Disapproved ad: what it means and how to fix it.

Where it shows: in the Status column of the ads table.

• A destination that does not work: the page is broken, slow to answer or blocks Google's crawler.
• Editorial problems: odd capitalisation, repeated punctuation, symbols or unclear text.
• Restricted content used without the certification or permissions Google requires, such as healthcare or gambling.
• A trademark used in the ad text without the owner's authorisation, in countries where that is restricted.
• Misleading claims, or promises the landing page does not support.

1. Open Campaigns, then Ads, and hover over the Disapproved status to read the policy topic.
2. Open the Policy manager for the details and the parts of the ad that triggered it.
3. Edit the ad or the landing page to fix exactly what the policy names. Editing sends the ad for review again.
4. If you believe the decision is wrong, appeal from the Policy manager and explain why.
5. Check that the ad group still has another approved ad, so it keeps serving while this one is reviewed.

Most edited ads are reviewed within one business day, sometimes longer. Until then the ad shows Under review.

The serious case is an ad group where every ad is disapproved: its keywords and budget are there and nothing can show. Fix those first.

Keep at least two approved ads in every ad group, so one disapproval never takes the group off air.

Read the policy topic before writing ads for a new product, and check the landing page says what the ad promises. Most disapprovals come back when the same text is pasted into a new campaign.

Optizads checks ads every hour. When ads that were serving get disapproved, or a new ad is refused before it serves, an alert goes out by email, marked urgent when no ad is left running.

Oppy runs these every week, so the status is found early.

• Ads Google has refused to show: Ads Google has refused to show, and the worse case behind them: an ad group whose only live ad is disapproved, so the group is off air while everything above it says enabled.
• Ad groups running on a single ad: Ad groups running on one ad.

• Responsive search ad
• Ad group
• Final URL