Google Ads Policies: What Is Prohibited, What Is Restricted and How to Comply

Google Ads more often limits ads than rejects them outright. Hence the key skill when working with it: understand which part of the policies a problem belongs to and act accordingly — fix the text, get certified or change the product. Below is a map of the Google Ads policies, with no made-up section numbers or quotes. Always check exact wording and country lists in the Google Ads help center: they are updated regularly.

How Google Ads policies are structured

Google's rules fall into four large groups:

The policies apply across all Google networks: Search, Display, YouTube, Discover, Gmail, apps. Some formats have extra requirements, but the foundation is the same.

Prohibited content in Google Ads

This covers everything you cannot promote under any circumstances:

• Counterfeit goods — products that copy someone else's trademark to pass themselves off as the original.
• Dangerous products or services — drugs, weapons and weapon parts, explosives, tobacco in most formats, instructions for causing harm.
• Enabling dishonest behavior — hacking, fake documents, fake engagement services, academic cheating.
• Inappropriate content — bullying, shock content, violence, exploiting tragedies.

If your product is on this list, no careful wording or appeal will save it. It is a boundary, not a reason to look for a workaround phrasing.

Prohibited practices: what gets the whole account suspended

This group is the most dangerous, because violations here usually lead not to a disapproved ad but to an account suspension:

• Abuse of the ad network — malware on the site, bridge pages with no value of their own, unfair attempts to gain an auction advantage, circumventing systems. This includes showing reviewers different content than users see, and creating new accounts to replace suspended ones. Google Search punishes a similar trick in organic results too — see cloaking in SEO.
• Data collection and use — misusing payment and personal data, collecting it without a secure connection.
• Misrepresentation — false claims about the product or business, hiding payment terms, impersonating another company, unacceptable business practices and unsubstantiated promises.
• Suspicious payment activity — when payment activity looks fraudulent.

Tip. If you got suspended for one of these reasons, do not create a new account. Google links accounts by many signals, and the new one will be suspended for circumventing systems, while your chances of a successful appeal on the first one drop. What to do instead is covered in Google Ads account suspended: what to do.

Restricted content: what you can advertise with conditions

A restricted category means ads can run if conditions are met. The most common ones:

• Gambling and games — online casinos, betting, lotteries, social casinos. Requires Google certification for a specific country, a license from the local regulator and compliance with local law. Without certification ads do not serve.
• Healthcare and medicines — online pharmacies, prescription drugs, addiction treatment, some medical services. Many of these need certification, often via third-party verification such as LegitScript, and permission to operate in the country.
• Financial services — in many countries Google requires financial services verification: a license or registration with the local regulator. Plus mandatory disclosure of terms: rates, fees, timelines.
• Cryptocurrencies — exchanges and wallets only after certification and in permitted countries; for some products advertising is closed.
• Alcohol — in compliance with local law and age restrictions.
• Sexual content — limited delivery, fully prohibited in some places and for part of the audience.
• Political content — advertiser verification for elections and a mandatory "paid for by" disclosure.
• Trademarks — using someone else's brand in ad text may be restricted upon the owner's complaint.

How to get certified for gambling, finance and crypto is covered separately in restricted ad categories: licenses and certification.

How certification for a restricted category works

The process is similar across categories:

1. Find the category page in the Google Ads help center and check whether ads are allowed in your target country and which activities are permitted.
2. Prepare documents: a license from the local regulator, company registration, details of the site to be advertised.
3. Fill in the certification application form with your ad account ID and domains.
4. Wait for the decision. Certification is granted for a specific account, countries and sites — a new domain or a new geo usually requires updating the application.
5. Once approved, ads in that category serve with the country and age restrictions applied.

Certification does not exempt you from the other rules: a certified advertiser's ad still has to be honest, and the page still has to meet the requirements.

Editorial requirements for ads

The most "everyday" disapprovals are editorial. Google wants ads to be clear and look professional:

• no excessive capitalization ("SALE TODAY") and repeated characters ("!!!");
• no gimmicky spelling, extra spaces or emoji in search ad text;
• no vague calls like "Click here" without meaning;
• prices and terms stated the same way as on the site;
• a display URL that matches the domain of the final page.

