Reach more customers by adhering to our content quality guidelines

When submitting your promotional content, make sure that your promotional content contains all critical information about your moment. In particular, make sure that your promotional content submissions clearly communicate the following:

What: Promotional content must contain a clear and concise explanation of what the offering is in the tagline. Users should be able to discern what promotional content is about after reading the tagline. For more information, see tagline requirements.

Why: Promotional content must include an explanation of what the user benefit is and/or selling points are. After reading the description (required) and/or tagline (recommended), users should clearly understand what promotional content means for them and why they should care. To learn more, see Description requirements and Tagline recommendations.

How: After reading the description, users should clearly understand how they can participate in an event, use a new feature, access new content or redeem an offer. Any requirements for participation should be stated in the description. For more information, see description requirements.

• Promotional content must be new and noteworthy user-facing updates, events or offers within your Android app or game. Promotional content should not be submitted to promote general service descriptions and evergreen or routine events.
• Promotional content events must be applicable to all users. If an event is only available to users who meet a minimum level requirement, you must clearly describe this requirement. The one exception to this rule is 'new user' offers, which can be targeted at new users using the eligibility criteria provided.
• Promotional content must run in-app at the same time as the in-app or in-game events are scheduled. Failure to comply may result in a warning, or the removal of promotional content in the Play Console for 30 days, after which you can request to be re-enrolled in the programme. You can edit or cancel promotional content events in Play Console if necessary.
• Users must readily find the submitted promotional content information upon opening the app or game.
• Your submission cannot contain inappropriate text, images or videos, such as third-party trademarked characters or logos used without proper permission.
• Promotional content events must be consistent across tagline, description, image and video. For example, if a tagline calls out ‘80% discount’ but the description mentions ‘buy 2, get 1 free-of-charge offer’, then it will confuse users.
• When submitting promotional content, be mindful that your submission will be shown to users who may not be familiar with your app/game or the specific event.
• Promotional content events should not reuse duplicate or very similar assets from other promotional content submissions. Each image, tagline, description and video must be unique and specific to the promotional content event. Do not reuse the same assets across multiple promotional content submissions, even if they were previously submitted for a different app or game. Minor changes within visual or text are also considered ineligible.
• To provide a quality user experience, Google Play requires that all promotional content event submissions meet high editorial standards. Promotional content needs to be clear and professional in appearance, and must lead users to in-app content that is relevant, useful and easy to interact with. The following restrictions apply:
  • Text that does not use commonly accepted spelling or grammar is not allowed.
  • Text that is incomprehensible or doesn't make sense is not allowed.
  • Images should not look overly stretched or distorted.
• Don't submit more than one item of promotional content at the same moment. Don't submit the same content repeatedly. If a single promotional content submission is targeting multiple regions, localise your submission into different languages so you can reach users in different countries, similar to custom store listings. Select Manage translations > Manage your own translations and then select the additional languages that you’d like to provide for this event.
• Enter a date more than 24 hours in the future so that we can review and make sure that your event is eligible for promotion across Google Play.

The following requirements apply to all text elements of your promotional content event (tagline, description, etc.). All text must comply with our Store listing and promotion policies.

Localisation

• Submitted content should be in the correct language for the selected locale. Non-locale languages are not allowed unless they're expected to be widely used and recognised in the region (for example, using a simple English word such as 'Sale' on a ko-KR locale can be allowed).
• When localising your content, ensure that your submission reflects the following:
  • Linguistic quality: Text uses appropriate punctuation, grammar and spelling, and is written for the selected locale.
  • Cultural relevance: Content is adapted to the target locale's culture and includes familiar references.
  • Internationalisation: Submitted content adheres to locale-specific conventions, such as date, time and currency.

Note: Play Console may show a warning if we identify that the incorrect language has been inputted. Make sure that you review and resolve these warnings before submission.

