Destination requirements

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Display & Video 360 users must comply with this Google Ads policy. Visit the Display & Video 360 help center for additional restrictions.

Destination Requirements

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We prioritize user experience across all Google products so we strive to create a safe environment where users trust the Google ad network. When users click on an ad and get redirected to a landing page, we make sure that their overall experience is good. The Destination Requirements Policy is in place so that these landing pages are functional, useful, and easy to navigate. It also benefits advertisers as Google Ads ensures that the brand experience will thrive in the ads ecosystem.

Learn about what happens if you violate our policies.

On this page:

• Destination not working
• Destination mismatch
• Destination not crawlable
• Destination not accessible
• Destination experience
• Insufficient original content
• App or web store policy violation
• Unacceptable URL
• Unrecognized app
• Unverified phone number
• Unacceptable phone number
• Steps to override user agent with Chrome DevTools

Destination not working

Google requires that your ad destination and contents work on common browsers and devices so users are led to a functional ad destination.

Make sure that your ad destination is working for Google AdsBot web crawlers and does not return any destination errors (such as an HTTP error response code) globally. The Expanded URL you see on the Google Ads UI is the ad destination for your ad. It is the fully assembled ad URL, which combines the Final URL with any Tracking Template (if applicable) and any parameters (if applicable).

Smart campaign users may be eligible to choose their Business Profile (optimized for your ad) as their landing page if their own website is not working.

The following scenarios would lead to disapproval for Destination not working:

Destinations that don't function properly or have been set up incorrectly.

• Examples: "You've reached this page in error" ; "Whoops! Nothing to see here!" ; "Site Under Construction"

Destinations that return an HTTP error code for Google AdsBot web crawlers on common devices globally.

• Examples: A site that returns an HTTP client or server error response code: 403 Forbidden, 404 Not Found, or 500 Internal Server Error on common browsers and devices based on Google AdsBot web crawlers.

 

Actionable Responses - Destination Not Working

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Understand why your ad is disapproved

Step 1 of 3: Identify the destination error

1.1 Check the URL that you have entered. Check landing page URLs, keyword URLs, dynamic tracking URLs, and deep-link URLs to make sure they are correct and don't contain typos.

1.2 Make sure the ad’s destination is working properly.

• Sites and apps: Make sure your ad leads to an app or a website that returns a HTTP 200 response code globally.
  • Even if your app or site loads successfully on your end, your app or site must not return any destination error (such as an HTTP error code) when accessed by the Google AdsBot web crawlers (user agents).
  • Check the ad's destination on various browsers and devices to make sure that it always links to a working website or app. Apps can only be promoted in places where the application is available for download.
• App engagement ads: Check that you have set up your deep link URL correctly and that you are not using a third-party tracker as it is currently not supported for app engagement ads.
• App promotion ads: Ensure that any third-party trackers correctly redirect the user to the right app on the right app store.

1.3 Hover over the disapproved ad in Google Ads UI to check the details of the disapproval reason.

For example, this ad is disapproved because the Expanded URL returned an HTTP 404 error when Google AdsBot accessed the site on the desktop device.

Note: Apps can’t be promoted in places where the application is not available for download.

Step 2 of 3: Understand the destination error

The most common reasons for Destination not working disapproval are:

HTTP 4xx response; HTTP 5xx response: The server hosting your website returned an HTTP error that prevented us from accessing the content. For example, you gave us a wrong URL (e.g there was a mistake in the URL) and so the destination returned a ‘Page not found (404)’ error when accessed by the Google AdsBot web crawlers.

DNS error: We were unable to resolve the hostname of your server to an IP address and so could not access the page.

Redirect URL too long; empty redirect URL; bad redirect URL: The redirect URL your server returned was not valid and we could not follow it.

Private IP: Your website is hosted behind a firewall or router and we were unable to access it.

Malformed HTTP response: The response from your server was garbled.

Timeout reading page: The server took too long returning the page and we abandoned the crawl of that product.

Server redirects too often: Your server redirected the crawl multiple times and it had to be abandoned.

Page requires authentication: The URL provided is protected by some sort of authentication protocol that prevents Google from accessing the content.

