Google Ads Suspension Guide: How To Get Your Account Unsuspended

GOOGLE ADS SUSPENSION GUIDE 2
CONTENTS
Introduction3
Why Google Ads suspends accounts 4
Policy violations/suspensions 5
How long does a Google suspension last? 16
Why you shouldn’t create a new Google Ads account 17
How to fix a Google Ads suspension 19
Suspicious payments suspension 19
Circumventing systems suspension 21
Advertising policy suspension 22
Business verification suspension 22
Unpaid balance suspension 23
How to contact Google to appeal a suspension 24
Submit appeal in your ads 24
Use the chat system 25
Give them a call 25
Conclusion26
GET IN TOUCH 27
AUTHOR BIO 27

INTRODUCTION
A Google Ads suspension can be devastating for any business, especially one that
relies on Google for the majority of its sales or leads.
In this guide you’ll learn what the various suspensions are and what yours means
and why it has happened.
Whether you’ve been running ads for some time and then got suspended, or you
just setup an account and you got suspended, there is always a solu-tion, and this
guide will help you resolve it.
Read on to find out more...

WHY GOOGLE ADS
SUSPENDS ACCOUNTS
Google suspends accounts for many different reasons, all of which relates to the
Google Ads policy violations.
Knowing why your account has been suspended is the first thing you should find out.
In your Google Ads account, you’ll see a notification in red saying your account has
been suspended and you’ll see a ‘contact us’ button to appeal the suspension.
But it’s the email that you’ll receive from Google that will be the most helpful in
understanding why your Google Ads account has been suspended.
Here, I’ve listed the main reasons why Google suspends business accounts, but there
are many others, including suspensions for non-profits that receive free advertising
spend and should maintain a minimum level of perfor-mance to continue advertising.
However, they are less common and easier to fix.
Hopefully, this will help you with your suspension and get it unsuspended.

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 explanations and
supporting details. Examples of new information that may be shared include
the following:
Policy violations/suspensions
Suspicious payments suspension
This is one of the most common suspension reasons and I get many enquiries about
this. It’s also one of the most difficult to recover from 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 Google not being able to verify your business details like billing
details, payment card, etc.
This is an example of an email you’ll receive when your account has been suspended
due to a suspicious payments problem:

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 various 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 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 also tends to be vague and won’t tell you why your Google Ads account
has been suspended. 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.
Many people often 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 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, which 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.
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 sus-pended. 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, and this is what we will
cover below.

HOW LONG DOES A GOOGLE
SUSPENSION LAST?
There is no time limit on a Google Ads suspension. The suspension lasts until you
fix the problem that has caused it. So, if there is a problem on your website for
example, your account will remain suspended until that website issue is resolved.
Whatever the suspension, you’ll need to resolve it first before it can be lifted and
following the email instructions you’ve received from Google will help.
However, as anyone who has had a suspension will know, Google will not tell you
the exact reason for the suspension. All they’ll tell you is a generic policy violation
like the “circumventing systems policy violation”.
The email will have a generic statement of what that policy is, which is of-ten not very
helpful. So, you’ll have to review your account or website in line with the suspension
reason to then implement any changes.
The main reason they do this is they want advertisers to carry out a full audit of their
accounts or websites to identify all issues that can cause problems in the future and
lead to a poor user experience.
Google does this because they want to give a great, safe experience for all their
users. These are some of the most important values to Google.
Of course, it can be frustrating to advertisers. They often must go through a long,
time-consuming process to resolve the suspension.
A Google Ads suspension should not mean the end of your plans to advertise on
Google. There are ways to resolve this, and if you’re not able to fix it, then a Google
Ads Suspension Expert will help to identify and resolve it.

WHY YOU SHOULDN’T CREATE
A NEW GOOGLE ADS ACCOUNT
One thing you should not do after your Google Ads account has been sus-pended
is to create a new account yourself.
If you do that, you’ll make things worse because the second account will also be
suspended, and now you’ll have two suspended accounts and not just one.
That will make it even harder to get your initial account unsuspended. You’ll now
have also violated another policy which says not to open other accounts as they will
get suspended, too.
In fact, the email you’ll have received from Google will have a section about creating
new accounts and why you should not do so. It states in there what will happen if
you create more accounts and that you should not do it after a suspension.
This is an example of an email you’ll receive about creating new accounts when
you’ve contacted them:
Hi XXX,
Thank you for contacting Google Ads. I hope you are doing well.
Query:- I understand your concern about the suspension of Google Ads
account ID XXX-XXX-XXXX. Thank you for waiting while we reviewed your account
suspension appeal.

