Troubleshoot disapproved ads

If you are seeing this rejection, it means your ad contains Flash assets or loads Flash pixels. It may not always be immediately apparent where Flash calls are coming from. For example, many third/fourth parties use Flash elements for things like viewability measurement. Learn how to find Flash content using Chrome Developer Tools.

If your ad is rejected because it includes Flash content, remove the Flash content and replace it with an HTML5 version. If you're new to HTML5, check out these tools to make the transition to HTML5:

• HTML5 toolkit for creative developers
• Step by step tutorial for getting starting with HTML5
• Google Web Designer to build your creatives

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers must be designated as "family safe" to ensure they can potentially be shown to all appropriate audiences. Products that are considered to have "non-family safe" status are prohibited from running on Authorized Buyers.

If the ad is disapproved for containing adult content, correct by removing the adult content in the ad or landing page, and resubmit the ad.

All ads on Authorized Buyers must be designed to only redirect the user to a landing page upon user-initiated click. Ads that inflate clicks by automatically redirect the user to a landing page, file download, or application are prohibited.

If the ad is disapproved for automated ad clicking, correct by ensuring that clicks are only user-initiated, and resubmit the ad.

The ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains content related to birth control, which may be prohibited in certain instances or locations. Ensure that your ads and landing pages don't contain restricted category content.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from engaging in practices that attempt to circumvent or interfere with Google’s system controls or quality processes. Common practices include cloaking, use of dynamic DNS to switch page or ad content, or manipulating ad or text in order to bypass automated system checks.

Creatives using Open Measurement (OMID) scripts are only allowed to use allowlisted domains.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers must be clear, relevant, useful, and easy to interact with.

Common issues include landing pages that disable browser navigational functions, sites with pop-ups or interstitial ads that interfere with the user's ability to see the content requested, or ads that look like software download buttons, official system warnings, or webpage features like menus, search results, or other site content. Your site should not present unexpected webpages, ads, or sponsored offers to users when they are navigating the site.

If your ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page is difficult to interact with, correct by improving the content to comply with policies, and resubmit the ad.

The landing page of all ads on Authorized Buyers must be crawlable. Authorized Buyers uses Google crawlers to read and ensure that all landing pages comply with Authorized Buyers policies.

If your ad is disapproved because the landing page is not crawlable, correct by ensuring Google bots can crawl your site, and resubmit your ad.

Here's what you can do to make sure your creative's landing page is crawlable:

1. Allow the Google crawler on your page. You can add User-agent: AdsBot-Google to your domain’s robots.txt. You can also use Google Search Console to see how to make your pages accessible to Google.
2. Make sure that you declare the correct landing page:
   1. Declared click through URL needs to be the same as the landing page creative clicks through. You can find declared URLs for a creative by going to Troubleshooting > Creatives > [Creative] > Click through URLs.
   2. You declare a landing page during REST API upload or in the bid response field "click_through_url" (for RTB Proto) or "adomain" (for OpenRTB Proto). 
   3. This declared URL can be the main domain of the landing page or full landing page. If you only use the main domain of the landing page, make sure that it is crawlable.
   4. Make sure that you do not declare intermediate calls to the ad server as click-through URLs. Click trackers are not crawlable and will cause the "DESTINATION_NOT_CRAWLABLE" rejection.

All ads on Authorized Buyers must contain a functional click-through URL that leads the user to a working landing page. Your landing page must work properly for all locations, regardless of where you're targeting your ad. Check your landing page on various browsers and devices to make sure that it always links to a working website or app. To troubleshoot issues with a site, review the fix a disapproved ad or extension page of the Google Ads policy help center.

If the ad is disapproved for a broken URL, correct by ensuring it clicks through to a working landing page, and resubmit the ad.

All non-video ads on Authorized Buyers must comply with the download limit of 5MB (including Google services e.g. https://fonts.gstatic.com/). Exceeding this limit can negatively impact the performance of the Google Marketing Platform service and users' devices.

If your ad is disapproved because it has exceeded the size limit, correct this by restructuring and removing any unnecessary files, and resubmit the ad.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers prohibit content that enables dishonest behavior including products or services that help users to mislead others and products or services that enable a user to gain unauthorized access (or make unauthorized changes) to systems, devices, or property.

