You can see and take action on individual Ad Exchange ads that have served to your inventory with the Ad review center (ARC). First follow these three steps to access the Ad review center, and then choose from the options below.
- Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
- Select Delivery
Creatives
- Click the appropriate inventory type, for example, Display or Video and audio.
Review ads
Select the Prioritized for review tab to see the Ad Exchange ads auto-ranked by a number of signals to ensure you see the most important ads first.
Select the Most impressions to see all ads ranked by the number of impressions they've received in the last 30 days. Ads must have received at least a small number of impressions to be eligible for review.
Look through the ads. You can click an ad to see more details. The detailed view allows you to preview the ad and information like size, type, destination URL, Google Ads account or ad network, and so forth.
To further help you decide which ads to block, we provide the following performance-related information for each ad:
- Impressions: shows you a graph of the number of impressions per day an ad has had over the past 30 days. You can use the graph to see if an ad has served recently, or if an ad has stopped serving altogether. Note that an ad that hasn't served recently could still serve again (unless it's been blocked), but the longer it's stalled the less likely this is.
Ads which have been reviewed will live in the reviewed section under either Reviewed or Blocked (for ads shown on your site which you have blocked).
Review specific ads
You can type in the search bar or use the filtering options to find ads in the Ad review center.
You can search for ads by their text, destination URL, or the domain they were served on.
Mark ads as reviewed
To allow an ad to continue showing on your pages, you can mark it as reviewed. The ad will move to the Reviewed tab, so you won't need to review it again.
To mark individual ads as reviewed:
- Hover over the ad and click Select this ad
, and then click Mark as reviewed in the upper right corner of the page.
, and then click Mark as reviewed in the upper right corner of the page.To mark a page of ads as allowed
- Click Mark all as reviewed in the lower right corner of the page.
Reject ads
If you don't want an ad to appear on your pages again, you can block it. Ads you block move to the Blocked tab.
To block an ad:
- Hover over the ad and click Block this ad
.
Note: To save you time searching for other identical ads to block, the Ad review center automatically tries to block identical-looking ads whenever you block an ad. - If you think the ad violates Google policies, click Report ad.
We may not review all of the ads that you report, but we will incorporate your feedback into our review process.
.
To block all ads from a Google Ads account:
- Click on an ad, and then in the right panel of the detailed view, click Block account.
All ads from this Google Ads account will now always be blocked. This applies to all targeting types (contextual, interest-based, and placement).
Blocking ads from a Google Ads account may have a negative impact on your revenue.
To see a list of Google Ads accounts you've blocked:
-
Click More
in the upper right corner of the page, and then click View blocked Google Ads accounts.
Blocked Google Ads accounts are listed by account name (the network or company name of the Google Ads account). If you see the account name "Anonymous advertiser" it means that the Google Ads advertiser has not specified a network or company name.
in the upper right corner of the page, and then click View blocked Google Ads accounts.Updates that you make to ads should take effect on your pages within a few hours.
Ads from other sources
Ads which do not come from a Google Ads account cannot be blocked in the Ad review center. To block those ads, use Protections.
Changed your mind?
After you've taken action on an ad or Google Ads account, you can immediately click Undo. You can also change your mind later:
- Ads: To unblock an ad, visit the Blocked tab, then click Unblock this ad
- Google Ads accounts: To unblock a Google Ads account: click More
Updates to ads or Google Ads accounts that you've acted on in the past may take up to a day to take effect on your pages.
Use manual creative review
You can set a manual creative review protection to block any unreviewed creatives from serving on Private Auction, Marketplace package, and Open Auction inventory until they are reviewed in the Ad Review Center.
When manual creative review protections are activated for your account, you'll see slightly different creative statuses within the Ad Review Center:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Serving | Serving creatives are allowed implicitly. Any creative that doesn't fit the protection has this status and can serve on the inventory, unless it’s blocked. |
| Pending | Pending creatives are blocked by default. They fit the targeting expression of the protection and require manual review. These creatives are queued for review in the Ad Review Center. |
| Allowed | Allowed creatives were reviewed and allowed. These creatives are allowed across the network. |
| Blocked | Blocked creatives were reviewed and blocked. These creatives are blocked across the network. |
| Archived | Archived creatives were reviewed and remain blocked. These creatives can’t serve on the targeted parts of the inventory, but they can serve on other parts of the inventory. |
Access manual creative review
After manual creative review is activated for your account via your account manager, you can follow these steps:
Step 1: Set up a protection
- Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
- Click Protections
- Any creative serving that is bid into inventory protected by a manual creative review will show up within the Ad Review Center for approval prior to serving.
Step 2: Review creatives in the Ad Review Center
- To access the Ad Review Center, click Delivery
Creatives that are queued for manual review have the status “Pending.” "Pending" creatives are blocked by default. - For each creative with the status “Pending,” you can select one of the following options that will remove it from the queue:
- Allow: Changes the status of the creative to “Allowed.” The creative will serve across the network.
- Block: Changes the status of the creative to “Blocked.” The creative will be blocked across the network.
- Mark as reviewed: Changes the status of the creative to “Archived.” The creative remains blocked in inventory with the creative review protection set. The creative will serve on other parts of the inventory.
Tips and best practices for manual creative review
Review the following points for some insights on using manual creative review:
- Treat creatives marked "Pending" as your queue for review. The quicker creatives are approved, the less impact there is on the auction. For example, if the average creative is served within a campaign for 2 weeks, taking up to a week to review and approve the creative could reduce monetization of that creative by 50%. Selecting multiple creatives allows you to review creatives and apply actions in bulk.
- Creatives may have the "Serving" and "Pending" status, or the "Serving" and "Archived" status. This means that the creative is blocked from serving in inventory targeted by the manual creative review protection, but can still serve in inventory outside of the protection. If you don’t want the creative to serve on any of your inventory, you can block it.
- Selecting “Allow” or “Block” on a creative allows or blocks the creative network wide. Irrespective of any protections set, allowing or blocking a creative removes the creative from any other status.
- Click “Mark as reviewed” to change a creative’s status from “Pending” to “Archived.” This action removes the creative from the “Pending” queue, but the serving behavior between the two statuses is still the same. Any creative marked “Pending” or “Archived” will be blocked from serving into inventory within the protection, but can still serve on inventory outside the protection.