Special characters and punctuation

• Don't use more than one exclamation mark (!) or question mark (?) sequentially.
  • Example: You can't use the following: ??, !!, ?!, !?!
• Don't use any sequential special characters or punctuation.
  • Example: You can't use the following: <>, \\, :), ***, +_+, ((, !!, $%^, ~&~, ~~~, %%
• You can use the ellipsis (…) as an exception to the previous requirement but only when adhering to the following:
  • It’s not used in the 'Tagline' field
  • It’s followed by a space (so not 'x…y' but 'x… y')
  • It’s used a maximum of twice per item of promotional content
• Use an Em dash (—), not a hyphen (-), double hyphen (--) or En dash (–).
• Don't use line breaks in taglines.
• Use only standard characters in the spelling, grammar and idiom of your language (for example, don’t use the following: ¿, æ, Ø, ¡).
• We encourage the use of percentage discounts in your tagline and description to communicate an offer (for example, 'X% off' or 'Up to X% off') and summarise the overall sale.
• Don't use HTML tags.

Capitalisation

• Avoid all capital letters unless needed for an acronym, coupon code or brand name that is normally stylised in upper case.
• Capitalise as standard for the language that you’re writing in.
• Acronyms can be written in upper case or capital letters.
• You can capitalise the first letter after a colon (:).
• If the app name in the Google Play store listing is in upper case, you can use upper case or capital letters on the app name.

• Write taglines and descriptions that all users can understand for the given locale.
  • Although your promotional content will be shown primarily to users who may know about your title (that is, existing users who actively play/use or lapsed users who have played/used/installed your title), they can also be shown to users who are not knowledgeable about your title (that is, users who have never played/used your title or only played/used for short periods of time).
• Don't use duplicate messages across the tagline and description as these will be displayed alongside each other. Each element should add value to the promotional content card by providing context, flavour or information.
• Provide high-quality translated text in all elements for each country that you are targeting.
  • Promotional content is only displayed to users that match the user countries and languages with localised descriptions that you have provided. For example, if you target Japan, France and United States but only provide English and Japanese descriptions, users in France will only see the event if their device language is set to Japanese or English.
• Don't request the user to press any button or otherwise assume the positioning of an element in the promotional content itself. Examples:
  • ‘Press the button below to install!’
  • ‘Take a look at the screenshots above for more details’
• Use of flavour text:
  • Flavour text is defined as editorial flair meant for creative or entertaining user value. It's essentially 'fluff', but it can add context, enhance the tone, include extra background information or add narrative.
  • If it is beneficial for the user to understand the promotional content, we encourage the inclusion of additional contexts such as flavour text, theme and setting or story in support of the required tagline.

• The tagline must contain a clear and concise explanation of what the promotional content offering is. Users should be able to discern what the promotional content is about after reading the tagline.
  • Examples by promotional content type are as follows:
    • Time-limited event: Name and a brief description of the event
    • Major updates:
      • New feature: Name and a brief description of the new feature
      • New content: Name and a brief description of the new or featured content
    • Offer: Offer description (with branded event name if applicable)
• Taglines should be concise (80-character limit), easy to understand, accurate and only represent the value of the specific promotional content being promoted. Provide clear event details such as event name, seasonal moment, etc.
• Start the tagline by clearly mentioning the promotional content details. Don't include any generic promotional text, call to action or descriptive text that doesn't add value.
• For offers, the tagline must clearly state the value of the offer.
  • Mention the value that the user gets in the first 40 characters.
  • Values in taglines must reflect the specific offer that is redeemed or applied at checkout.
  • Clearly state the value that the user would receive (for example ‘X% off all starter packs’ or ‘Up to X% off starter packs’). If stating the currency amount, a monetary discount must be reflected in the specified area’s currency symbol (for example, £10, €5, etc.).
  • Taglines must have specific offer value and/or discount, and cannot be generic promotional text (for example, ‘New gifts and rewards’). If the sale is offering a discount or reward on a specific SKU, it should state the name of the specific SKU and offer value and/or discount for the SKU.
  • The tagline must emphasise the limited-time nature of the offer within the app or game. Generally, the best practice would be to also include an event name (for example, 'Black Friday').
    • If a sale or branded event offers a discount or reward across multiple categories, the tagline doesn't need to include the specific per cent discount, but the branded event name is required in the tagline (for example, 'Member's day – savings on TVs and PCs')
    • If a sale or branded event offers a discount or reward for a single category of goods, then the discount or reward needs to be specified in the tagline (for example, '25% off TVs').
  • Clearly state any minimum thresholds or items needed for the offer. If a combination of products must be added to qualify for the promotion, the tagline should clearly state all items that must be added.
• Offer taglines must be broadly applicable but any eligibility requirements (for example, 'the offer applies to swimwear only') must be in the tagline.
• Offer taglines should include billing expectations, additional charges and minimum purchase limits (for example, '£5 off purchases over £20').

