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Businesses that sell event tickets are allowed to advertise through Google Ads, provided they meet certain eligibility conditions. However, they must first submit a request to Google to confirm eligibility. Confirmation of eligibility covers certain objective criteria that must be met by landing pages or applications through which event tickets are sold, depending on their apparent business model. Google does not verify the details of offers on such sites or perform any legal analysis. Prior request for eligibility confirmation is required irrespective of the advertising format and asset type. Request confirmation of eligibility using this form.
To be eligible for Google Ads, businesses may need to meet specific landing page requirements. Some businesses may be required to comply with additional ad-level requirements.
Below, you’ll find the following:
- Definition of business models: You’ll need to identify the business model you belong to, in order to determine the requirements you need to meet to be eligible to run ads.
- Destination requirements to be eligible for Google Ads: Requirements to be met by business model.
- Ad-level requirements: Requirements for ads, by business model.
Definition of terms for event ticket reseller policy
- Primary provider: The event owner, organizer, or venue that is initially selling the ticket, or a ticket seller that has been authorized to do so on their behalf, via a contractual agreement. The tickets, in either case, may not have been sold or allocated previously.
- Reseller: Businesses that resell tickets which have already been allocated or sold in the primary marketplace. A reseller or resale marketplace determines the price of the tickets (which may be above or below the face value) and any additional applicable taxes, or service charges, or fees. Requirements for resellers also apply to marketplaces that put resellers in touch with ticket buyers.
- Event-associated group: Any artist, tour, team, league, venue, and similar event or group on behalf of whom tickets are sold.
- Ticket aggregator: Any site which aggregates ticket prices from other reseller sites, but does not conduct any ticket sales on their own site.
Landing page requirements for Google Ads eligibility
If you sell or link to sites for resale tickets, you must meet some or all of the following landing page requirements. Note that if you’re a primary provider, you don’t have any destination requirements, unless you link to a site that sells resale tickets.
Following is a summary of each landing page requirement. Below the summary, you can check when each requirement applies, depending on your business model, and what your ad is promoting.
Landing page requirements summary
URL domain
If you sell or link to resale tickets, you can have the event-associated group’s name in your URL domain only if you provide one of the following:
- A contract or legal documentation indicating affiliation or partnership between your company and the event-associated group
- A letter on company letterhead signed by an attorney or an executive at your company, attesting to having affiliation or partnership with the event-associated group
Disclosures
To protect customers from scams and prevent potential confusion, if you sell resale tickets, you must clearly disclose on your website or app that:
- You are a resale market and aren’t the primary provider of the tickets
- Your ticket prices may be higher than face value (that is, the price offered by the primary provider)
This disclosure should be easily visible and clearly explained in the top 20% (above the fold) of the reseller’s website, including the home page and any landing pages. This disclosure must not be provided in a closable or hideable notification format, and the font must be equal to or bigger than the majority of the text on the page.
Tax/fee breakdown
If you sell resale tickets, you must provide a price tax/fee breakdown during the checkout process, and before the customer provides payment information. The breakdown should show the specific costs added, such as taxes, and any fees that have been added.
Destinations requirements by business model
Primary provider
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Disclosures (site) | Tax/fee breakdown (site) |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're a primary provider only | Primary tickets for an event | Not required | Not required |
| You're a primary provider but your homepage or event page links to a reseller's site | Primary tickets for an event | Not required on your site | Not required on your site |
| Your site only, or resale tickets for an event | Required only on linked reseller's landing page and homepage | Required on linked reseller's site |
Reseller
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Disclosures | Tax/fee breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're an "authorized" or "official" reseller for specific events | Specific events | Required | Required |
| Your site only, or events you're not the official reseller for | Required | Required | |
| Specific US pro sports leagues for which you are official reseller | Required | Required | |
| You're a reseller, only | Your site or resale tickets for an event | Required | Required |
| You're a reseller that a) is also a primary provider for specific events, b) links to primary providers, or c) links to other resellers | Primary tickets for an event | Required on homepage, but not on landing page if it shows only information related to primary tickets | Not Required |
| Your site only, or resale tickets for an event | Required | Required |
Event-associated group
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Disclosures | Tax/fee breakdown |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're an event-associated group and your site links to a primary provider for your ticketing | Primary tickets for an event | Not required on your site | Not required on your site |
| You're an event-associated group and your site links to a reseller for your ticketing | Your site only | Required only on linked reseller's landing page and home page |
Required only on linked reseller's site |
You're an event-associated group and your site links to both a primary provider and a reseller for your ticketing |
Your site only | Required only on linked reseller's landing page and homepage | Required on linked reseller's site |
Ticket aggregator
| Advertiser description | Disclosures | Tax/fee breakdown |
|---|---|---|
| You're a ticket aggregator and link to resellers. You don't sell any tickets on your site. | Required on your site and linked resellers' site | Required on linked resellers' site |
How to request confirmation of eligibility for event ticket sellers
If you meet the landing pages requirements above, request confirmation of your Google Ads eligibility. In the application form you must provide information about your business and the URLs you plan to include in the ads you will run.
