Prevalence, Clarity and Accuracy
What’s the policy?
Ad text must be relevant, clear, accurate, and descriptive of the products or services offered.
Relevance
- Your ads and keywords must directly relate to the content on the landing page for your ad. When users see your ad, they should be able to understand what kind of product, service, or other content they’ll find on your site.
- Products or services that are promoted in your ad must be reflected on your landing page. Also, see the advertiser claims policy.
Phone numbers
- Phone numbers and vanity phone numbers can’t be used anywhere in ad text or in a sitelinks extension, except for company names that are actual phone numbers (such as “1800- EXAMPLE”). Phone numbers in ads are confusing to users who might be expecting to be led to a call session as opposed to a website. To let customers call you directly from your ad, use call extensions instead.
Clarity
- Ads can’t simulate email inbox notifications.
- Ads can’t have any missing lines of text, excessive spacing, or extremely bad grammar.
- Ads using keyword insertion must be grammatically and logically correct, and result in meaningful ad text for the user.
- Ads can’t use call-to-action phrases such as “click here” or “click +1” that could apply to any ad, regardless of content. This includes phrases in the third line of your ad that lead into your display URL, such as “See this site.”
Examples
| Example ad | Acceptable? |
| adwords.google.com | Acceptable |
| Affordable online advertising | The ad text is clear and descriptive. |
| Create your campaign today! | |
| adwords.google.com | Not acceptable |
| We are the words that | The ad text is unclear and confusing. |
| ad the world. Advertise! | |
| adwords.google.com | Not acceptable |
| The ad text is missing a line of text. | |
| Create your campaign today! | |
| example.com | Not acceptable |
| Your friend has a crush | The ad text is trying to simulate an inbox |
| on you. Learn more! | notification or message request. |
| For an account, click here | Not acceptable |
| Learn more. Visit us at: | The phrase “click here” and the third line runs |
| adwords.google.com | into the display URL are both unacceptable |
| Search Free games no downloads | Not acceptable |
| View Free games no downloads | The inserted keywords result in an ad that |
| doesn’t make sense. | |
| example.com/search/DSLR+Camera | Not acceptable |
| Buy DSLR Cameras | The ad doesn’t clearly indicate that the resulting |
| Save big! | landing page will be a search page. |
| example.com/search/DSLR+Camera | Acceptable |
| Search for DSLR Cameras | The ad clearly mentions that users will be able |
| Find great deals! | to search for DSLR cameras. |
What can I do if my ad gets disapproved?
If your ad gets disapproved for violating this policy, try reviewing the following tips to help resolve your issue:
- Double check your ads and keywords and make sure they directly relate to what a user will see when they click on your ad.
- Make sure the products or services that you promote in your ad are displayed on your landing page.
- Review your ad text and fix any ads that have missing lines of text, excessive spacing, or extremely bad grammar.
- Instead of including a phone number in your ad text or sitelinks, consider using call extensions.
- Check to see that your ads don’t simulate email inbox notifications or fake “friend/crush” requests or notifications.
How do I resubmit my ad for review?
If your ad gets disapproved, you can resubmit it for review by simply editing your ad and then saving it. To avoid getting disapproved again, make sure that your ad complies with Google policies before saving your ad.
Here’s how to edit your ad:
- Visit your account’s Ads tab.
- Hover over the table row that lists the ad you want to edit. Click the pencil icon next to your ad, and you’ll be able to edit your ad right there.
- Click Save when you’re done editing your ad.
After editing and saving your ad, the Status column will change from “Disapproved” to “Under review” or “Eligible.” The review process is usually completed within three business days.
What happens if I violate this policy?
Ad disapproval: Ads that don’t follow this policy may get disapproved. A disapproved ad won’t be able to run until the policy violation is fixed and the ad is approved.
Domain disabling: Google may suspend websites that violate this policy, meaning that the website can no longer be advertised with AdWords until the problem is fixed.
Account suspension: An account may get suspended if you have several violations or a serious violation. If this happens, all ads in the suspended account will stop running, and Google may no longer accept advertising from you. Any related accounts may also get permanently suspended and your new accounts may get automatically suspended at setup. Learn more about suspended accounts.
Google’s Advertising Principles
Google’s advertising requirements can be summed up by Google’s Advertising Principles shown below. To promote a safe and positive experience for their users, each ad is reviewed based on these advertising principles.
Advertising should provide a positive experience to users. Showing users the right ads at the right time can truly enhance a user’s experience. Google wants thier advertising to be effective, engaging, and useful – without being annoying. When people click on their ads, they want the consumer to trust that the destination will be relevant, original, and easy to navigate.
Advertising should be safe for all users. User safety is everyone’s business, and Google will not do business with those who don’t agree. Scams, phishing, viruses, trojans, and other badware on the Internet all damage the value of the Internet for everyone – users, publishers, developers, and advertisers. Trying to get around policies or “game the system” is unfair to their users, and typically not allowed.
Advertising should be accurate and truthful.
Advertising can be informative, entertaining, metaphorical, or even tell a story. However, any factual claims and offers should always be credible and accurate. Misleading, inaccurate, and deceitful ads hurt everyone – users, publishers, developers, and advertisers.
Advertising shouldn’t violate users’ trust or privacy.
Transparency and privacy are core company principles that you’ll see in their software principles and privacy principles. Users should know when they’re looking at an ad, and they should be able to easily find out who’s behind it. Google wants offers that are open and honest with their users, and they expect advertisers to do the same. Similarly, they expect all advertisers and publishers to respect users’ personal information, by adhering to strong standards of disclosure, choice, responsibility, and user benefit.
Advertising should comply with laws and regulations.
Many products and services are regulated by law, which can vary from country to country. All advertising, as well as the products and services being advertised, must clearly comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
For the most part, their policies aren’t designed to describe the actual laws in every country. All advertisers bear their own responsibility for understanding the laws applicable to their business. Googles policies are often more restrictive than the law, they need to be sure that they can offer services that are legal and safe for all users.
Advertising should be compatible with Google’s brand decisions.
Ads must be compatible with company brand decisions. Google has a strong culture and values, and have chosen not to allow ads that promote products and services that are incompatible with these values. In addition, like all companies, Google sometimes makes decisions based on technical limitations, resource constraints, or requirements from their business partners.
Refer to the AdWords Policy Center for the full list of policies, which may differ based on country.