Healthcare and medicines: Prescription drug services

We're dedicated to following advertising regulations for healthcare and medicine, so we expect that ads and destinations follow appropriate laws and industry standards. Some healthcare-related content can’t be advertised at all, while others can only be advertised if the advertiser is certified with Google and targets only approved locations.

Learn more about the Healthcare and medicines policy.

Google restricts the promotion of services related to the online prescribing, dispensation, and sale of prescription drugs. Businesses subject to this policy include but aren't limited to online pharmacies and telemedicine providers.

We determine whether an advertiser is promoting such services based on a number of factors, such as the content of your ads, site, or app, as well as the products or services that you offer. For user safety and other reasons, we err on the side of caution in applying this policy, especially for landing pages that link or refer to content that in any way appears to be or to facilitate the online prescription, dispensation, or sale of medicines.

Locations

Google allows the promotion of some services related to prescription drugs in only these locations:

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Check the location specifics of the Healthcare and medicines policy for details about the types of services that can be promoted and requirements in each location. Advertisers must be certified in order to serve ads for prescription drug services.

Keywords

Under this policy, Google allows certified advertisers to bid on keywords containing prescription drug terms in only the following locations: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, New Zealand, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, South Africa, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Apply for healthcare certification

Advertisers must be certified by Google in order to serve ads for prescription drug services. Refer to how to apply below. Certification requirements vary by location, so check the location-specific restrictions for every location where you plan to advertise.

1. Adhere to all location-specific requirements. If your campaign targets a location that isn't listed, then we don't allow the promotion of those products in that location.

2. Fill out our online application form.

• Be sure to include your Google Ads customer ID. You can locate this ID at the top of your account pages.
• To cut down on any unnecessary delays, be sure to fill out all of the requested information.
• If you are an agency applying on behalf of an advertiser, please send documentation detailing your relationship with the advertiser or license holder.

Options to fix

If this policy is affecting your ad, review your options to fix below.

Apply for certification

If your ad was disapproved due to a missing Google certification and you meet the requirements, apply for certification. If you want to advertise in more than one location, submit a separate application for each location or group of locations.

Edit your ads to comply with this policy

Make sure that you’re only targeting locations that allow promotion of in-scope products and services and that you’re certified to advertise in all the locations you’re targeting. You can also choose a new landing page for your ad that complies with this policy.

1. In your Google Ads account, click the Campaigns icon ​.
2. Click the Campaigns drop down in the section menu.
3. Click Ads.
4. Hover over the ad or asset and click Edit.
5. Edit the ad or asset so that it complies with the policy.
6. Click Save. Your ad will be automatically reviewed again. Check the ad’s status in the “Ads & assets” page for updates.

Learn more about how to Fix an ad with policy violations.

Appeal policy decision

If you've fixed your destination or believe that we've made an error, appeal the policy decision directly from your Google Ads account to request for a review. After we confirm that the destination is compliant, we can approve your ads. If you aren't able to fix these violations or choose not to, remove your ad to help prevent your account from becoming suspended in the future for repeated policy violations.