So, if you use one of the features that relates to the initial account like an email
address, website address, IP address, etc., and it is matched to the new account,
then it will be suspended.
It will be almost impossible to prevent any new account you create from being
suspended, and that’s even if you change your website address and other details.
If you’re not able to fix your suspension, then you should consider working with a
Google Ads expert. They’ll be able to work with you to find out the reason behind
the suspension and work to try and fix it. They will offer to get your business back on
Google by discussing several solutions with you.
After reviewing your case and taking your feedback into consideration, we’ve
confirmed that your account was and still is in violation of our Google Ads
policies.
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 owner and any
current or future linked Google Ads accounts.
Learn more about why we suspend accounts and the reasons 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 your refund.
We appreciate your understanding.
Sincerely,

HOW TO FIX A GOOGLE
ADS SUSPENSION
A Google Ads suspension can be a
frustrating experience and potentially
disastrous for businesses that rely
on getting leads and sales through
Google.
With the recent spate of suspensions,
many businesses have been ruined
and they haven’t been able to get
their businesses back on Google
despite their best efforts.
However, most suspensions can be
fixed, and many advertisers give up
Suspicious payments suspension
This is a common suspension type in Google Ads. It happens when there are
suspicions about your payment and billing details and Google has failed to verify
them or believes that there is fraudulent activity around this.
It’s also one of the more difficult suspensions to fix and it can be difficult to get your
account recovered.
too soon. It takes persistence and knowing what to do, depending on your sus-
pension, to get it resolved.
Here are the main suspensions and how you can fix them:

In fact, Google will not reactivate it without a good reason from you why this has
happened.
So, take some time to review your payment details and make sure they match with
all the account details you’ve supplied, and that the details match with the card and
business location details. Then, submit an appeal when everything looks OK, and
you’ve updated your payment details.
If that fails and the Google Ads team hasn’t lifted the suspension, then you should
consider working with a Google Ads specialist. They will review your account and
payment details and make suggestions on how to fix it and make an appeal.
If that still doesn’t work, then
they will be able to create a
new Google Ads account for
you and handle the payment
side of things. So, they set-up
the ads and then they will add
you as a user, and you will
send your advertising budget
to them each month and they
will pay that to Google directly.
This is perfectly legal and
accepted by Google and the
account will be accepted and
activated. So, this is usually
one of the best ways to get your
business back on Google.

Circumventing systems suspension
This is one of the most common suspensions in Google Ads, and it’s also one of the
most difficult to understand and fix.
There are many reasons for a circumventing policy violation suspension and the
email you get will list some potential causes.
The process to fix a circumventing systems policy violation is like a suspicious
payments suspension.
You’ll need to review the issues that relate to this in the email that you’ve received
from Google. This could include things like cloaking, redirection to non-compliant
content, manipulating site content and many others. Check your email for full details
and review your website and account considering this and make the necessary
corrections.
Then, put in an appeal. If nothing happens and the suspension is not lifted, speak to
a Google Ads specialist to get help with this. Using their expertise, and with a web
developer if needed, they will carry out an audit and make suggestions to change
things and hopefully put in a successful appeal.
If all else fails, then they will be able to create a new account if there has been no
response or Google refuses to reactivate it. This often works out well as I’ve done
this for many advertisers, and that’s because Google is not responding and not
being cooperative. Unfortunately, this happens often.

Advertising policy suspension
You’ll usually get an advertising policy suspension when you are promoting a product
or service that could be harmful to users.
This includes prohibited content like dangerous products such as firearms and
weapons; content that enables dishonest behaviour like questionable financial
products; sexually explicit content; recreational drugs; equipment to facilitate drug
use; explosive materials and fireworks and more.
However, you won’t get suspended the first time your account has violated an
advertising policy, but repeated violations will lead to account suspension. If you are
trying to promote such products or services, then you won’t be able to advertise on
Google and any attempts to create new accounts or make an appeal will not work.
However, if you feel there has been a mistake, like promoting a legal drug that has
health benefits, you can put in an appeal and explain your case. Usually, a specialist
at Google will be assigned to your account and they will be able to investigate this.
If everything checks out, your Google Ads account will be unsuspended.
Business verification suspension
This is usually an easy suspension to fix, and all you’ll need to do is provide the
business details that have been requested and the team will review this and may ask
for more information if anything is missing.
This is usually not a problem if you provide business details like a certificate of
registration and details about your products or services or anything else they request.
After submitting this information, it will be reviewed and hopefully you’ll get a positive
response, which is usually the case. But you can prevent this type of suspension by
providing information in a timely manner.

