Why Is My Google Ads Account Suspended?

Google suspends accounts for many different reasons. And this all relates to violations of policies that relate to the Google Ads advertising platform.

Knowing why your account has been suspended is the first thing you should do. In your Google Ads account, you’ll see a notification in red saying your account has been suspended. And you will see a contact us button to appeal the suspension.

 

 

But, it’s the email that you receive from Google that will be most helpful in understanding why your Google Ads account has been suspended.

I’ve listed here the main reasons why Google suspends business accounts. But there are many others including suspensions for non-profits that receive free advertising spend but should maintain a minimum level of performance to continue advertising.

Hopefully this will help you with your suspension and get it unsuspended.

 

Suspicious payments policy violation suspension

This is one of the common suspension reasons and I get many enquiries about this. It’s also one of the most difficult to recover and in the email you’ll see a line that says “we will not be reactivating the account”. So, it’s often permanent.

However, it’s still possible to put in an appeal by providing all the business details so that the verification can be successful.

There are several reasons why a suspicious payments suspension may happen but it’s mostly to do with your business details like billing details, payment card etc and Google not being able to verify them.

This is an example of an email you’ll receive when your suspension is due to a suspicious payments problem.

Your account is in violation of our Google Ads policies as we have detected suspicious payments in
your account.
· Suspicious payment activity: If we detect suspicious or unauthorized payment activity on your account, we
may restrict how much the account can spend or suspend the account.
As such, we will not be reactivating your account. Please don’t create new Google Ads accounts, as these will be
suspended too. When we suspend a Google Ads account, the suspension applies to the account and any current or
future linked Google Ads accounts.
If you still believe this suspension was in error and that you haven’t violated our policy, you can appeal again and
provide additional explanation and supporting detail. Examples of new information that may be shared include the
following:
1. Information regarding the business of the advertiser (e.g business model, products / services, target
audience, context for advertising)
2. Information regarding client-agency relationship
3. Domain ownership (add more details on the domains being advertised in the account, trademark evidence,
reason for using tracking system (if used))
4. Ad campaign management and account ownership
5. [Billing & Payment] Proof of payment documents showing account ownership of payment instruments and/or
sufficient funds to cover ongoing ads spend
*Please note that this list is non-exhaustive, with varied document requirements per suspension topic. The actual
review outcome may differ from case to case, depending on the account and information provided in the appeal.

We only reactivate accounts where there’s a good reason. Take the time to be detailed, honest, and accurate in your
appeal.
Learn more about why we suspend accounts and the reasons we take these actions.
Our support team will not be able to give you any more specifics on the case or suspension, as it is critical for us to
protect the integrity of our abuse detection techniques.
We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.
Regards,
Google Ads Team

 

Circumventing systems policy violation suspension

This is one of the most serious of policy violations and one of the hardest to fix. The truth is it’s so hard to recover from this suspension that you’ll often not even get a response from the Review team and this is what I hear from businesses as they’ve tried to resolve it.

In fact, this is one of the hardest suspensions that I often struggle to recover, so usually I’ll suggest a completely different approach to get them back on Google.

The email tends to be vague too and won’t tell you why your Google Ads account has been suspended. And it will include a long list of why this may have happened, so you’ll need to review these and check to see what you may have done to cause the suspension.

And this is why many people get frustrated trying to fix their websites or ads and keep putting in appeals and getting rejections.

So a circumventing systems suspension is often the most difficult to fix and will take up a lot of your time. It’s best to hire a Google Ads specialist to help you with this one.

This is an example of an email you’ll receive for a circumventing systems policy violation.

Your account has been suspended
Your Google Ads account XXX-XXX-XXXX  has been suspended for violating our Circumventing Systems policy.

Google Ads enables businesses to promote a wide variety of products, services, applications and websites.

We want to support a healthy digital advertising ecosystem. One that is trustworthy, transparent and works for users and advertisers. Our policies are built not only to abide by laws but to ensure a safe and positive experience for our users. This means that our policies don’t allow ads that we believe are harmful to users and to the advertising ecosystem.

We use both automated and human evaluation to help ensure Google ads follow these policies. When we find content that violates the policies, we’ll block it from appearing. And in cases of repeated or egregious violations, we’ll suspend you from advertising with us.

As stated in our Advertising Policies, Google Ads prohibits Circumventing Systems. This includes, but isn’t limited to:
 Engaging in practices that circumvent or interfere with Google’s advertising systems and processes, or attempts to do so.

