data if you want to review frequency.

Google's page on upgrading Video action campaigns to Demand Gen explains why: Demand Gen "is a performance optimized campaign where frequency caps can sometimes be counterproductive to your performance, and where over-exposure is accounted for automatically." If a strict limit per person matters to you more than conversions, a Display or Video campaign is the place for it.

Target frequency is a goal, not a cap

Video reach campaigns have a "Target frequency" option that "allows you to reach the same people a set number of times each week or month". It works the other way round from a cap. Google's About Target frequency page states: "No, this is not a frequency cap. To achieve a weekly or monthly Target frequency, a subset of users may view the ad more times in a week than the target, which will help offset users who view it less than the target in a week."

What Google lists for these campaigns:

• Supported targets: 2-7 per week or 4-12 per month in the campaign setup (Reach Planner's Target Frequency plan shows 2-4 per week or 4-8 per month).
• Only one ad group per Target frequency campaign.
• No shared budgets, no Google video partners, no contextual targeting (topics, keywords, placements).
• An existing campaign can't be turned into a Target frequency campaign; you set up a new one.
• Run it for at least 7 days; Google says 2-4 weeks work best.
• Use "at least as many creatives as your Target frequency number, if not more, to avoid creative fatigue."
• Ads may reach people outside your household income or parental status targeting once they have seen the first ad, so the same people can be reached again; age and gender targeting is respected.

If you reuse the same video in other campaigns, Google warns that "the campaign reporting may show lower average frequency, as the campaign reporting doesn't include impressions from other campaigns."

Frequency reports

Google's Measuring reach and frequency page covers Display, Demand Gen, Video and App campaigns. Add the columns under "Reach and frequency metrics" in the campaign table:

Google calls the 7-day average and the distribution "the preferred metrics to measure frequency campaign's performance". Limits to know, from the same pages:

• Most reach and frequency metrics need a date range of 92 days or less; the frequency distribution needs 31 days or less.
• Data "typically takes up to 3 days" to appear, so the last few days of any range may be incomplete.
• Reach and frequency data is kept for 3 years.
• Numbers may be missing in countries the reach models don't support, or below minimum impression and user thresholds.
• The Brand Report (Insights and reports) shows deduplicated reach and frequency across campaigns in one account; campaigns need more than 10,000 impressions, and Search, Shopping and Performance Max aren't supported.

Google's page on the 7 and 30 day averages gives a worked example: 1,000 impressions and 200 unique users in the past 7 days give an average of 5.

Why reports can show more than your cap

Seeing a frequency of 6 under a cap of 3 does not mean the cap failed. Google lists these reasons:

• Caps use cookies or devices, reports use people. "Frequency caps are applied by cookies, not unique users." Google's Reach Planner page gives the example of a signed-out person with a cap of 3 who sees the ad 3 times on a phone, twice on a TV and once on a computer: "Their actual exposure frequency is 6".
• The date range spans more than one cap window. A cap of 3 impressions per week, viewed over a 2-week range, can show up to 6 per person.
• Windows start per person. Counting starts on the first day a person sees the ad, so even a 4-day range "might cover 2 frequency capping periods."
• Display counts viewable impressions only. Other frequency reports count "both viewable and unviewable impressions", so they can look higher than the cap.

Choosing a cap

Google's pages don't recommend a specific number for manual caps, and we won't invent one. This is our suggestion for working it out:

1. Decide what the campaign is for. For remarketing and awareness on Display or YouTube, a cap protects budget and goodwill. For a Demand Gen campaign there is nothing to set.
2. Start with a weekly window. It smooths out daily swings and matches the 7-day average column you will read it against.
3. After a couple of weeks, compare the 7-day average and the frequency distribution with your cap, allowing for the reasons above.
4. Watch cost and results as you change it. A tight cap can limit how much a campaign spends, especially with small audiences such as remarketing lists.
5. If the aim is a set number of showings per person rather than a ceiling, use a Video reach campaign with Target frequency instead.

Frequently asked questions

Can I set a frequency cap on Search or Performance Max?

Google's frequency capping page lists only Display and Video campaigns, and says Demand Gen isn't supported. Other campaign types have no cap setting on that page.

Why can't I find frequency capping when creating a Display campaign?

Google says you can't adjust it when you create a new Display campaign. Save the campaign first, then use Settings > Additional settings > Frequency management.

Can I cap a single ad group in a Video campaign?

No. Video campaign caps can only be set at the campaign level. Display campaigns allow caps on the campaign, ad group or ad.

Is Target frequency the same as a frequency cap?

No. Google says Target frequency is not a cap: some people may see the ad more often than the target to make up for people who see it less.

Why is my average frequency higher than my cap?

Caps are applied per cookie or device while reports count people across devices, and a date range can cover more than one cap window. For Display, caps count viewable impressions only.

A cap controls how often people see your ads; what they find after the click still decides the result. See our Google Ads basics guide, our website development service and all our services, or email [email protected].