About enforcement procedures for repeat violations

 

Google provides translated versions of our Help Center, though they are not meant to change the content of our policies. The English version is the official language we use to enforce our policies. To view this article in a different language, use the language dropdown at the bottom of the page.

As noted in our advertising Terms and Conditions, Google reserves the right to refuse ads or suspend ad accounts when necessary. To help ensure a safe and positive experience for users, Google requires that advertisers comply with Google Ads policies. We take repeat violations of our policies seriously and take action against advertisers for non-compliance.

We use a combination of Google's AI and human evaluation to detect and remove ads which violate our policies and are harmful to users and the overall Google Ads ecosystem. Our enforcement technologies may use Google's AI, modeled on human reviewers’ decisions, to help protect our users and keep our ad platforms safe. The policy-violating content is either removed by Google's AI or, where a more nuanced determination is required, it is flagged for further review by trained operators and analysts who conduct content evaluations that might be difficult for algorithms to perform alone, for example because an understanding of the context of the ad is required. The results of these manual reviews are then used to help build training data to further improve our machine learning models.

We take action on ads that violate our policies. This may include disapproving ads so they don’t serve, as well as suspending accounts for repeat or egregious violations. We take repeat violations of our policies seriously and continue to expand a strike system for repeat offenders.

Strikes are issued to your Google Ads account when you repeatedly violate certain Google Ads policies. Note that no strikes are issued for the first policy violation. You will be able to receive a maximum of 3 strikes, and the penalties applied with each strike will progressively increase. Temporary account holds will be applied for the first and second strikes (for 3 and 7 days respectively), while the third strike will result in an account suspension.

This strike-based system applies to the following policies: Enabling dishonest behavior, Unapproved substances, Guns, gun parts and related products, Explosives, Other Weapons, Tobacco, Compensated sexual acts, Mail-order brides, Clickbait, Misleading ad design, Bail bond services, Call directories, forwarding, and recording services, Credit repair services, Binary options, and Personal loans.

What happens if you get a strike

A strike is issued to your Google Ads account via an email and an in-account notification when your assets or ads violate a Google Ads policy multiple times. An account can receive a maximum of one warning and 3 strikes per policy violation.

Warning

We understand mistakes happen and you don’t mean to violate our policies — that’s why the first violation is only a warning. Note that you’ll only be warned once through an email notification. The next time your ads violate a Google Ads policy, you'll get a strike. If you think we made a mistake, you can appeal the disapproved ads.

Read more about appeals here.

First Strike

You will earn your first strike when we detect that you have continued to violate a specific Google Ads policy, even after receiving an initial warning.

Your account will be in a temporary hold state for 3 days when you receive the first strike. If you take no action to either acknowledge or appeal the strike, your account will continue to remain on hold. See more information in the “What to do if you get a Strike” section.

Accounts in a temporary hold state cannot run any ads. Advertisers can, however, still access their accounts and all associated reports. Learn more about temporary account hold.

Second Strike

You will receive a second strike if you violate the same policy again within 90 days of the first strike. It will serve as the last and final notice for you to remove all policy violating assets or ads in your Google Ads account to avoid being suspended.

Your account will be in a temporary hold state for 7 days upon receiving the second strike. If you take no action to either acknowledge or appeal the strike, your account will continue to remain on hold. See more information in the “What to do if you get a Strike” section.

Accounts in a temporary hold state cannot run any ads. Advertisers can, however, still access their accounts and all associated reports. Learn more about temporary account hold.

We will send you an email notification when your account is released from temporary hold.

Third Strike

You will receive a third and final strike if you violate the same policy within 90 days of the second strike. Your account will then be suspended for repeat violation of our policies. Learn more about account suspensions.

What to do if you get a strike

Your account may be in a temporary hold state or suspended. The temporary hold state or suspension is determined by the number of strikes accumulated in your account for a given policy.

If your account is in a temporary hold state

To resume serving ads, you will be required to correct the violations and to submit an acknowledgement form. If you believe there has been an error and that you haven’t violated our policies, you will need to appeal the strike. Note that your account will continue to remain on hold until you take action to either acknowledge or appeal the strike.

If you choose to appeal the strike and it is unsuccessful, you’d still be required to remove or fix the policy violations and acknowledge the strike to release your account from a temporary hold state.

Acknowledgement of the strike

To acknowledge the strike, you must remove or fix all policy violations in your account and complete the acknowledgement form.

By completing the acknowledgement form, you affirm that:

• You are aware of the specific policy or policies that led to a strike being issued on the account, that you have reviewed the policies in question, and that you understand that additional violations of these policies can lead to more severe action, up to and including account suspension.
• You have removed the assets and ads that violate the policies in question and you will ensure that future assets and ads will comply with our policies.
• Creating additional accounts and/or attempting to circumvent Google’s policy enforcement is strictly prohibited and can lead to account suspension.

Once the acknowledgement form is submitted, your account will resume serving ads within a specific period of time, depending on the number of strikes accumulated.

• For the first strike, your account will resume serving ads 3 days after the temporary hold was initiated.
• For the second strike, your account will resume serving ads 7 days after the temporary hold was initiated.

If you are modifying existing ads or uploading new ads, please ensure that they comply with the relevant policy. If you create new policy violating ads while your account is in a temporary hold state, you will be issued an additional strike.

Google will continue to monitor your account for repeat violations of our Ads policies.

Appeal

If you successfully appeal the strike, it will be removed from your account and the compliant ads will be approved. Your account will be released from temporary hold immediately.

If your appeal is unsuccessful, your account will continue to remain in a hold state until you fix all policy violations in your account and complete the acknowledgement form.

If your account is suspended

If you believe there's been an error, and that you haven’t violated our policy, please submit an appeal to explain why. We only reinstate accounts under compelling circumstances, so it's important that you take the time to be thorough, accurate, and honest. Learn more about suspended accounts.