Google will review your request based on the information provided and notify you of its decision. If Google concludes you are eligible, you can start advertising immediately. Keep in mind that your use of Google Ads may be suspended if at any point we find that your landing pages no longer meet eligibility requirements.
Ad-level requirements
If you’re not a primary provider of tickets, you must meet some or all of the following ad-level requirements.
Following is a summary of each ad-level requirement. Below the summary, you can check when each requirement applies, depending on your business model, and what your ad is promoting.
Ad-level requirements summary
Use of the term “official”
If your business model sometimes qualifies as a reseller or ticket aggregator, don’t imply that you’re only a primary provider of tickets by using words like "official” in your ads, or in reference to your site (for example, “official providers for EventName tickets” or "official TicketReseller site").
However, if you have a legal agreement with an event-associated group specifying that you can refer to yourself as an official reseller for that group, or an official primary seller for that group, you’ll be allowed to use the term “official” in your ad, as long as you meet the following requirements:
- You must provide a letter from the relevant event-associated group which explicitly states that you’re allowed to use the "official" designation in reference to the group for your event ticket promotions.
- You can use “official” in one of the following phrases, followed by the name of the event-associated group (for example, “Official Fan to Fan Marketplace for [group name]”).
If the agreement is that you can refer to yourself as an official primary seller for an event-associated group
- Official Primary Ticketing Partner
- Official Primary Ticket Marketplace
- Official Primary Ticket Provider
- Official Primary Market Ticketing Partner
- Official Primary Market Ticketing Provider
- Official Primary Ticket Sales
- Official Primary Ticket Seller
If the agreement is that you can refer to yourself as an official reseller for an event-associated group
- Official Fan to Fan Ticket Marketplace
- Official Fan to Fan Marketplace
- Official Fan to Fan Secondary Marketplace
- Official Secondary Ticketing Partner
- Official Secondary Ticket Marketplace
- Official Secondary Ticket Provider
- Official Secondary Market Ticketing Partner
- Official Secondary Market Ticketing Provider
- Official Fan Ticket Marketplace
- Official Ticket Exchange/Marketplace
- Official Ticket Resale Marketplace
- Official Reseller
Display URL restrictions
To help ensure customers aren’t misled about your relationship to the event-associated group, if you’re a reseller or ticket aggregator, you cannot have any post-domain paths or subdomains in your display URL.
Ad requirements by business model
Reseller
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Use of terms like "official" | Display URL restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're a reseller, only | Your site or resale tickets for an event | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
| You're a reseller that a) is also a primary provider for specific events, b) links to primary providers or c) links to other resellers | Primary tickets for an event | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
| Your site only, or resale tickets for an event | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |
Event-associated group
| Advertiser description | What ads promote | Use of terms like "official" | Display URL restrictions |
|---|---|---|---|
| You're an event-associated group and your site links to a primary provider for your ticketing | Primary tickets for an event | Allowed | None |
| You're an event-associated group and your site links to a reseller for your ticketing | Your site only | Allowed | None |
Ticket aggregator
| Advertiser description | Use of terms like "official" | Display URL restrictions |
|---|---|---|
| You're a ticket aggregator and link to resellers. You don't sell any tickets on your site. | Not allowed | Display URL cannot contain subdomain or post-domain path |