Google Ads is the most popular pay per click (PPC) platform in the world. Purchasing ads is the only way to guarantee that your business will appear in a prime location on the search engine results page (SERP). Because of this, it’s a faster way to generate website traffic than search engine optimization, which we detailed in our article Organic SEO vs. PPC.
Getting your Google Ads account suspended is an issue even if your website ranks well organically, but especially if it doesn’t. Without ads, your lead generation efforts and sales will be impacted as potential customers will have to look harder to discover your business online.
Account suspensions could be temporary or permanent depending on the nature of the issue. If it’s temporary, you’ll need to resolve the issue to regain control of your account and start running ads again. But what can trigger a suspension in the first place?
In this article, we’ll provide an overview of some of the typical reasons your Google Ads account could get suspended. Having an idea of what Google is watching for will allow you to keep your account in compliance and your ads running. Or, if your account does get suspended, you’ll have more knowledge so you can more quickly identify and resolve the issue.
Policy Violations
Many account suspensions occur because of violations of Google Ads policies. You can read them verbatim on Google’s Advertising Policies Center. We’ll just touch on some of the highlights in this article.
Google has policies in place to promote a positive user experience. Violations Google has identified as negatively impacting user experience, and thus leading to suspensions include:
- Prohibited content
- Counterfeit goods
- Dangerous products or services
- Products or services that enable dishonest behavior
- Content that is shocking or promotes hatred, intolerance, discrimination or violence
- Prohibited practices
- Abusing the ads network with ads, content or destinations that attempt to trick or circumvent Google’s ad review processes
- Misusing user data or collecting it for unclear purposes or without appropriate disclosures or security measures
- Deceiving users by excluding relevant product information or providing misleading information about the business, products or services
- Restricted content & features
- Sexual content
- Alcohol-related ads
- Copyrighted content
- Gambling-related ads
- Healthcare-related content
- Political content
- Financial products & services
- Trademarked content
- Editorial & technical requirements
- Ads, assets & destinations must meet high professional and editorial standards
- Destinations must offer unique value and be functional, useful & easy to use
- Ads must meet Google’s technical requirements
- Ads must meet Google’s ad format requirements
Payment Issues
Payment-related issues could also keep your ads from running and potentially get your account suspended. This includes the obvious, such as failing to make payments or having an unpaid balance on your account. Expired credit cards, insufficient funds in your account or reaching your credit limit are all reasons payment may fail to go through.
Google may also flag suspicious account payment activity. This includes having multiple accounts with the same payment method, making fraudulent transactions or unauthorized charges or attempting to circumvent Google’s payment policies.
Google also forbids selling promo codes or the use of more than one promo code.
Frequent Disapproved Ads
Google only wants to work with companies they and their users can trust. Because of this, frequently creating ads that get disapproved could trigger an account suspension. Ads are disapproved for being untrustworthy or failing to follow Google’s policies.
It sounds obvious but is worth repeating, make sure all your ads are truthful, accurate and in line with Google’s rules.
Unacceptable Business Practices
Many unacceptable business practices could get your Google Ads account suspended at least temporarily, if not permanently. They include but are not limited to:
- Making false claims
- Using a fake business name
- Posting fake reviews
- Concealing critical business information on your website, including:
- Phone number
- Email address
- Physical address
Security Concerns
If Google has concerns that an unauthorized user may have accessed your account or if there are any other security concerns related to your account, it may suspend your account in an abundance of caution. As with any online account, make sure your Google Ads account is protected with a strong password and two-factor authentication.
Security also applies to Google’s users. To protect them, Google will suspend your account if you engage in phishing or if your website has any malicious software like malware, viruses, spyware or adware.
Keep Your Google Ads Up & Running
In this article, we discussed many of the common reasons your Google Ads account could get suspended. But know that there are others as well. The bottom line is, make yourself familiar with Google Ads policies and operate your business with honesty and integrity to remain in compliance.
And if your account does receive a temporary suspension in error or because of an honest mistake, it can be frustrating but isn’t the end of the world. You can correct the problem and submit a request for Google to review your account. If it’s a payment issue, it may be as simple as updating your payment method or adding funds to your account. Have additional questions about Google Ads or want to learn even more? Call us at 815.431.1000 or submit this form to contact us. You can also read our article on selecting keywords for SEO and PPC.
