Our Insights

For businesses large and small, Google Ad Campaigns are often an essential component of the overall advertising strategy. For the time being (and the foreseeable future) the Google platform is king when it comes to paid search advertising. So receiving a notification that your Google Account has been suspended can elicit a stomach sinking panic. Whether you’re the agency (us) or the client (you!), it can be a massively stressful inconvenience. To add insult to injury, the solution is not always cut and dry. Google Support is notoriously vague as to what aspect of your campaign led to a suspension and getting to the bottom of it can take some trouble shooting. But there’s hope! We recently navigated this process, and here are our recommended steps.

So your Google Ad Account is suspended, now what?

1. Familiarize yourself with Google’s policies. It can be easy to accidentally violate one of Google’s advertising rules, so thoroughly reading their policies is the best place to start to see if there’s a clear reason that your account has been suspended.
2. If you are an agency, make sure you communicate the suspension to your client. It’s important to be transparent that the campaigns are paused, and you might need their help in resolving the issue.
3. After reading through the Google policies, comb through your site(s) and Google Ads account to see if you can pinpoint what the issue is. Sometimes it’s a simple fix that you can rectify, and when you learn what the problem is, you can also avoid it in the future.
4. Fix the issue by going back into your Google Ad Account and making the necessary changes
5. Submit an appeal if after reading through the policies you think the suspension was done in error. This will trigger Google to go back in and revisit the suspension.

Unfortunately, even if a suspension was done in error, it can take several days and possibly even weeks to hear back from Google about a pending appeal. We found it helpful to follow up every few days to keep the ball rolling. If you have a Google Rep, it can be beneficial to reach out to them directly to loop them in. They aren’t magicians that can instantly make the issue dissolve, but sometimes they can assist in moving the appeal along.

If your appeal isn’t granted after the first attempt, try not to be discouraged. After the appeal has been reviewed by Google Support, they can usually give you more information about the specific policy that you are in violation of. This can help narrow down exactly what’s triggered the issue and what can be done to fix it. Sometimes, they can also provide further insight into what you need to do to make sure your campaign complies with the policies or provide further explanation on the necessary steps to lift the suspension.

While your ad campaign might be unique, the experience of navigating a suspension is not. It can be especially helpful to lean on the experiences of others to help streamline the process. If your suspension isn’t an easy fix, the next steps might come into play.

• Take to the message boards! Use resources such as YouTube, blogs, Reddit, and digital marketing related message boards to read about others experiences with Google suspensions to see if you might be able to get more insight into what’s causing the suspension.
• Stay in touch with your Google rep. They might not be able to pinpoint the precise issue, but they’re happy to share their expertise on the appeals process and available next steps.
• When re-appealing your ad, provide a very detailed explanation on your business or client’s business and the website(s) you or your client owns. You may want to mention your reasoning on how and why you have your Google account(s) set up in the way that you do if you have multiple Google accounts.

From our experience, the suspension appeals process is not a simple overnight endeavor. But we know that Google Ads are an essential part of our clients campaign success, and even a multi-week, multi-appeal, and multi-email deep dive is worth the effort. Staying vigilant and following up with Google Support and your Google Rep will hopefully have your account up and running in a few weeks!