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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.
Below are some examples of what to avoid in your ads. Repeated violations of our policies can lead to account suspension.
Learn about what happens if you violate our policies.
Solicitation of funds
Soliciting funds or donations is allowed only on behalf of a politician, political party, or tax-exempt charity, and only when the tax exempt status, charity or tax exemption number is clearly stated on the ad's destination.
Troubleshooter: Solicitation of funds
Check the ad and its destination to see where important information about your tax exempt status might be missing.
If your ad or landing page solicits donations that are tax-exempt, please clearly indicate your tax-exempt status on your landing page or donation page, including your charity number. For example, in the United States, 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) status is an indicator of the required tax-exempt status.
Fix the ad’s destination. Add any required information. If you can’t fix the ad’s destination, update the ad with a new destination that complies with this policy.
- Edit the ad. Add any required information. If your ad already complies with the policy but you made changes to the ad’s destination, make an edit in the ad and save it. This will resubmit the ad and its destination for review. Most ads are reviewed within 1 business day, though some can take longer if they need a more complex review.
Free desktop software
Ads for free desktop software must include the name of the specific software being advertised and lead to the authoritative online distribution source for the software.
Examples (non-exhaustive): Executable files (such as .exe, .dmg, zipped files, extensions, plug-ins, add-ons, desktop applications) that can run on desktop computers, laptops, or notebooks and do not require payment information to download; free trials; freeware; shareware; freemium software; demos that offer downloadable content
Note:
- The authoritative online distribution source must not have a history or reputation of policy violations.
- Cloud service is not in scope of this policy and is excluded for the certification application.
Troubleshooter: Free Desktop Software
- If you are the publisher of the specific software that you want to advertise, register your site as the authoritative online distribution source. If we determine that your site is the authoritative online distribution source, we can approve your disapproved ads.
- Change the ad’s destination. If a different site is already registered as the authoritative online distribution source for your software, edit your ad so that the final URL points to the approved destination.
Once you edit and save your ad, it's sent for review. Most ads are reviewed within 1 business day, though some can take longer if they need a more complex review.
If you aren't able to fix these violations or choose not to, remove your ad to help prevent your account from becoming suspended in the future for repeated policy violations. Learn more about suspended accounts.
Local services
Ads for locksmith services are restricted in the United States of America and Canada. Ads for garage door repair services are restricted in the United States of America. To advertise, you must apply for advanced verification. Learn more about advanced verification.
Ads for locksmith services are restricted in Germany, Sweden, Belgium and the Netherlands. Ads are not able to run.
Ads for local services will still be able to run outside of restricted areas, even if the business hasn’t completed verification.
Consumer advisories
For business areas where consumer advisories are common, Google may limit how ads about those products and services are served.
Example (non-exhaustive): Penny auctions (Google Ads will only show penny auction ads if the phrase "penny auction" or similar terms are included in the user's query. On the Google Display Network, these ads will be shown only on sites related to auctions.)
What is a consumer advisory?
Consumer advisories are alerts that provide information about the risks and benefits of certain products and services. These alerts are typically distributed by organizations that help protect consumers. Examples of organizations that issue consumer advisories are the Federal Trade Commission (US), the Consumer Affairs Agency (Japan), and other regional agencies that help protect consumers' interests. Consumer advisory organizations may be government agencies, but they may also be run by third-party consumer advocacy groups.
How do consumer advisories affect ads?
If a consumer advisory is issued about a certain product in one country, Google may change how ads about that product are served globally. This allows users to still see ads related to these kinds of products when specifically searching for them, but protects other users who might be unaware of the consumer concerns about similar products.
Government documents and official services
The following is not allowed:
Promotions for documents and/or services that facilitate the acquisition, renewal, replacement, or lookup of official documents or information that are available directly from a government or government delegated provider.
Examples (non-exhaustive): Passports and other forms of national ID; proof of permanent residency; proof of immigration status/registration; driving licenses; vehicle registration documents; travel documents like visas and Electronic Travel Authorizations (ETAs); social security cards; hunting or fishing licenses; gun licenses or registration; and documents or information derived from official registries like birth certificates, marriage certificates, and military records
Promotions for assistance with applying or paying for official services that are directly available via a government or government delegated provider.
Examples (non-exhaustive): Assistance with applying for government appointments or benefits; assistance with requesting an official change of address, an official name change, unclaimed money, or a mail hold; and assistance with paying transportation fees, such as bridge tolls or congestion charges
Services that are not restricted by this policy
The following professional services are not restricted by this policy: Tax preparation services, legal services, business-to-business (B2B) / enterprise services, immigration lawyers or immigration consultants where the focus is on consultation and not mere assistance acquiring particular travel documents or official services.