(Optional) Step 3 of 3: Verify the URL is working for Google AdsBot web crawlers using Chrome DevTools

After identifying the disapproval reason, you can verify if the URL is working for Google by the Google AdsBot web crawlers. To do this, access the site using Chrome DevTools with user agent string set as Google AdsBot. Click here to learn how to override the user agent with Chrome DevTools.

Options to fix

Check the URL that you entered

Make sure that the ad destination is correct and does not contain typos.

Fix the destination or HTTP errors

Make sure that your ad destination does not return any destination error (such as an HTTP error) to Google AdsBot web crawlers when crawled. If you can't fix the destination error, inform your web developer that the app or website should not return a destination error (such as an HTTP error) to Google AdsBot when crawled. Alternatively, consider using a different destination that does not return any destination error. Edit your ad's final URL to point to another part of your app or website that doesn't violate our policies, then save your ad so we can review it again.

Appeal policy decision

If you’ve fixed your destination or believe that we’ve made an error, appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account to request a review. After we confirm that the destination is working, we can approve your ads.

If you aren't able to fix these violations, or you choose not to, please remove your ad to help prevent your account from becoming suspended in the future for having too many disapproved ads. 

Destination mismatch

Google requires ads to accurately reflect which app or website the user is being directed to, when they click on the ad.

Note: Make sure that the display URL accurately reflects where the user is being directed to and there are no redirects from the final URL that take the user to a different domain. Make sure as well that the “Expanded URL” leads to the final URL.

Tip: A tracking parameter in the final URL can cause a destination mismatch if there is no {ignore} inserted before the tracking parameter. If you use tracking in your final URL, including a dynamic ID from a third-party tracking system, you need to include {ignore} before the tracking parameter in your final URL.

Example: http://example.com/?{ignore}tracking=123&id=DynamicId

The following scenarios would lead to disapproval for Destination mismatch:

The domain or domain extension in the display URL doesn’t match the final and mobile URLs where users are taken to.

• Examples: Display URL: google.com and Final URL: example.com; Ad display URL: example.com and Keyword final URL: example.org; using the keyword insertion feature in the top-level or second-level domain of your display URL, such as "www.{keyword}.com"

Failing to use a subdomain to clearly identify a site from all other sites hosted on that domain or from the parent domain

• Example: Display URL: blogspot.com and Final URL: mycompany.blogspot.com

Note: A subdomain is not required if the domain is used exclusively by one company.

Redirects from the final URL that take the user to a different domain

• Example: The final URL http://example.com redirects to http://example2.com

Tracking template or expanded URL that don’t lead to the same content as the final URL

• Examples: The final URL leads to a product category page, but the tracking template or expanded URL directs the user to a specific product page; Final URL: example.com/clothes but tracking template directs to: example.com/clothes/shirts

Understand why your ad is disapproved

Hover over the ad disapproved for Destination mismatch to check for the matching disapproval reason.

The most common reasons for destination mismatch disapproval are:

• The crawled final URL does not match the expected final URL: When the Final URL has off-domain redirects that takes the user to a different domain.
• The Display URL does not match the Final URL: When the website or app shown in your ad (that's your display URL) does not match the website or app users will be taken to when they click your ad (that's your final URL page).
• Tracking template does not redirect through a final URL: When the tracking template does not lead the user to the same content as the final URL. Any difference that the tracking template introduces to the URL, including to parameters and subdomains, could lead the user to different content than the final URL.

Options to fix

Fix the destination mismatch

Make sure the display URL accurately reflects where the user is being directed to and there are no redirects from the final URL that take the user to a different domain. Your disapproval email and hovering over the ad will show you the domain that your ad pointed to at the time of review. You can also use Search Console to check the final landing page of your URL to make sure that the resulting domain matches the domain of your display URL. This policy applies to keyword URLs that don't match the display URL. Learn how to edit keyword URLs. If you are using tracking templates, make sure the tracking template and expanded URL lead to the same content as the final URL.

Remember that changes to tracking templates at the ad, keyword or sitelink level will automatically be reviewed. But if you created the tracking template for an entire ad group, campaign, or account, you'll need to request a review once you've fixed the template.

