Review and block ads

This article is for Google Ad Manager users only. Ad Manager is a publisher ad management platform. If you don't have an Ad Manager account, we recommend you:

• Read how to block certain ads
• Visit My Ad Center to control the information that Google uses to show you ads.

You can review and take action on individual Ad Exchange ads that have served to your inventory.

First, follow these steps to access the Ad review center, then choose from the options below.

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Delivery, then Creatives, and then Ad review center. 
3. Click an inventory type, such as Video and audio, Mobile app, or Display.

Review ads

Select a status

In the Ad review center, make sure the "Status" filter is set to "Allowed." This shows a list of the unreviewed ads that have appeared on your site in the last 30 days. Note that ads must have received at least a small number of impressions to be eligible for review.

Sort the results

You can choose to sort your unreviewed ads in different ways. Click Sort by and select an option:

• Most impressions: Ads are ranked according to the number of impressions they've received. Using this option means that the ads you review first are the ads that have appeared most often.
• Prioritized for review: Ads are prioritized based on potentially sensitive content or because we predict they might have a high number of impressions in the future. Using this option means you review the most important ads first.

Review the ads

Look through the ads. Check the number of impressions for each ad to understand what the impact of blocking it might be. 

Click an ad to view more details. The detailed view allows you to view the ad and information like size, type, destination URL, Google Ads account or ad network, and so forth.

Ads that have been reviewed live in the reviewed section under either "Reviewed" or "Blocked" (for ads shown on your site which you have blocked).

Find 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, image, or the domain they served on.

Mark ads as reviewed

To allow an ad to continue showing on your pages, you can mark it as reviewed. The ad's reviewed status changes to "Reviewed," so you won't need to review it again. 

To mark individual ads as reviewed:

• Hover over the ad, then check the "Select ad" box, and then click Mark as reviewed.

To mark a page of ads as reviewed:

• Click Select all, then Mark all as reviewed.

Block ads

If you don't want an ad to appear on your pages again, you can block it. When you block an ad its status changes to "Blocked." Updates that you make to ads should take effect on your pages within a few hours.

Note: Ads that don't come from a Google Ads account can't be blocked in the Ad review center. To block those ads, use Protections.

The block account option applies to creatives served from Google Ads only. There is no block account option for real-time bidding (RTB) creatives. 

To block one ad:

• On the ad, click Block ad .

  Notes:

  • Ads are blocked by creative ID. When you block an ad, all variations of the ad that have the same creative ID are also blocked.
  • 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 More , then Block and 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 a page of ads:

1. Click Select all.

2. Choose an option:

   • Click Block .
     Review the number of ads, estimated revenue, and impressions information to understand the impact of blocking the ads.
   •  Click Block and report .
     Check this box if you also want to report these ads for violating one or more Google Ads policies. 
3. Click Block ads.

To block all ads from a Google Ads account:

Blocking ads from a Google Ads account applies to all transactions with the advertiser. Transactions blocked include DV360 Programmatic Guaranteed deals, Preferred Deals, and Private Auction deals. This may have a negative impact on your revenue.

1. Click an ad, and then in the detailed view, next to the ad network's name, click Block .

2. Click Copy advertiser and view protections.

3. Create a block for the advertiser in your protections.

All ads from this Google Ads account will now always be blocked. This applies to all targeting types.

Undo changes

After you've taken action on an ad, you can immediately click Undo in the notification that appears. You can also undo your changes later.

To allow an ad you've blocked:

• Set the "Status" filter to Blocked to get a list of ads you've blocked. Find the ad you want to allow and click Allow ad .

To allow a page of blocked ads:

• Set the "Status" filter to Blocked to get a list of ads you've blocked. Click Select all, then Allow .

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

This feature is in beta

Manual creative review is meant for publishers who have the ability to review creatives at scale in a continuous manner. Often, these publishers have FTEs or vendor teams that review hundreds or thousands of creatives daily. Delay in reviewing creatives may impact auction performance and lead to buyer throttling.

 

If you’re interested in having this feature activated for your account, please reach out to your account manager.

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 in the Ad review center:

Status	Description
Serving	These 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	These 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	These creatives were reviewed and allowed. These creatives are allowed across the network.
Blocked	These creatives were reviewed and blocked. These creatives are blocked across the network.
Archived	These creatives were blocked by default, marked as reviewed, and left as 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

1. Sign in to Google Ad Manager.
2. Click Protections, then Protections, then New protection, and then Manual creative review.
3. 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

1. To access the Ad review center, click Delivery, then Creatives, and then Ad review center.
   Creatives that are queued for manual review have the status "Pending." These creatives are blocked by default, until you review them and change their status.
2. For each creative with the status "Pending," you can select one of the following options that will remove if 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.