Examples (non-exhaustive):

Cloaking (showing different content to certain users, including Google, than to other users) that aims at or results in interference with Google’s review systems, or hides or attempts to hide non-compliance with Google Ads policies, such as:

Redirection to non-compliant content

Using dynamic DNS to switch page or ad content

Manipulating site content or restricting access to so many of your landing pages that it makes it difficult to meaningfully review your ad, site or account

Note: Cloaking does not include providing content personalisation that adds genuine value for certain users, such as different language versions of the same content or different versions of the same content depending on the user’s internet service provider, as long as the offering is still substantially the same, the variation in content is still compliant with Google Ads policies, and Google is able to review a version of the content

Repeated policy violations across any of your accounts, including creating new domains or accounts to post ads that are similar to ads that have been disapproved (for this or any other Google Ads policy)

Bypassing enforcement mechanisms and detection by creating variations of ads, domains or content that have been disapproved (for this or any Google Ads policy) or using techniques in text, images or videos to obfuscate sexually explicit content

After a previous suspension decision, attempting to use the Google Ads system again by creating new accounts in order to re-enter the system

Abusing Google Ads product features in order to show policy non-compliant content to users and/or gain additional traffic

Submitting false information as part of our verification programmes

If you believe that there’s been an error, and that you haven’t violated our policy, submit an appeal and explain why. We aim to review your appeal within five working days but sometimes it can take longer.

We only reactivate accounts where there’s a good reason. Take the time to be detailed, honest and accurate in your appeal. Learn more about why we suspend accounts and the reasons why we take these actions.

If you have a prepaid balance remaining in your account and you qualify for a refund, you can always cancel your account and request a refund.

 

Advertising policy suspension

This is another vague suspension that many people struggle with. And the email you receive doesn’t tell you much about the cause.

This usually relates to the products or services that you’re promoting. So you should check the policies if they are prohibited or restricted and then fix any issues. And you can put in an appeal if you believe that it is an error by Google, especially if there are other advertisers appearing on Google advertising the same products or services. Google does make mistakes sometimes.

This is an example of an email you’ll receive when you’ve violated one of the Google advertising policies.

Your Google Ads account has been suspended for violating our Advertising Policies. As a result, your ads are not running.
Google Ads enables businesses to promote a wide variety of products, services, applications and websites.
We want to support a healthy digital advertising ecosystem. One that is trustworthy, transparent and works for users and advertisers. Our policies are built not only to abide by laws but to ensure a safe and positive experience for our users. This means that our policies don’t allow ads that we believe are harmful to users and to the advertising ecosystem.
We use both automated and human evaluation to help ensure Google ads follow these policies. When we find content that violates the policies, we will block it from appearing. And in cases of repeated or egregious violations, we will suspend you from advertising with us.
If you would like to appeal the suspension of your account, please fill out the form below. A specialist will be assigned to your case, and we expect to provide a response within 5 business days, though sometimes it can take a bit longer.
Please make sure that all the information you submitted with your appeal is correct. Submitting inaccurate information with your appeal may make it less likely that we will render a favourable decision. We only reactivate accounts where there’s a good reason. Take the time to be detailed, honest, and accurate in your appeal.
While awaiting a response, please do not create new accounts as they will also be suspended.
Once you receive a response on your appeal, if you believe there has been a mistake, you may reply back to that email with any additional information that may aid our investigation.

 

Business verification suspension

This suspension is very different from others in that you get emails from Google to verify your business and they give you a date when this should be done by.

So, it’s a suspension that you can easily prevent by providing the details that they require. And millions of advertisers provide this information in a timely manner.

But if you fail to submit the information that is required, your account will be suspended. However, the whole process takes about 15 minutes to complete and your account will be quickly reinstated.

This is an example of an account that has been suspended for failing to verify their business:

Your Google Ads account xxx-xxx-xxxx has been suspended because you failed to complete the Business Operations Verification within the specified time period.

Google requires certain advertisers to undergo verification in order to ensure a safe and trustworthy ad experience for users. This verification programme helps us learn about our advertisers’ business, the products and services offered by our advertisers and their relationships with advertised brands or third parties (if applicable). Learn more about business operations verification.
To appeal the suspension and resume serving your ads, please complete the verification form as soon as possible. The person responsible for completing the verification should be familiar with business operations and advertising practices for the Google Ads account xxx-xxx-xxxx. The estimated time to complete the verification program is 15 minutes.
Following your verification submission, we will review your responses. We may follow up with additional questions.
Please note that your ads will not serve until we finalise the review of the verification. Thank you for participating in the business operations verification programme.

 

Unpaid Balance Suspension

This is one of the easiest suspensions to understand and fix. If you’ve failed to pay your advertising bill, especially if you are on monthly invoicing, your account will be suspended.

The email you’ve received will tell you what to do to fix the suspension. And that is to pay the outstanding balance and then your ads will start to run again.

This is an example of an email for an account that has been suspended for an unpaid balance.

Your account is suspended
Your Google Ads account XXX-XXX-XXXX has been suspended because your account has an unpaid balance. As a result, your ads will no longer run on Google or our partner websites, and you can’t create any new accounts.
To reactivate your account, make a payment for the outstanding balance, and then submit an appeal. Once we receive the appeal, we’ll review your account.
Learn more about suspended accounts.

 

Conclusion

These are the main suspensions that advertisers face in Google Ads. If you check your email, you’ll see the reason why your account has been suspended. But you may need to dig deeper to find out what the exact cause is. So, this will help you to fix any issues and put in an appeal to get it unsuspended.

 

Get in Touch

Get help from an experienced Google Ads expert with experience fixing suspended accounts. I’d be happy to help and you can reach me below to discuss your suspension and to get you back on Google.