Edit your URLs so that they comply with the policy. Once you edit and save your ad, it gets sent for review. After we confirm that the ad destinations are compliant, we can approve your ads.

Appeal policy decision

If you've fixed your destination or believe that we've made an error, appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account to request for a review. After we confirm that the destination is compliant, we can approve your ads.

If you aren't able to fix these violations, or you choose not to, please remove your ad to help prevent your account from becoming suspended in the future for having too many disapproved ads.

Destination not crawlable

Google requires that your ad destination and contents are crawlable by Google AdsBot web crawlers so we can make sure that users are led to an ad destination that reflects the ad they have clicked on.

The following scenario would lead to disapproval for Destination not crawlable:

Destinations that are not crawlable by Google Ads

• Example: Using exclusion files (such as "robots.txt") to restrict access to an entire site or to the majority of a site; restricting crawl capacity disproportionately to the number of ads being submitted

Note: Even if you’re not blocking Google Ads from crawling your content, you might be unintentionally limiting efficient crawls. This is particularly likely if you have recently submitted a large volume of ads to Google. If you use a click tracker for your ads, please check if that might be affecting the crawl capacity. If your website doesn’t have sufficient crawl capacity, consider breaking up your ad submissions into smaller batches spread across several days.

Options to fix

Allow Google AdsBot web crawlers to access your ad destinations

Check your website or app settings to make sure you aren't restricting Google Ads from crawling your content using exclusion files (such as "robots.txt").

What is a Robots.txt file?

A robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which URLs the crawler can access on your site. Learn more about how Google interprets the robots.txt specification here. The most common reasons for destination not crawlable due to Robots.txt are:

• Server's robots.txt disallows access: You've added a ‘robots.txt’ file to your server and prohibited crawl access. We are unable to crawl pages with these types of files and prohibitions. Resolve this by configuring the ‘robots.txt’ file to allow our crawl.
• Server's robots.txt unreachable; timeouts reading robots.txt: We were unable to read your robots.txt file so could not crawl your page.

Learn how to update your robot.txt file here.

Make sure you’re not using exclusion files (such as "robots.txt") to restrict access to the entire site or to the majority of the site. You can also use Google Search Console to see how to make your pages accessible and to check for crawl errors or if you have set a low crawl rate. If you use a click tracker for your ads, check if that might be affecting the crawl capacity. If you cannot resolve the issue, inform your web developer that the app or website should be accessible by the Google AdsBot web crawlers.

If you've fixed your destination or believe that we've made an error, appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account to request a review. After we confirm that the destination is compliant, we can approve your ads. 

Choose a different destination

Alternatively, consider using a different destination that is compliant. Edit your ad's final URL to point to another part of your app or website that doesn't violate our policies, then save your ad so we can review it again.

If you aren't able to fix these violations, or you choose not to, please remove your ad to help prevent your account from becoming suspended in the future for having too many disapproved ads.

Destination not accessible

Google requires ads to be accessible in the targeted location.

The following scenario would lead to disapproval for Destination not accessible:

Destinations that are not accessible in the targeted location

• Examples (non-exhaustive): A site that displays a location based access limitation message in the targeted location (e.g. “This site is not accessible in your location”); a site that displays other messaging related to access limitations in the targeted location (e.g. “you do not have permission to access this page”).

Destination experience

Google requires that ad destinations must be easy to navigate and safe for users clicking on an ad on the Google Ad network.

Make sure ad destinations or content (including pop-ups) are not difficult to navigate and do not contain abusive experiences where sites are designed to be misleading. Also, make sure the ad destination does not directly initiate a direct download or lead to an email address or file (refer to the list below).

Note: Any window, regardless of content, that opens in addition to the original landing page is considered pop-up. Here are some examples (non-exhaustive):

• Timed pop-ups
• Self-closing pop-ups
• Intermittent pop-ups
• Pop-ups generated from the ad itself
• Download pop-ups
• Pop-unders

We allow interstitials as long as they don't hinder a user from exiting a site. Though similar to a pop-up, an acceptable interstitial is a type of graphic that appears within the landing page instead of opening a new browser window, and does not hinder a user exiting a site or app.