Unpaid balance suspension
This is one of the easiest suspensions to fix because it relates to an unpaid balance
and the email from Google will state clearly what you can do to fix this.
So, all you’ll need to do is pay the bill and the account will be reactivated. In some
situations, you’ll need to contact them after making payment and sending proof and
the account will be reinstated.
A suspension should not mean the end of your advertising plans on Google. There
are always ways to fix any suspension and if you have run out of op-tions then a
Google Ads expert will be able to help.
This is an example of an email you’ll receive when your account is successfully
reactivated:
Your Google Ads account has been reactivated.
Your account was temporarily suspended to verify your billing information and
policy compliance. It’s now reactivated, so your ads can start running again.
Ads could start running automatically if your billing information is up to date. If
you don’t want your account to serve ads and accrue costs, either pause your
campaigns or cancel your account.

HOW TO CONTACT GOOGLE
TO APPEAL A SUSPENSION
After reviewing the information that has been provided by Google Ads about your
suspension, and if you’ve taken corrective action to fix it, it’s now time to contact the
review team to appeal the suspension. You can submit an appeal in your account
or if you have questions that you need answered you can contact Google and,
hopefully, they should be able to help as you try to fix the suspension.
There are several ways you can contact Google to get help with your ac-count
suspension:
Submit appeal in your ads
If you’ve reviewed everything and corrected any issues
that could have caused the problem, then submitting a
suspension appeal is the next step.
Submit the form from the red link in your account and
then follow the in-structions to submit any required
information.
The review team will then look at you suspension appeal
and respond usu-ally in a few days with an update.
If the issue has been resolved, the suspension will be
lifted immediately. If not, they’ll let you know, and you’ll
have to continue reviewing and check-ing for a solution.
Unfortunately, the team is unlikely to give you more
information about the reason behind the suspension.

Use the chat system
You can reach Google from the
help link within your account. You’ll
see this in the top right corner in
your Google Ads account.
You won’t reach the review team
via chat, but the support team will
look at your website and account
and give you some pointers if you
are still not sure what is causing
the suspension. But sometimes the
support team may not be able to
help, so you will have to review
it yourself and then submit the
appeal in your account.
Give them a call
This option, like the one above, will not get you in contact with the review team, but
it will allow you to ask some of the questions you may have about a suspension. The
support team will be able to look at your account and give you some suggestions
about the problem. Hopefully, this should be enough to help lift the suspension once
you’ve taken corrective action and submitted an appeal.
Contacting Google by phone or chat can be beneficial in helping you fix your
suspension. However, it’s not guaranteed that you’ll get better insights about your
suspension. The first thing to do is to read the email from Google and the policy
violation and then work on the issues that you find. When that is done, you should
submit an appeal and wait for feedback from Google.

CONCLUSION
Hopefully, you now have a much better understanding of what a Google Ads
suspension is and the various types that many advertisers have experienced.
You’ve seen what the main types of suspensions are and the emails that you get for
each of them, and the advice that Google provides to help fix it, which is not often
very helpful.
If your account has been suspended, hopefully this guide has given you the help you
need to fix it or shown you how to get help to fix it.

Mike Ncube is a Google Ads specialist and PPC consultant. He helps
business owners, entrepreneurs and marketers find new customers
and clients, boosts their sales, increases their leads, and reduces costs
through Search, Shopping, Display, Video and App advertising on
Google and its partner websites and apps.
He is also a Google partner with over 13 years’ experience setting
up and managing effective campaigns for clients that he has worked
with. He is an author, having written many books on Google Ads, PPC
advertising, and digital marketing
GET IN TOUCH
As a Google Ads expert, I’ve dealt with many
policy violations and sus-pended accounts, and
many clients that were previously suspended are
now advertising successfully after they’d contacted
me to help. Contact me below to find out more.
www.mikencube.co.uk
info@mikencube.co.uk
AUTHOR BIO
Need help fixing a Google Ads suspension? I’m ready to help. Use the de-tails
below to reach out to me to discuss your requirements.

Google Ads Suspension Guide: How To Get Your Account Unsuspended

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