• Highlight the key user benefit in the tagline of the promotional content. A user benefit statement is required for the description field, but a concise user benefit statement is strongly recommended for the tagline field. For example:
  • Time-limited event: Expected user value from participating (for example, in-app or in-game progression, lifestyle achievements, etc.)
  • Major updates:
    • New feature: Expected user value (for example, example use case, easier UX, richer experience, etc.)
    • New content: Selling points (for example, box office performance, awards, featured directors, notable actors, etc.)
  • Offer: The value proposition that users can obtain by redeeming offers (for example, discounted subscription upgrades, etc.)
• Make sure that the tagline is specific and includes key elements of the promotional content for your title.
  • Avoid a tagline that can be reused for any other promotional content for your title or by any other title (for example, 'Weekly event' or 'Holiday sale').
  • Don't reuse the same tagline across multiple items of promotional content.

• Maximum 500 characters.
• Promotional content submission must include an explanation of what the user benefit is and/or selling points of the promotional content. After reading the description, users should clearly understand what the promotional content means for them and why they should care. For example:
  • Time-limited event: Expected user value from participating (for example, in-app or in-game progression, lifestyle achievements)
  • Major updates:
    • New feature: Expected user value (for example, example use case, easier UX, richer experience, etc.)
    • New content: Selling points (for example, box office performance, awards, featured directors, notable actors, etc.)
  • Offer: The value proposition that users can obtain by redeeming offers (for example, discounted subscription upgrades, etc.)
• After reading the description, users should clearly understand how they can participate in an event, use a new feature, access new content or redeem an offer. Any requirements for participation should be stated in the description.
• Descriptions should provide a clear explanation of the promotional content event and help users fully understand the details. Provide details such as event name, event mechanism, how to participate and why it should matter to users, etc. Empty or non-informative descriptions will be rejected.
• Don't repeat duplicate messages across taglines and descriptions.
• If the submitted offer is a branded event combining multiple offer elements, make sure that you don't include any violating element (for example, sweepstakes, tournaments and similar) as part of the branded event. The exception to this is adding an evergreen value that would enhance user benefit on top of the promoted offer (for example, 'Free delivery also applies to discounted items').
  • Note: Mention of evergreen free delivery is allowed, as it enhances user benefit on top of the promoted offer, however, it's only allowed in the description.
• Don't use bullet points to summarise; opt for a short, sharp paragraph instead.

• Provide details to help users clearly understand your promotional content. We recommend at least 100 characters.
• Don't include general descriptions about the app or game in your description.
• Use line breaks if necessary to improve the legibility of your description.

Primary image

• JPG and 24-bit PNG supported
• 1920 x 1080 pixels, 16:9 aspect ratio
• An image is required if you’re including a video.
• Critical visual elements (for example, third-party brand logo or main character) should be centred in the safe zone as your image may be cropped to fit on certain devices or form factors. Images with border frames are not allowed.
  • Rectangular image safe zone: 20% on the bottom, 10% on the sides and 15% on the top

Note: Keep prominent visuals and the focal point towards the centre of the safe zone.

