A policy violation is when an ad, asset, keyword, landing page or the account itself breaks one of Google’s advertising policies. Depending on the rule and how serious the breach is, the result ranges from an ad showing less often to the whole account being suspended.
How Google Ads policies work
Google groups its advertising policies into four areas:
- Prohibited content Things that cannot be advertised at all, such as counterfeit goods, dangerous products and services that help people deceive others.
- Prohibited practices Ways of advertising that are banned whatever you sell, including abusing the ad network, mishandling personal data and misrepresentation.
- Restricted content and features Allowed with limits or prior approval, such as alcohol, gambling, healthcare, financial services, political content and trademarks.
- Editorial and technical Quality rules on spelling, capitalisation, punctuation, symbols and destinations that work.
Every ad and asset is reviewed automatically, with some cases passed to people. An item can be approved, eligible but limited (it runs only in some places or for some audiences) or disapproved. At account level, Google issues warnings and, for certain policies, strikes that escalate towards suspension. Serious breaches, such as circumventing systems or unacceptable business practices, can lead to suspension straight away without a warning.
Policies apply to the whole journey, not just the ad text. A compliant ad that sends people to a page with hidden fees, a fake countdown timer or software that downloads without warning can still be disapproved.
Why it matters for a UK business
A disapproved ad earns nothing, and a suspended account can take weeks to restore, if it is restored at all. Suspensions also tend to arrive at the worst time, just after a new landing page or offer goes live.
Google’s rules are not the only ones that apply. UK advertisers must also follow the CAP Code, which the Advertising Standards Authority enforces. An ad that Google approves can still break the CAP Code, and an ASA ruling can follow even when Google has raised no objection. Some UK-specific requirements also sit inside Google’s own policies: financial services advertisers must show they are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and gambling advertisers need a Gambling Commission licence and Google’s approval before their ads can run.
Common mistakes
- Treating Google approval as proof that an ad is legal or CAP-compliant.
- Landing pages without clear business details, contact information, terms or pricing, which invites misrepresentation reviews.
- Health and weight-loss claims, before-and-after images and “cure” language, which breach both Google’s policies and the CAP Code.
- Using a competitor’s trademark in ad text after they have filed a complaint.
- Ignoring warning emails until a strike or suspension arrives.
- Copying an ad that was disapproved into a new campaign and hoping it passes.
How to act on it
Check the policy manager regularly, not only when performance drops. Read each warning, find the policy it names and fix the cause, which is as often the landing page as the ad. Make sure the site states who you are, where you are based, how to contact you and what things cost, with terms for any offer.
For regulated sectors, complete Google’s verification or certification before launch and check claims against the CAP Code at the same time. If an item was disapproved in error, a policy appeal is usually quicker than rewriting it. Keeping an account clear of violations, and fixing them when they appear, is part of what I do in Google Ads services.