If you are a government or delegated provider this advertising restriction does not apply to you. A delegated provider is defined as a company that has been officially entrusted or assigned by the original provider (the Government) to provide certain products or services on their behalf, that are either usually executed or had previously been done by the Government itself. Delegated providers do not include entities that are authorized providers or resellers. If you are a government or delegated provider and you believe this policy has been improperly applied to you, please contact us here.
The following is not allowed:
Promotions for call directory, forwarding, and recording services.
Examples (non-exhaustive):Call directory, call forwarding, and call recording services. These services usually involve calling a phone number to obtain another phone number (or business information such as address) or to be connected to another service.
Event ticket sale
Live event ticket sellers are allowed to advertise if they are eligible. Note that if you sell or link to sites that sell resale live event tickets, you’ll need to meet certain destination requirements in order to obtain a confirmation of eligibility.Event ticket sale is restricted to eligible primary providers in France and French territories.
The following is not allowed:
Examples (non-exhaustive): Commercial bail bond agents, bail bonds financing services, bounty hunters, bail bondsmen, immigration bail services, detention bail services
The following is not allowed:
Examples (non-exhaustive): Technical support for troubleshooting, security, virus removal, internet connectivity, online accounts (for example, password resets or login support), hardware support and repairs, or software installationNote: We allow advertising for the sale of consumer technology where the landing page might contain navigational features related to technical support.
High Fat Sugar Salt Food and Beverage Ads
We support responsible advertising of food and beverages. HFSS F&B ads and destination sites are allowed if they comply with the policies below and don’t target minors. The information reflected in this policy is not intended to be legal advice and we expect all advertisers to comply with the local laws for any region their ads target, including local requirements that may differ from this HFSS F&B policy.
Advertisers are required to self-declare that they are using an account to run HFSS F&B campaigns, and all the creatives within that account will be subject to the HFSS F&B policy restrictions. In order to self-declare please use the form here.
We consider ads to be promoting the sale of HFSS products when one or more HFSS food item, beverage, or meal is promoted on the ad creative (text, imagery, audio and/or video) or destination site.
Below are some examples of F&B products (non-exhaustive) that are considered HFSS, unless the ad creative or destination site contains nutritional information indicating the products are within the allowed threshold for FSS and serving size/calories, or on successful appeal by the advertiser. For the complete nutritional thresholds for HFSS F&B products, please see the table below.
These are some examples of HFSS F&B:
- Sweetened beverages (soda, water, juice, coffee, tea, or sport drinks with added sugar or other caloric sweeteners), energy drinks
- Doughnuts, cakes, sweet biscuits, pastries, croissants, sweet bakery treats
- Fruits canned in syrup, dried fruit with added sugar
- Chocolate nut spreads, trail mix or nut bar with chocolate or candy, nuts coated in candy or honey
- Milkshakes
- Pork and beef sausage/hot dogs, salami, prosciutto, bacon, fried meats, fried fish
- Pizza, hamburger meals with fries, fried food (such as jalapeno poppers)
- Candy, chocolate, sweets, sugar confections, gummy snacks, ice cream, marshmallows
- Butter, salt, caloric sweeteners (e.g., maple syrup, agave, honey, sugar), coconut oil
Examples of ads outside the scope of this policy:
- Ads or destination sites that include only text, imagery, audio, and/or video, etc. of foods, beverages, and meals that are not HFSS. Examples of non-HFSS F&B include (non-exhaustive): 100% juice; plain bottled water; carbonated water and flavored water with no added sugar or sweeteners; beverages containing ONLY water and 100% juice (e.g., diluted juice); unsweetened coffee and tea; low or non-fat plain milk; grains with no added ingredients; plain fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables; dry beans and lentils; fruit canned in water or 100% juice; plain nuts and seeds; nuts and dried fruit with no added salt or sugar; low or non-fat plain yogurt with no added sugar; plain fish, poultry, eggs or meat (no added salt, fat, sugar); plain flours; baking soda; baking powder; olive oil; canola oil
- Food or beverage company ads or destination sites that do not include text, imagery, audio, and/or video, etc. of any HFSS foods and beverages, such as:
- Brand logo or company name depicted in a sponsorship or charity situation, i.e., “Sponsored by or brought to you by [company name]”
- Restaurant locator websites
- Restaurant review websites
- Restaurant delivery services
- Ads or destination sites that feature one or more HFSS F&B products, to promote a product or service that is not related to F&B, such as:
- A trailer for a baking show
- A tourism advertisement
- Ads for kitchen cleaning supplies
- Ads or destination sites that feature one or more HFSS F&B products, to promote a PSA message on healthy diets and eating
Effect of the policy
This policy update will apply to all HFSS F&B ads serving in the UK and EU on the Google Display Network and YouTube. Ads within accounts that are self-declared as HFSS F&B and have received the HFSS label will only serve to users with a declared age of 18 and above.