Examples include the creation of false documents such as passports or diplomas, aids to pass drug tests, exam-taking services, hacking services, radar jammers, phone or wire-tapping, or stealing cable.

If the ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains content that enables dishonest behavior, correct by removing that content, and resubmit the ad.

We support responsible gambling advertising and abide by local gambling laws and industry standards, so we don’t allow certain kinds of gambling-related advertising on Open-Auction. Gambling-related ads via Open-Auction are allowed if they comply with the policies below and the advertiser has received the proper Authorized Buyers certification. Gambling ads must target approved countries, have a landing page that displays information about responsible gambling, and never target minors. Check local regulations for the areas you want to target.

Creatives promoting online and offline gambling-related content in regions not listed in the policy page will be disapproved except when served through Deals (Preferred Deals, Private Auctions and Programmatic Guaranteed) where block override has been enabled by the Publisher.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from promoting guns, gun parts, or gun-related content.

Gun-related content includes functional devices that appear to discharge a projectile at high velocity, whether for sport, self-defense, or combat (including sporting or recreational guns that can cause serious harm if misused, or that appear to be real guns) as well as any part or component that's necessary to the function of a gun. Common examples include handguns, rifles, shotguns, hunting guns, functioning antique guns, airsoft guns, paintball guns, bb guns, silencers, ammunition, or ammunition clips or belts.

If your ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains gun-related content, correct by removing gun-related content, and resubmit the ad.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers must be designated as "family safe" to ensure they can potentially be shown to all appropriate audiences. Products that are considered to have "non-family safe" status are prohibited from running on Authorized Buyers.

Common examples of offensive or inappropriate content include hatred and intolerance (including sexual, religious and political intolerance), violence and self-harm, harassment and intimidation, exploitation, racism, shocking content, capitalizing on sensitive events, or capitalizing on threatened or extinct species.

If the ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains offensive or inappropriate, correct by removing content that is offensive or inappropriate, and resubmit the ad.

All ads on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from making calls to unapproved technology vendors. You can review the list of technology vendors approved to run on Authorized Buyers.

It may not always be immediately apparent where invalid calls are coming from. For example, if you use a certified technology vendor and the vendor calls uncertified technology - this will cause a creative disapproval. You will need to work with the certified technology vendor to remove uncertified consequent redirects.

To find out which call causes creative rejections by referencing the Creatives > List from the REST API. Use Chrome Developer Tools to check for all the calls made from your ad within a browser.

If your ad is disapproved because of a fourth-party call to an unapproved technology vendor, correct by removing calls made to unapproved technology vendors, and resubmit the ad. In the event that your creative is not approved within 24 hours, contact Authorized Buyers support.

Alternatively, you can request additional technology certification for already existing ATP by contacting your account representative. If you don’t have an account representative, reach out to support by clicking on ‘Contact Us’ in the top right corner of this page. Note we are unable to certify any new Ad Technology Providers at this time.

If you use Nielsen Digital Ad Ratings, make sure that the redirect to Facebook is done according to requirements. Common issues include:

• Call to Facebook not done from a certified Nielsen domain
• Incorrect country code in secure-XY.imrworldwide.com. XY are country codes (permitted codes include AU, CN, DK, GL, IT, JP, NZ, UK, US, YT, and ZA)

All ads on Authorized Buyers must click through to a working landing page.

If the ad is disapproved for a invalid landing page, correct by ensuring it clicks through to a working landing page, and resubmit the ad.

All ads on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from making calls to unapproved vendors. You can review the list of  vendors approved to run on Authorized Buyers.

Use Video Suite Inspector to preview your video ad and Chrome Developer Tools to check for all the calls made from your video ad within a browser.

If your ad is disapproved because of a fourth-party call to an unapproved vendor, correct by removing calls made to unapproved vendors, and resubmit the ad. Alternatively, you can request certification for an unapproved vendor.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers must be void of malware or viruses. Malware is not accepted or tolerated. Google verifies ads directly uploaded into Authorized Buyers, or follows the third-party redirects for malware or viruses through proprietary systems. Learn more about what Google does to prevent malware in ads.

