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We take legal requirements and the safety of users seriously. Advertiser actions that put our users, Google, or our partners at risk can lead to an account suspension from using Google Ads. This is important for us to maintain a healthy and sustainable digital advertising ecosystem with user protection at its core.
If we detect violations of our egregious policies and Terms & Conditions, your account will be suspended immediately without prior warning.
For repeat violations that lead to account suspension, we will send you a warning to outline the nature of the policy violation and any remedial action that can be taken, in order to comply. This notification will be sent at least 7 days before a suspension action.
On this page
Why we suspend accounts
Google Ads policies and Terms & Conditions help create a safe and positive experience for users and advertisers. Accounts may be suspended if we find violations of our policies or the Terms & Conditions.
Your account may also be temporarily suspended for the following reasons.
Billing and payment requirements
Regarding payments and billing, your account may be suspended for one of the following reasons: Promotional code abuse, Requesting a chargeback, Suspicious payment activity, Unpaid balance.
Learn more about Billing and payment requirements.
Google Ads Policy requirements
We take legal requirements and the safety of users seriously. Advertiser actions that put our users, Google, or our partners at risk can lead to an account suspension from using Google Ads. Learn more about Google Ads Policy account suspensions
Unauthorized account activity
An unauthorized user can steal credentials and access your Google Ads account without your permission. If we detect that an unauthorized user is trying to access your Google Ads account, we’ll temporarily suspend your account to protect against unauthorized charges.
If you suspect any unauthorized activity in your ads accounts or emails connected to the ads account, contact us by filling this form. We will secure your Google Ads account immediately and reach out with preventive steps.
Learn more about keeping your account secure.
Age requirements on Google Accounts
When creating a Google Account, you should provide your own age — not the age of your business. If we find that you are violating the Age requirements on Google accounts, we will suspend your account.
Learn more about age requirements on Google accounts.
Ads Grant Policy requirements
Your Google Ad Grants account can be suspended for not complying with Google Ad Grants policy.
Learn more about Ads Grant policy requirements.
Egregious policy violations
What is an egregious policy violation?
An egregious violation of the Google Ads policies is a violation so serious that it is unlawful or poses significant harm to our users or our digital advertising ecosystem. Egregious violations often reflect that the advertiser's overall business does not adhere to Google Ads policies or that one violation is so severe that we cannot risk future exposure to our users.
Given that egregious violations will cause immediate account suspension, upon detection and without prior warning, we limit these to cases when such action is the only effective method to adequately prevent illegal activity and significant user harm.
What happens if an egregious violation is detected?
If we detect an egregious violation, we will suspend your Google Ads accounts immediately without prior warning. You will not be allowed to advertise with us again.
How many times can advertisers appeal their account suspension status?
If you file too many appeals for the same account suspension, we may not process them to ensure the overall stability of our systems operations. Submitting one appeal at a time ensures timely response and review.
If we have indications that you are misusing our appeals function, we will suspend processing of certain appeals for 7 days.
Which policies are considered to be egregious?
Fix your suspended account
If you believe there’s been an error and that you haven’t violated Google Ads' policies, submit an appeal.
- In your Google Ads account, click the Contact Us link in the notification at the top of your screen.
- This link will direct you to the appeal form on the right side of your screen.
- While you complete the form, relevant policy information will appear to help you understand the reason for the suspension and the appeal process.
If you select “Contact Us” again while your appeal is still being processed, your Google Ads account will have an “Appeal pending” status. When your appeal is reviewed, you'll receive an email with the outcome. If your appeal is rejected, you can re-appeal following the same process outlined above.
Certain selected advertisers must complete advertiser verification successfully to appeal their account suspension. If Google isn't able to verify their identity after 3 attempts, they won't be allowed to appeal their account suspension. Advertisers suspended for Billing and Payment suspensions may be asked to verify their payment method to process their appeals.
Accounts are only reinstated in compelling circumstances, such as in the case of a mistake, so it's important that you take the time to be thorough, accurate, and honest.
Tips for submitting your appeal
- Follow best practices: Implement the best practices we’ve provided if you haven’t already. Refer to each egregious policy page for more information on best practices and relevant tips for what to include in your appeal submission.
- Explain your situation: For each violating policy, provide more context into your
- Examples: For cloaking violations, let us know why you were showing different content to Google than to other users. For phishing violations, if you're an official partner of another brand, describe your partnership and share any information that shows how you're connected
- Verify your identity: If we’ve asked you to, make sure you complete advertiser verification.