Square image

• JPG and 24-bit PNG supported
• 1080 x 1080 pixels, 1:1 aspect ratio
• No safe zone needed

• Don't include text in images, including your brand logo, slogans or event name. Images should only consist of critical visual elements. Your main message should be conveyed through the tagline.
  • Exceptions: Text within third-party logos to convey collaborations with other IPs and text that is part of a product (for example, brand on a T-shirt) are allowed.
• If you are including a third-party logo, it must conform to safe zones or the logo may be rejected.
• Don't use Google Play or other Store badges or icons.
• Don't include design elements that resemble product design elements (call-to-action button, toggle or elements that resemble tap targets).

Promotional content visuals should make users feel excited about events at a glance and compel them to click into the promotional content event. Promotional content images will be shown alongside the title and should be complementary, not redundant. Text fields, such as tagline and description, should be used to describe and highlight the promotional content in detail. Failure to comply with these quality guidelines may result in limited exposure to promotional content on Google Play.

Note: Your artwork will be viewed on many product surfaces, including small mobile screens. To ensure that your content will work on most surfaces, make your message concise, clear and effective.

• Make sure that the image is specific to the promotional content submission and helps users visualise the event. Take note of the following:
  • Avoid using the same image for different items of promotional content.
  • Avoid using the same or a similar image as the detail page (store-listing page).
  • Avoid using a generic image that only describes the title but not the promotional content.
• Make sure that the image doesn't have round corners.
• The image should have a single focal point. Busy images with no focal points may be rejected.
• Avoid using pure white or dark grey as your colour scheme as these colours can blend in with the Google Play Store background. Consider using more vibrant colours in your graphics to build interest and excitement.
• Avoid any content that reflects or suggests Google Play Store performance, ranking, accolades or awards, or user testimonials.
• Localise your image as appropriate for different markets.
• Avoid using generic in-app or in-game screenshots.

• You must disable ads for your video to be featured. To disable ads, follows these steps:
  • Turn off monetisation in your video, or
  • Upload a different video without monetisation claims and update the URL in Play Console.
    Important: If your video uses copyrighted content, turning off monetisation for your video may not be enough to prevent ads. In that case, you will need to use a different video (without copyrighted content that has monetisation claims).
• Set your Video’s privacy setting to public or unlisted. Don't set it to private.
• Make sure that your video is embeddable.
• Create a video in landscape orientation rather than in portrait orientation, as your video will show in the landscape video player.
• Properly localise the video including UI visuals, text and audio.

• Make sure that the video is specific to the promotional-content submission and helps users visualise the promotional content. Take note of the following:
  • Avoid using the same video for different items of promotional content.
  • Avoid using the same or similar video or image as the details page (store-listing page).
  • Avoid using generic video that only describes the title but not the promotional content.
• The video should set the right expectations and get the user excited about the actual promotional content experience. Consider the following:
  • We understand that branding and storytelling can be important, but we highly recommend minimising these elements and focusing instead on showing the actual promotional content experience.
  • Use captured footage of the app or game itself. Don't include people interacting with the device (for example, fingers tapping on the device), unless the core promotional content experience is off-device.
• Keep your videos short and concise because only the first 30 seconds auto-play. Users can continue watching the full video by tapping it.
• Since videos may inline auto-play with the sound muted by default, consider using copy to give the user more context. However, take note of the following:
  • Don't include any content that reflects or suggests Google Play Store performance or ranking.
  • Make sure that the text is legible by using readable fonts and proper font size and by displaying the text long enough for the user to read it.

Expand the sections below to view some examples of offer submissions to get you started:

All promotional content submissions must adhere to Google Play Developer Programme Policies on restricted content, including:

• Promotional content should not include content that is intended to shock, scare, disgust or upset users. This includes graphic details of hygiene or grooming, such as pimple popping, and gruesome or gross presentations of bodily parts, fluids or waste.
• Promotional content should not include any depictions of nudity or sexually explicit content including sexual acts, sexualised poses, racy or suggestive images or text. This includes content that promotes or facilitates sex services, prostitution or dating in exchange for compensation or dating explicitly motivated by sexual encounters.

Sensitive categories