The following scenarios would lead to disapproval for Destination experience:

Destinations or content that are unnecessarily difficult or frustrating to navigate

• Examples: Websites with pop-ups or interstitials that interfere with the user's ability to see the content requested; sites that disable or interfere with the browser's back button; websites that don't load quickly on most popular browsers and devices, or require download of an additional application to view the landing page (aside from common browser plug-ins)

Links that initiate a direct download from the ad or that lead to an email address or a file

• Examples: Images, video, audio, documents

Note: Pharma advertisers are allowed to use PDF landing pages.

Destinations that contain abusive experiences

• Examples: Websites that auto-redirect the page without user action; websites that contain ads that resemble system or site warnings or error messages.

Destinations containing ad experiences that do not conform to the Better Ads Standards. For more information about the types of disallowed ad experiences, please visit the Coalition for Better Ads website.

• Examples: Prestitial ads with countdown; large sticky ads and flashing animated ads.

Options to fix

Fix the ad destination experience

Make sure that your ad destination provides users with a good experience where it must be easy to navigate, functional, and useful. Appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account once you’ve updated the destination to comply with our policies or if you think we made a mistake.

If your website contained abusive experiences, follow the instructions below to resolve the violation:

1. Check the status of your site in Google Search Console. 
2. Remove any abusive experiences from your website. 
3. Follow these reconsideration guidelines.
4. If the review shows that the website no longer contains abusive experiences, your ads will be approved to run. 

If your destination contained ad experiences that do not conform to the Better Ads Standards, follow the instructions below to resolve the violation:

1. Check the status of your destination in the Ad Experience Report. 
2. Fix all ad experience issues on your destination. 
3. Follow these reconsideration guidelines. 
4. If the review shows that all ad experience issues are fixed, your ads will be approved to run. 

Choose a different destination

If you can't make changes to the ad destination, consider using a different destination. Edit your ad's final URL to point to another part of your app or website that does comply with the policy, then save your ad so we can review it again.

If you aren't able to fix these violations, or you choose not to, please remove your ad to help prevent your account from becoming suspended in the future for having too many disapproved ads. 

Insufficient original content

We want consumers to have a good experience when they click on an ad, so ad destinations must offer unique value to users.

We’ve listed some examples (non-exhaustive) of what to avoid in your ads. The following scenarios would lead to disapproval for Insufficient original content:

Destination content that is designed for the primary purpose of showing ads

• Example: Driving traffic (through "arbitrage" or other methods) to destinations with more ads than original content, little or no original content, or excessive advertising

Destination content that is replicated from another source without adding value in the form of original content or additional functionality

• Example: Mirroring; framing; scraping content from another source; templates or pre-generated websites that provide duplicate content

Destinations that are solely designed to send users elsewhere

• Example: Bridge page, doorway, gateway, other intermediate pages that are only used to link to other sites

Destinations that display a message of the destination not providing any services

• Example: A parked domain, a site that is only intended to reserve a web address, displaying "Under Construction”, "Coming Soon" or similar messages

Destinations that are incomprehensible or don’t make sense

• Example: Blank pages, gibberish landing page content

Options to fix

Fix the ad destination contents

Focus on providing the user with useful, unique, and original content immediately, and don’t overload the destination with ads, regardless of how relevant the ads are to your ad text. Get your web developer to remove all HTML framesets that copy content from domains other than the ad landing page domain. If your site or app has search functionality, make sure that the search results aren't just copied from other sites or apps. Check to see if your site’s registration has expired.

If you've fixed your destination or believe that we've made an error, appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account to request a review. After we can confirm that the destination is compliant with our policy, we can approve your ads.

Choose a different destination

If you can't make changes to the ad destination, consider using a different destination. Edit your ad's final URL to point to another part of your app or website that does comply with the policy, then save your ad so we can review it again.

If you aren't able to fix these violations, remove your ad to help prevent your account from becoming suspended in the future for having too many disapproved ads. 

App or web store policy violation

Google requires that your app or web store destinations adhere to Google app or web store policies.