Additional rights under the EU Digital Services Act
Users and advertisers located in the EU may have additional redress options. Read more about those potential options here.Frequently asked questions
How does Google Ads detect policy violations?
We use a combination of Google's AI and human evaluation to detect and remove ads and accounts which violate our policies and are harmful to users and the overall Google Ads ecosystem. Our enforcement technologies 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 blocked from serving by our automated models 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 and account 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, and suspending or pausing accounts for repeat or egregious violations. We take repeat violations of our policies seriously and continue to expand a strike system for repeat offenders.
In determining whether an advertiser or destination is violating our policies, we review information from a variety of sources, including ads, accounts, websites, content, user complaints, consumer reviews, regulatory warnings and rulings, and other third-party sources.
Are there any other policy violations that can lead to an account suspension?
Yes. Violations of any Google Ads policy can lead to an account suspension. If an advertiser violates or repeatedly violates a Google Ads advertising policy, we will send a warning to outline the nature of the policy violation and any remedial action that can be taken, in order to comply. At that time, the advertiser will be given an opportunity to remedy the violation or, if they do not believe they have violated the policy, explain why they do not believe they are in violation of the policy. This notification will be sent at least 7 days before suspension action.
Repeated violations is a strike-based system. 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'll receive a maximum of three strikes, and the penalties applied with each strike will progressively increase. Temporary account holds will be applied for the first and second strikes (for three and seven days respectively), while the third strike will result in an account suspension. Learn more about enforcement procedures for repeat violations.
How will an advertiser be notified of a suspension?
Advertisers whose accounts are suspended will receive an in-account notification and an email notification. The email notification will identify all policies the advertiser has been suspended for violating and a link to submit an appeal.
For repeat violations of a policy, we issue strikes to your Google ads account and penalties progressively increase with each subsequent strike leading up to account suspension. You will receive a maximum of 3 strikes per policy on your Google Ads account. Learn more about enforcement procedures for repeat violations.
If we suspend your account, all ads in the suspended account will stop running, and you will no longer be able to advertise from your suspended account until the account is reinstated.
Do account suspensions apply globally?
All Google Ads accounts, irrespective of location, may be subject to account suspensions if found to be in violation of our policies or Terms and Conditions. Suspended accounts are prohibited from serving and showing ads in all locations.
How long is the Google Ads account suspended for?
Once the Google Ads account is suspended, this is considered permanent unless the appeal is submitted and the account is successfully reinstated. All advertisers have at least 6 months from the date of account suspension to submit an appeal.
Can an account suspension be appealed?
Yes. If you believe there’s been an error, and that you haven’t violated our policies, submit an appeal. To appeal multiple suspensions for your accounts and related accounts, please submit a separate appeal for each suspended account. In each appeal, include any relevant information and an explanation of why you believe the suspension is incorrect. If your account was suspended because other accounts verified using the same identity documents were suspended, your account will be automatically reinstated once those other accounts are successfully appealed.
Before appealing, please ensure that all linked (or previously linked) and all related accounts comply with Google's policies, as outlined in our Terms of Service.
Certain selected advertisers must complete advertiser verification successfully in order to appeal their account suspension. If we are unable to verify their identity after 3 attempts, they will not be allowed to appeal their account suspension.
We only reinstate accounts in compelling circumstances, such as in the case of a mistake, so it's important that you take the time to be thorough, accurate, and honest.
Can a suspended advertiser set up or use other accounts?
Accounts related to the suspended account may be suspended. We take the safety of users very seriously, so advertiser actions that put our users, Google, or our partners at risk result in a ban from using Google Ads. In addition any new accounts that the advertiser tries to create may also be suspended. We highly recommend that advertisers reinstate all the suspended ads accounts first, before attempting to create new accounts.
Can an advertiser access their suspended accounts?
Suspended accounts cannot run any ads. Advertisers can, however, still view their suspended accounts and any associated reports.
How to request a refund
If your account was suspended, and you qualify for a refund, you can always cancel your account and receive your refund.
What account actions are available to advertisers with suspended accounts?
Suspended accounts are in read-only mode, with a few exceptions. Advertisers will still be able to access their accounts but will be limited to the following actions:
- Account settings: Cancel account, claim refunds
- Billing options: Make a payment, download tax documents, add a payment method.
- Appeals and verification: Appeal suspension, advertiser verification
- Security Settings: Update security settings within the Google Ads account
- Navigate to any page on their Google ads account
- Read information from their Google account and download associated reports