If your ad is disapproved because of unacceptable content such as malware or viruses, correct by removing the malware or viruses in the ad or landing page, and resubmit your ad. Learn more about how to protect yourself from malware.

Ad operations teams should follow security recommendations detailed at http://anti-malvertising.com. Find out more about how to avoid malware or report abuse and illegal activity.

Troubleshooting tips

Check creatives:

• Make sure the ad does not use uncertified advertisers or vendors (fourth-party calls or sub-syndication) in creatives
• Make sure the creative does not download .js files to the user's browser

Check all landing pages for creatives:

• Remove all references of the suspicious domain from the landing page. If the suspicious domain is the landing page destination, you must continuously remove all the served creatives that load this domain.
• Check the status of your site in Google Search Console. If you haven’t used Search Console before, enter the URL of your website and click "Add a property" to see its status. You may need to verify that you own the site.
• If Search Console doesn’t report any problems, your site could still have security issues that were detected by the system. Consult with your webmaster or web hosting provider. Learn more about how we identify malicious or unwanted software.
• Remove any malicious or unwanted software. Google provides resources and instructions to help you fix your site through Help for Hacked Websites.

Useful tools: Google’s safe browsing and the webmaster console

All ads on Authorized Buyers must correctly display creative content, function as expected, and be void of any broken assets. Ensure your ad and landing page work properly for all locations, regardless of where you're targeting your ad. Check your ad on various browsers and devices to ensure that it always links to a working website or app. To troubleshoot issues with a site, review the site not working section of the Google Ads policy help center.

If your ad is disapproved because the media is not functional, correct by ensuring that it renders and functions, and resubmit the ad.

The ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains misleading claims or information. Ensure that your ads and landing pages are not misleading users and clearly provide all relevant information. Common issues include providing scientifically impossible claims, offering guaranteed results without a refund policy, or showing testimonials that claim specific results without a link to third-party verification.

We want users to trust that information about them will be respected and handled with appropriate care. As such, our advertising partners should not misuse this information, nor collect it for unclear purposes or without appropriate disclosures or security measures. All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from misusing personal information. 

Almost all publisher inventory accessible via Authorized Buyers has a secure connection (SSL) and requires SSL-compliant ads. All calls made within the ad must be SSL-enabled in order for the ad to be SSL-compliant. Make sure you understand how to guarantee this for each ad server, pixel tracker, verifier, and other technology vendor.

Use Chrome Developer Tools to check for all the calls made from your ad within a browser.

If the ad is disapproved for invalid SSL declaration, correct by removing the non-secure HTTP calls, and resubmit the ad.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from promoting prescription drugs or related products without an online pharmacy certification.

If your ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page promotes prescription drugs or related products without an online pharmacy certification, correct by removing prescription drug-related content, and resubmit the ad.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from promoting other weapons or weapon-related content, including the following (non-exhaustive list):

• Ads for dangerous knives include knives that are designed or promoted (in modern-day usage) as products that can be used to injure an opponent in sport, self defense, or combat, or any knife design that provides a confrontational advantage (including disguised appearance or assisted-opening mechanism). Common examples include switchblades, fighting knives, sword-canes, balisongs, military knives, push daggers, or throwing axes.
• Ads for any other product that's designed to (in modern-day usage) injure an opponent in sport, self-defense, or combat. Common examples include throwing stars, brass knuckles, tasers, and pepper spray.

• Ads for instructional content about the assembly, enhancement, or acquisition of any product covered under this policy. Common examples include guides, software, or equipment for 3D printing of push daggers, brass knuckles, or throwing stars.

If your ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains weapons-related content, correct by removing weapons-related content, and resubmit the ad.

The ad is disapproved because it either promotes deceptive or harmful financial practices or leads to a landing page that does not prominently disclose the required consumer information.

When promoting financial services and products, you must comply with state and local regulations for any region that your ads target — for example, include specific disclosures required by local law. Refer to our non-exhaustive list of country-specific requirements for more information.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from promoting the recreational use of legal drugs, as well as to drug paraphernalia or cultivation.