The following scenario would lead to disapproval for App or web store policy violation:

Destinations that violate their app or web store policies

• Examples: Assets that violate Chrome Developer Program Policies or apps that violate Google Play Policies

Understand why your ad is disapproved

Please review the notification that the app or web store (such as Chrome Web Store or Google Play Store) sent to you to know more about the details of the violation. Once there is resolution with your app or web store, ad serving can start again.

Unacceptable URL

 

The following scenario would lead to disapproval for Unacceptable URL: 

URLs that do not follow standard syntax

Using an IP address as the display URL

• Example: 123.45.678.90

Display URLs that use unacceptable characters

• Examples: Characters such as !, *, #, _, @

Learn how to fix a disapproved ad or asset.

Unrecognized app

The following scenario would lead to disapproval for Unrecognized App:

Apps that cannot be recognized by Google

• Examples: Malformed App ID or App store, app deleted or suspended in app store

Learn how to fix a disapproved ad or asset.

Unverified phone number

Google requires that the phone numbers in call-only ads, call assets, and location assets must be in service in the country you are targeting and relate to the advertised company.

The following scenario would lead to disapproval for Unverified phone number in call-only ads, call assets, and location assets:

Phone numbers that haven’t been verified by Google

Option to fix

Step 1 of 2: Verify your phone number

There are 2 ways to verify a phone number:

• Display the number on your site.
  • The phone number in your ad must be present on the website featured in your ad. If the phone number appears in ads for different websites, then that phone number must appear on at least one page for each of those websites.
  • Remember that the verification URL must have the same domain as your ad's display URL. The number must appear as a text. It won't meet the policy if it appears as an image.
    • Note: Your phone number will be more easily checked and verified if it is featured on a landing page that is visited frequently. To increase the chances of our crawler detecting your phone number, ensure the number is in E.164 format in your website’s source code. E.164 format example: [+] [country code] [phone number including area code]. If you use a dynamic number insertion script to change the phone number on your website based on traffic source, we recommend using the domain ownership verification methods detailed below.
• Verify domain ownership
  • You can also verify your phone number by proving ownership of your ad's display URL domain in 2 ways:
    • Link your Google Search Console and Google Ads accounts
    • Add your unique Google Ads conversion tracking tag or remarketing tag to your website.

Step 2 of 2: Edit your ad or asset

If you're using a location asset, the associated phone number must follow the requirements above. There are 2 ways to edit your asset based on the address you want to use.

1. Business Profile address

If the disapproved location is an address from Business Profile, you'll need to sign in to your Business Profile account and update your location information there, which will automatically transfer over to Google Ads. Learn how to edit a Business Profile listing.

2. Manually entered address

If you have manually entered the address, hover over that address and click on the pencil icon to edit your location information. Review the company name and ensure you're not using a prohibited trademark.

If you're using a call-only ad or call asset, change the phone number in your ad or asset so that your ad can be approved.

Once you edit and save your ad or asset, it’s sent to us for review. If we find that you've removed the non-compliant content from your ad and landing page, we can approve your ad to start running.

Unacceptable phone number

Google requires that the phone numbers in call-only ads, call assets, and location assets must be in service in the country you are targeting and relate to the advertised company.

The following scenario would lead to disapproval for Unacceptable phone number in call-only ads, call assets, and location assets:

Phone numbers that are inaccurate, inactive, irrelevant, or that don't connect to the advertised company.

Note: Google may occasionally place short test calls to the phone number provided in order to confirm its validity, accuracy, and relevancy, and may also record these test calls.

Fax numbers, premium numbers, or vanity numbers

• Example of premium numbers: Any number that requires additional fees or charges to complete the call, such as 1-900 numbers in the United States or 871 numbers in the United Kingdom
• Example of vanity numbers: Phone numbers where numbers have been replaced by letters, such as "1-800-GOOG-411" instead of "1-800-466-4411"

Note: You can use shared cost phone numbers, but they'll show with a disclaimer stating that additional charges may apply.

