Fix a disapproved ad or appeal a policy decision

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Ads and assets that don't follow Google Ads policies may be disapproved.

This article will help you find the disapproval reason for ads with policy violations, provide best next steps to address these issues and clarify serving statuses related to Google Ads policies. You’ll also learn how to appeal a policy decision and check the status of your appeals.

For more information about how to address policy issues in Display & Video 360, refer to Find and fix rejected creatives.

Find the reason for disapproval

When you have an ad with policy violations, you’ll want to review the policy and fix the ad to get it running again. A disapproved ad won't be able to run until the policy violation has been fixed and the ad has been reviewed again.

Check the disapproval reason in Google Ads

Select Ads or Ad groups in the Campaigns menu.
In the "Status" column, hover over the "Disapproved" status for more information.
Select Read the policy to learn more about the policy that’s affecting your ad.

Check detailed policy information of an ad or asset

You can add the "Policy details" column to the statistics tables on your Ads or Assets pages in Google Ads for more information about how a policy is affecting your ad or asset status.

Select Ads or Assets in the Campaigns menu.
Select the Columns icon above the statistics table.
Select the Attributes section to expand it.
Select Policy details.
Select Apply.

The "Policy details" column will now appear in your statistics table when you review your Ads or Assets pages.

Check the disapproval reason from a disapproval email notification

Select the View and fix policy issues link provided in the email.
Select View ads for the flagged policy to review the affected ads in Policy Manager.
In the "Status" column, hover over the "Disapproved" status for more information.
Select Read the policy to learn more about the policy that’s affecting your ad.

Fix a disapproved ad

The steps to fix a disapproved ad depend on the type of policy violation affecting it. The disapproval can be caused by an issue with your assets, ads or the landing page for your ad. You’ll need to update your content to comply with Google Ads policies and submit for review or appeal the policy decision to resolve the violation.

Fix violations related to your ads

To fix an ad with policy violations, you’ll need to update the content of your ad to comply with all Google Ads policies.

Examples of policy violations related to your ad (non-exhaustive):

Your ad was disapproved under the Editorial policy for using repeated punctuation or symbols in the ad headline.

Your ad was disapproved under the Dangerous products or services policy for mention of tobacco in your ad text.

Steps to fix your ads

Go to Ads within the Campaigns menu.
Hover over the ad or asset and select Edit.
Edit the ad to comply with the policy.
Select Save to resubmit for review.

Your ad will automatically be reviewed again. You can check the status of your appeal by reviewing the "Status" column or using the Policy Manager.

Note: If policy issues are affecting your Related videos, you’ll need to remove the videos with policy violations, save your changes and upload your videos again to initiate a new review.

Fix violations related to your destination

In addition to complying with all other Google Ads policies, the destination for your ad must be compliant with Google Ads’ Destination requirements. If your ad is disapproved due to issues with your destination, you’ll need to fix those issues or edit your ad to use a different destination and submit an appeal to initiate a new review.

Examples of policy violations related to your destination (non-exhaustive):

Your ad destination was disapproved under the Destination not working policy because your landing page has a typo in the URL that you provided.

Your ad destination was disapproved under the Destination mismatch policy because your display URL doesn’t match the final URL of your ad.

Your ad destination was disapproved under the Dangerous products or services policy because it promotes the sale of fireworks.

Edit your ad to change your landing page

If you can’t, or choose not to, update the content of your landing page, you can edit your ad to direct to a different landing page that complies with Google Ads’ Destination requirements.

Go to Ads within the Campaigns menu.
Hover over the ad or asset and select Edit.
Edit the ad or asset so that it complies with the policy.
Select Save.

Appeal a policy decision

If you’ve fixed your ad and destination or believe that there was an error during the initial review, you can appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account.

You can appeal ads in batches for specific ad groups or campaigns. If you attempt to appeal policy decisions for all ads in your account at the same time, the review may take longer to be completed.

Appeal limits

If Google Ads has indications that you may be misusing the appeals function, the processing of certain appeals will be suspended until you get in touch with customer support.

Each ad is limited to three appeals. If you appeal an ad unsuccessfully three times, you won’t be able to file an appeal for that ad again until you contact customer support.

If you’re submitting an appeal for the same ads or campaigns, wait at least 24 hours between appeals to avoid having those appeals marked as duplicates. If you submit too many unique appeals within a 24-hour window, Google Ads may suspend processing of additional appeals during that window.

The option to appeal a policy decision directly from your Google Ads account is now available for most formats and policies. You can dispute policy decisions for any unsupported formats and policies using the Disapproved ads and policy questions form.

File an appeal from Policy manager

Go to Troubleshooting within the Tools menu .
Select Policy manager.
On the "Policy issues" tab, select Appeal on the affected ad.
Under "Reason for appealing," select Dispute decision or Made changes to comply with policy.
Select Submit.

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