What happens if you violate our policies
- If we become aware that you've run an ad for an HFSS F&B product (or for a product whose HFSS status cannot be confirmed due to lack of nutritional information) outside of an HFSS F&B self-declared account, you'll receive a notification that the ad has been restricted from serving to minors in the UK and EU as described above. If you'd like to appeal the decision, you must make revisions or submit nutritional information to us to substantiate your position.
- Ads and assets that violate this policy may be disapproved. A disapproved ad will be restricted until the policy violation is fixed and the ad is approved.
How to fix a violation
- If you've received notice that one or more of your advertisements have violated the HFSS F&B policy, visit the help page and ensure that all products you're advertising through your ads and destination sites are within the nutrient guidelines.
- If you'd like to advertise products that contain HFSS, Google requires that you self-declare that they're in scope for HFSS F&B.
- If you want only a subset of ads to be restricted, you're required to create a separate account and self-declare that account for HFSS F&B.
- If you believe your ads have incorrectly been labeled as HFSS F&B, submit an appeal with nutritional information to confirm that the ads are out of scope of HFSS F&B.
Please review this policy to determine whether or not any of your ads fall in scope of this policy, and if so, self-declare those ads here.
Need help?
- If you have questions about our policies, let us know: Contact Google Ads Support
Nutrient levels are applied on a 100-gram and per serving basis for global applicability and to reflect common labeled serving sizes and calorie levels for meal and meal components. If the serving size of your advertised food or beverage does not closely match the listed serving size (LSS), please evaluate your product using the per 100-gram criteria.
|
Food and Beverage |
PER |
Sat fat (g) |
Sodium (mg) |
Total sugar (g) |
Added sugar (g) |
Calories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Beverages |
||||||
|
All beverages except milk |
LSS (est 8 oz) |
N/A |
105 mg |
N/A |
0 |
N/A |
|
100 g |
N/A |
46 mg |
0 |
|||
|
Grains/breads |
||||||
|
Bread, bread products, noodles, rice, grains, pancakes |
LSS (est 100g) |
2 |
360 |
10 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
2 |
360 |
10 |
|||
|
Breakfast cereals |
LSS (est 30g) |
1.5 |
250 |
6.75 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
5 |
625 |
22.5 |
|||
|
Fruits, vegetables & legumes |
||||||
|
Processed fruit, vegetables & legumes |
LSS (est 90g) |
2 |
350 |
N/A |
0 |
N/A |
|
100 g |
2.2 |
390 |
0 |
|||
|
Nuts & seeds |
||||||
|
Nuts & seeds |
LSS (est 30g) |
3.5 |
130 |
4 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
12 |
430 |
13 |
|||
|
Dairy |
||||||
|
Milks & milk alternatives |
LSS (est 8 oz/245 g) |
5 |
200 |
22 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
3 |
82 |
9 |
|||
|
Cheese & cheese products |
LSS (est 30 g) |
3 |
228 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
10 |
760 |
||||
|
Yogurt & yogurt-type products |
LSS (est 170 g) |
5 |
136 |
19 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
3 |
80 |
11.5 |
|||
|
Meat, fish, egg, poultry & meat replacements |
||||||
|
Processed meat, poultry, fish, eggs and alternatives |
LSS (est 50g) |
2 |
335 |
N/A |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
4 |
670 |
||||
|
Meals & meal components |
||||||
|
Ready-made dishes & appetizers |
<315 calories (est 140 grams) |
5 |
545 |
14 |
N/A |
315 |
|
100 g |
4 |
390 |
10 |
225 |
||
|
Complete meal |
<510 calories (est 300 g) |
6.6 |
660 |
18 |
N/A |
510 |
|
100 g |
2.2 |
220 |
6 |
200 |
||
|
Snacks & treats |
||||||
|
Snacks & treats |
<150 calories (est 30g) |
1.5 |
120 |
6.75 |
N/A |
150 |
|
100 g |
5 |
400 |
22.5 |
500 |
||
|
Sauces, condiments and culinary ingredients |
||||||
|
Sauces, condiments and culinary ingredients |
LSS (est 30g) |
2 |
135 |
1.5 |
N/A |
N/A |
|
100 g |
6.6 |
450 |
4.9 |
|||