Google Ads Policy account suspensions

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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.

Google Ads policies and Terms & Conditions help create a safe and positive experience for users and advertisers.

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.

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?

Circumventing systems

Coordinated deceptive practices

Counterfeit

Malicious software

Prescription opioid painkillers

Promotion of unauthorized pharmacies

Unacceptable business practices

Trade sanctions violation

Sexually explicit content

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.

Google Ads Policy account suspensions Frequently Asked Questions

This section addresses frequently asked questions about the Google Ads Policy account suspensions.

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.

Are there other non-policy reasons that can lead to an account suspension?

Yes. You can learn more about other reasons for account suspensions here.

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 (for example, accounts using the same email or payment method, accounts linked to the same manager account, accounts associated with the same verified identity and/or verified with the same identity documents) 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

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