Track and fix submissions that do not meet content guidelines

Note: Promotional content is available for apps that meet our eligibility criteria for premium growth tools.

Quality is the most important factor that determines the reach and impact of your promotional content. Quality is determined by the overall value of the content that you submit (such as the taglines, descriptions, images and videos) and its adherence to our content quality guidelines.

All policy-compliant promotional content, even those that do not meet our quality guidelines, will be shown on your app details page. However, for your promotional content to be eligible to be shown on more surfaces and reach a wider audience, it must adhere to our content quality guidelines.

Understand the content quality review process

Every time that you submit promotional content, we review it in multiple languages to check if it meets our Content guidelines: Requirements and recommendations. This is to ensure that promotional content submissions are of high quality and deliver the best experience for your users.

Submissions that don't meet the guidelines will only be shown on your app details page. Submissions that meet the guidelines are shown on your app details page and are also eligible to be shown across various Google Play surfaces, for example, in the Apps, Games and Offers tabs.

This review process typically takes less than 24 hours and should be completed before your promotional content goes live. Submit your event at least four days before the start date to ensure that it is reviewed and that you can address any issues with the guidelines that may be raised during the review process.

View and understand the outcome of content quality review

You can view the outcome of your submission's content quality review on the Promotional content page (Grow > Store presence > Promotional content). If your content does not meet our guidelines, you'll see a warning message (for example, ⚠️1 issue) next to it.

If you have a content quality issue, you can click the question mark icon or overflow menu (the three-dots icon ) to view the following:

• The language(s) in which the event has failed a content quality review
• The status of the event (this provides more information on its failure)

A submission typically fails a content quality review for one of the following reasons:

• An image, tagline or description does not meet our content guidelines.
• The tagline, description, image and/or video is/are either poorly localised or not localised at all.
• The offer does not comply with the offer eligibility guidelines.
• The event details are unclear and/or inconsistent.
• The event does not meet the policy guidelines or mandatory requirements.
• The developer has selected the incorrect promotional content type (for example, they chose the offer type instead of event, or vice versa).

How to edit and resubmit your event

If your event is flagged for content quality issues, you can edit and resubmit it to fix the issues and get your event live across Play.

To edit and resubmit your event, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Content quality tab from your 'Events' page or overflow menu (the three-dots icon ).
2. Select Update and resubmit.
3. A new submission form will appear. This is a populated copy of your original event which was flagged for content quality issues.
4. Make the necessary changes to each language that did not meet our content quality guidelines and ensure that your event addresses the content quality issues. To help you address these issues, we have provided the following resources:
   • Review your submission against our content guidelines. This will help you understand why your event was flagged and how to fix the issues.
   • Read the content guidelines described in Reach more customers by adhering to our content quality guidelines. This will give you a more comprehensive understanding of our content quality guidelines.
   • Use the following list of common failures and areas where quality can be improved to help you diagnose and address the issues with your event.
5. Click Submit.
   
   Note: The original event will be cancelled and replaced by the new event. The new event can only go live 24 hours or more after submission.

Your event will be reviewed again; and if your submission meets all of the content quality guidelines, it will be published.

For more information regarding your content quality review outcome, you may get in touch with Play support.

Common failures and how to fix them

The following are common reasons for failure which you can diagnose for your submission. However, review our full content guidelines to ensure that your submission meets all the requirements. For a high-level overview, you can also refer to our Promotional content guidelines.

Content does not meet the minimum eligibility criteria

Promotional content must be about new and noteworthy user-facing updates, events or offers within your Android app or game. Common examples of ineligible submissions are general service descriptions, evergreen content or routine events that do not include anything new or noteworthy. If your submission has been flagged even though it contains new and noteworthy elements, provide clear details of what is new about your submission and highlight them. For more information, review the General requirements section in our content guidelines.

Image does not meet content quality guidelines

The following are the most common reasons for image guidelines flags. For more information, review the Image requirements section of our content guidelines.

• Images should not contain text, such as your brand logo, slogans or event name. However, there are some exceptions: Text within third-party logos to convey collaborations with other IPs and text that is part of a product (for example, a brand on a T-shirt) are allowed.
• Ensure that your submission does not include any critical components such as the main character in the cut-off zone.

• Ensure that your submission does not include any UI elements, such as call-to-action buttons, Google Play or other store logos in the image.

Tagline does not meet content quality guidelines

The following are the most common reasons for tagline guidelines flags. For more information, review the Tagline requirements section of our content guidelines.

• Your tagline should clearly state the in-app or in-game moment that you are referring to, and what you are offering. Taglines that are too general will not be eligible. Examples of specific taglines include the name of the event, new content or feature, or branded event name.
  • For Offer types, the tagline should include both what is being offered and the value of the offer, such as a percentage discount or coupon value.
• Ensure that your tagline is properly localised and is free of awkward expressions, typos or all caps.
• Make your tagline brief and avoid call-to-action phrases like 'Play now'.

Description does not meet content quality guidelines

The following are the most common reasons for description guidelines flags. For more information, review the Description requirements section of our content guidelines.

• The description should give clear details about your in-app or in-game moment. Make sure that the description provides additional information to what is already described in the tagline, and provides details of how the user would benefit from engaging with the promotional content that you are submitting. For example, the benefit that the user would experience from participating in an event, using a new feature or redeeming an offer. Generic descriptions of the app or game are not considered meaningful.
• Make sure that your description is properly localised and free of awkward phrases, typos or all caps.
• Make your description brief and avoid call-to-action phrases such as 'Click here'.
• Make sure that your submission does not contain bullet points.
• Make sure that the first 40 characters of the description are not duplicative or very similar to the tagline text.

Video does not meet content quality guidelines

The following are the most common reasons for video guidelines flags. For more information, review the Video requirements section of our content guidelines.

• Make sure that your video monetisation is disabled.
• Make sure that your video is not in portrait orientation.
• Make sure that your video is short, concise and relevant to your in-app or in-game moments.
• Make sure that your video is well localised for the language and locale of the submission, and that all text in the video is legible.

Offer does not meet offer eligibility guidelines

The following are the most common reasons for offer guidelines flags. For more information, see Offer eligibility guidelines.

• Do not include sweepstakes, tournaments or other disallowed mechanisms as an Offer type.
• Offers must be specific. Submissions must specify what is being offered (at SKU or category level), its value and how the promotion will run.
• Offers must provide a monetary discount or an additional or incremental good or service not normally associated with the purchase. Evergreen or generic ongoing offers are not allowed (with the exception of evergreen offers, targeting new users is allowed).
• Offers must be open to a broad range of users (with the exception of evergreen offers, targeting new users is allowed).