Requirements for text, claims and disclaimers are covered in more detail in compliant ad creatives.

Destination requirements

The landing page is a frequent cause of a "Disapproved" status worded around an unavailable or low-quality site. Make sure that:

1. The page opens from the target country, on mobile and desktop, with no 4xx or 5xx errors.
2. The domain in the ad matches the domain of the page the person lands on.
3. The page does not block the back button or open pop-ups unprompted.
4. The page has useful content matching the ad, not just a form.
5. Contacts, privacy policy, purchase and return terms are visible.
6. Personal data is collected over a secure connection.

A note on link parameters: auto-tagging adds a gclid to the URL, and your site must not break because of it. What this parameter is and why it is needed is covered in fbclid, gclid, ttclid: what these parameters are, and how to build tracking on it in Google Ads tracking: gclid and ValueTrack.

Ad statuses and the strike system

For some policies Google uses a strike system: first a warning, then temporary holds, and with repeated violations, suspension. For egregious violations from the prohibited practices group, the account is suspended immediately. The exact sequence for each policy is described in the help center.

The Policy manager shows all account violations, and that is also where you request a review. How to write the request properly is covered in ad disapproval and account suspension: how to appeal.

Advertiser verification

Google asks advertisers to verify their identity or organization and provide information about their business. After the request you get a deadline, after which ads stop serving. What to prepare in advance:

• organization documents or personal ID with a name that matches the payments profile;
• a clear description of what you advertise;
• account access for the person who will go through verification.

The advertiser name is then shown to users in the ad details, so made-up names do not work here.

Trademarks, affiliate programs and bridge pages

Three topics where people promoting other companies' products often stumble.

Trademarks. Using someone else's brand in keywords is generally allowed, while in ad text it may be restricted if the owner has filed a complaint. Resellers and informational sites are sometimes allowed to mention it under conditions. If you got a trademark restriction, the right path is to remove the brand from the text or get authorization from the owner, not to misspell the name.

Affiliate programs. Google does not prohibit affiliate marketing, but requires the site to have unique value of its own. A page that simply bounces the user to the seller's site is treated as a bridge page and falls under abuse of the ad network. A review, a comparison, useful content and honest disclosure that you earn a commission — that is what a compliant affiliate site looks like. More on how affiliate programs work in CPA networks: how they work and how to choose.

Redirects. Redirect chains from a tracker to the page are acceptable if the user ultimately lands where the ad promised, and the final page domain matches the display URL. Problems start when the final page changes depending on who clicked.

Checklist before launching a Google Ads campaign

1. The product is not prohibited content in any of the target countries.
2. For a restricted category, certification is done and the license is valid in the right country.
3. Advertiser verification is completed or documents are ready.
4. Ad text has no all caps, extra symbols or unsubstantiated promises.
5. The display URL and the final page are on the same domain.
6. The page opens with a gclid in the URL, on mobile and desktop.
7. The site has contacts, terms, a privacy policy and a secure connection.
8. Price and terms in the ad match the site.
9. There are no unresolved warnings in the Policy manager.

Invalid clicks and how Google treats them

Google filters out some invalid clicks itself and does not charge for them, and if it finds them later, it issues credits. But some junk still reaches the site: crawlers, verification requests, automation, click fraud by competitors.

This is where ArtisanClo honestly helps:

• The click log shows every visitor: network (VPN, proxy, data center), device, whether a gclid was present, and the decision reason. With this data it is easier to put together a well-grounded invalid click investigation request. How to recognize fraud is covered in click fraud: how to protect your budget.
• Sending conversions to Google Ads from the Professional plan: directly via your service account from Google Cloud, or by a scheduled file with no keys. Smart bidding strategies learn from real leads and sales, not from every click.

Details on connecting the source are on the Google Ads page in the traffic source catalog.

Summary

Google Ads policies have a simple structure: prohibited content is not advertised at all, prohibited practices lead to account suspension, restricted content requires certification and conditions, and editorial requirements are fixed by editing the ad or the site. Read the status tooltip, check the Policy manager, complete advertiser verification and certification in advance — and confirm the current version of the policies in the Google help center before every new launch.