As someone who works in advertising, especially if you utilize Google Ads, it’s important to make sure you’re up to date with Google’s relatively strict policies and guidelines. You might wonder why your Google ad disapproved.
At some point, you may come across a disapproved ad or landing page, which will no doubt be followed by some pretty frustrating feelings.
Luckily, in this post I’ll cover the top reasons your ad was denied, as well as how to review the policies you’re in violation of, and how to resubmit your ads or landing page for approval.
Was Your Google Ad Disapproved? Common Reasons Why…
I completely understand the frustration that ensues when you log into AdWords, only to realize your ad was disapproved.
Well, I’m here to tell you not to worry! It’s normally a pretty easy fix to get that ad back up and doing its job – making you money!
Here are a few things you can do for your ads and landing pages to make sure they get approved the first time:
Check your ads for the most common mistakes
Your ad may have been denied over a very simple fix! Here are a few things to check your ad for before resubmitting for approval:
- Make sure the display ad in your url matches the root domain of the destination url. A simple mistype in your url will pretty much always cause your ad to be denied.
- You’re only allowed one display url per ad group.
- Google’s editorial policy has strict guidelines for your ad copy. Don’t be gimmicky or annoying by writing your ad in the following ways:
- Using excessive punctuation (!!!)
- USING ALL CAPS
- Writing ur ads like u txt
- Google also doesn’t allow advertisement for anything that could be considered sketchy, like adult services, alcohol, gambling, weapons, or drugs.
Make sure your landing pages aren’t landing you in hot water
It’s understandable that Google has pretty strict guidelines for their advertisement policies. They are, after all, the most used search engine in the world. If your landing page was disapproved, there are several things you should double check to make sure it falls within the guidelines:
- Make sure the url you’re sending traffic to isn’t broken or under construction.
- The landing page needs to work in all browsers, on all devices, and in all locations.
- Pop ups are a no go. Disable it if your landing page has one.
- Don’t do “information harvesting”, which is where you offer a free incentive for personal information, like name, age, shoe size, email, etc.
- Lead generation is OKAY! Just make sure not to cross the boundary into information harvesting.
- If using a form on your landing page, include a privacy policy. Utilizing a lightbox that allows your traffic to view the privacy policy without leaving the page, meaning your traffic can easily complete your call to action.
- Make sure you’re seen as a legitimate business. Google has a strict policy in relation to ads using domains that are connected to the business that’s being advertised.
- If you have a website and a reason to collect sensitive/personal information like bank accounts, social security numbers, and credit card numbers, ensure the data is transmitted securely over an SSL connection.
Related: Common Landing Page Myths You Need to Know
How to Review Your Google Ad Disapproval
Encountering a disapproved ad is inevitable when you’re in advertising. Whether it’s due to a type in a url, a broken landing page, or accidental use of trademark terms, it’s bound to happen at some point.
Luckily, Google Ads has worked towards making reviews of disapproved ads easier than ever by incorporating a Policy Manager section into the interface. With this tool, you can now view each policy issue in one location and work towards fixing them so you can resubmit quickly.
To get to the Policy Manager, you’ll need to click Tools, which is located on the balck bar at the top of the Google Ads page. Look for the Policy Manager under the Setup section of the menu.
Now, you should see boxes that specify which policy your ad violated and the number of ads or extensions that are affected by each violation.
If you click “read the policy”, you’ll be able to access more details about that specific policy, and see whether that violation caused disapproval or a limited approved status.
**Note: The filters at the top will carry over filters that were selected in the interface before you moved into the Policy Manager.**
To see all the ads and extensions affected in the account, you can click the number that’s in blue, or choose “View Ads” or “View Extensions”. Now, you can make any edits necessary to bring your ad up to compliance, or make the decision to contact customer support if you believe your ad was wrongly flagged.
When you’re in the main Ads screen, use your mouse to highlight an individual ad’s status, and get more specific details on why the ad was disapproved. If you think nothing is wrong with your ad, you can request to resubmit for review.
While the Policy Manager won’t prevent random ad disapproval problems from happening, this tool helps your approval odds and understand approval issues throughout your account and how to fix them quickly.
How to Fix Your Disapproved Google Ad
Lucky for all ad managers, Google is more than okay with offering a second chance for your ads.
Once you’ve reviewed the reason(s) your ad or landing page wasn’t approved and made the correct changes, you’re able to resubmit them for review.
However, there is a different process for resubmitting, based on whether it was an ad or landing page that was disapproved.
If it was an ad, all you have to do is make the correct changes, click “save”, and the ad will automatically be resubmitted. You should see the status change from “disapproved” to “under review”/”eligible”. You should find out if your ad was approved within 24 hours.
If it was a landing page that was denied, there will be a short form you have to fill out to request a manual review.
It’s definitely a frustrating feeling to login to AdWords and realize your ads or landing pages were disapproved, but luckily it’s a relatively easy task to fix and be on your way. It takes no time at all to correct your ad, resubmit, get approved, and start making money.