If your ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains recreational drug-related content, correct by removing recreational drug-related content, and resubmit the ad.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers must be designated as "family safe" to ensure they can potentially be shown to all appropriate audiences. Products that are considered to have "non-family safe" status are prohibited from running on Authorized Buyers. Common examples of shocking content include profanity or violent language, gruesome or disgusting imagery, graphic images or accounts of physical trauma, or gratuitous bodily fluids or waste. If the ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains shocking content, correct by removing content that is designed to shock or scare, and resubmit the ad.

All ads on Authorized Buyers must be clear, professional in appearance, and lead users to content that is relevant, useful, and easy to interact with.

Common examples include generic call-to-action phrases such as “click here,” creatives that are misaligned or partially visible in the ad space, or gimmicky text copy. Make sure your ads are clearly distinguishable as ads. Ads shouldn't try to look like a software download button, official system warning, or a web page feature like a menu.

Review the text ad requirements and editorial policies for more information and examples.

If your ad is disapproved because it does not meet professional standards, correct by improving the content to comply with policies, and resubmit the ad.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers must comply with Google's third-party policy requirements.

Please refer to the full content guidelines outlined in the Google Ads Advertising Policies, as well as the Requirements for third-party ad serving.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from promoting tobacco products, services, and related equipment including those which are designed to simulate smoking. Common examples include cigarettes, cigars, snus, chewing tobacco, rolling tobacco, pipe tobacco, rolling papers, pipes, tobacco filters, hookah lounges, cigar bars, herbal cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes.

If your ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains tobacco-related content, correct by removing tobacco-related content, and resubmit the ad.

All ads on Authorized Buyers must limit the number of cookies being set to 25. Exceeding this limit can negatively impact the performance of the Google Marketing Platform service and users' devices.

If your ad is disapproved because it has exceeded the cookie limitation, correct this by restructuring and removing unnecessary cookie dropping, and resubmit the ad.

All ads on Authorized Buyers must limit the number of HTTP/HTTPS (fourth-party) calls to 100. Exceeding this limit can negatively impact the performance of the Google Marketing Platform service and users' devices.

If your ad is disapproved because it has exceeded the limit of HTTP/HTTPS (fourth-party) calls, correct this by restructuring and removing unnecessary calls, and resubmit the ad.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from promoting unapproved substances, including prohibited pharmaceuticals and supplements.

If your ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains unapproved substance-related content, correct by removing unapproved substance-related content, and resubmit the ad.

All ads on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from setting unauthorized cookies on Google domains such as googlesyndication.com or doubleclick.net. You also cannot assist or knowingly permit any third-party to set a cookie, or alter or delete a cookie set, on any Google owned and operated domains, including Google Marketing Platform domains.

Use the Resources > Cookies panel within Chrome Developer Tools to inspect any unauthorized cookies being set on Google domains.

If the ad is disapproved for setting unauthorized cookies on a Google domain, correct by removing the calls which set unauthorized cookies, and resubmit the ad.

All ads on Authorized Buyers must contain clear and relevant content.

Your ad and landing page text should make sense and not be overly generic. Images, videos, audio, and other elements of your ad should be of good quality and not blurry, unclear, or unrecognizable. If your ad uses a superlative or competitive claim, you need to support that claim by showing third-party verification on your landing page.

If your ad is disapproved because it contains content that is unclear or irrelevant, correct by improving the content to comply with policies, and resubmit the ad.

All ads on Authorized Buyers are prohibited from making calls to numeric IP addresses. Ad calls must be made to domains to fetch creative, tracking pixels, and other ad serving/tracking elements.

Use Chrome Developer Tools to check for all the calls made from your ad within a browser.

If your ad is disapproved because it makes a call to a numeric IP address, correct by removing calls made to IP addresses, and resubmit the ad.

All ads and landing pages on Authorized Buyers that contain video content are required to meet the Google Ads policies and the video ad requirements.

If your ad is disapproved because the ad or landing page contains video content that did not meet the video ad requirements, correct by removing the video content, and resubmit the ad.