Phone numbers that are not local or domestic for the country you are targeting

• Example: Using a local German number in an ad that targets Canada

Virtual phone number services or personal numbering

Note: This service is only available in certain countries, such as the United Kingdom and Spain.

Phone numbers that do not have an active voicemail service

Country-specific restrictions: Brazil

For phone numbers in Brazil, make sure you include a carrier code for the carrier of your choice. For example, instead of "11 5555-1234" use "0XX11 5555 1234" (where "XX" stands for the carrier code). For toll-free or shared cost numbers such as 4004 or 0800, no carrier codes are necessary.

Options to fix

Step 1 of 2: Fix your phone number

• Provide a functional, relevant phone number that connects to the advertised company and is domestic to the country you want to target.

Step 2 of 2: Edit your ad or assets

• If you're using a location asset, the associated phone number must follow the requirements above. There are two ways to edit your asset based on the address you want to use.

  • Business Profile address

    If the disapproved location is an address from Business Profile, you'll need to sign in to your Business Profile account and update your location information there, which will automatically transfer over to Google Ads. Learn how to edit a Business Profile listing.

  • Manually entered address

    If you have manually entered the address, hover over that address and click the pencil icon to edit your location information. Review the company name and ensure you're not using a prohibited trademark.

• If you're using a call-only ad or call asset, edit and enter a phone number that adheres to the policy.

  • After you edit and save your ad or asset, it is sent to us for review. If we find that you've removed the non-compliant content from your ad and landing page, we can approve your ad to start running.

Override with Chrome DevTools

Steps to override user agent with Chrome DevTools

You can use Chrome DevTools to override your web browser's user agent in order to mimic the Google AdsBot web crawler used to review destination URLs.

1. Open Chrome DevTools using one of the following methods:
   1. Use keyboard shortcuts: Command+Option+I (for Mac users) or Control+Shift+I (for Windows, Linux, or ChromeOS users).
   2. From a web page: Right click anywhere on the page, then select Inspect to open up Chrome DevTools.
   3. From the Chrome UI:
      1. In the top right of your Chrome window, click the 3-dot icon .
      2. Click More tools.
      3. Click Developer tools.
2. Open the Network conditions tab:
   1. In the top right of the Chrome DevTools panel, click the 3-dot icon .
   2. Click More tools.
   3. Click Network conditions.
3. Check "Disable cache" in the "Caching" section.
4. In the "User agent" section, uncheck "Use browser default", select Custom... and enter the user agent string.
   • For example, to access a web destination as Google AdsBot web crawlers, enter the "full user agent string" of one of the Google AdsBot web crawlers into "Enter a custom user agent".
5. Enter the destination URL in the browser to access the site with the chosen user agent and make sure the page loads exactly like it would with your browser's default user agent.

Note: You may also refer to the Chrome DevTools documentation: Network conditions: Override the user agent string.

Google AdsBot web crawlers (user agents)

"Crawler" is a generic term for any program that is used to automatically discover and scan websites by following links from one webpage to another. It’s sometimes called a "robot" or a "spider".

The User Agent is a string provided by the browser or crawler requesting information from a web server. Google's main type of user agents for checking web page ad quality is called AdsBot. A description of the Google web crawlers and a full list of User Agent strings can be found here.

The full user agent string is a full description of the crawler. It appears in the request and in your web logs. This string serves to identify the purpose of the request and the capabilities of the device. A web developer or a web server host can, for example, use the User Agent to configure the crawl rules for their site.

Ads will be disapproved for Destination not working if the ad destination returns a destination error (such as HTTP error code) when crawled by any of the Google AdsBot user agent strings defined below:

AdsBot Mobile Web - Checks mobile web page ad quality

• User agent token: AdsBot-Google-Mobile
• Full user agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 6.0.1; Nexus 5X Build/MMB29P) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Mobile Safari/537.36 (compatible; AdsBot-Google-Mobile; +http://www.google.com/mobile/adsbot.html)

AdsBot - Checks desktop web page ad quality

• User agent token: AdsBot-Google
• Full user agent string: AdsBot-Google (+http://www.google.com/adsbot.html)

Need help?

If you have questions about our policies, contact Google Ads Support.