Your Google Ads advert has been disapproved: now what?

You set a campaign live, and then nothing. In your Google Ads dashboard you see a red cross or the word 'Disapproved' next to your advert. That happens to plenty of builders, painters and landscape gardeners who manage their own Google Ads.

Google disapproves adverts on the basis of its own policies. Those policies protect users, but they are not always written clearly for somebody without a marketing background. The good news: most disapprovals can be fixed. Not in two weeks, but often within a day or two.

Always check the notice in your account first. Click the disapproval icon next to the advert. Google states a reason, even if it is sometimes vaguely phrased.

Google applies dozens of policies, but for trades in building, landscaping or painting a few reasons come back most often.

• Problems with the destination page. This is by far the most common reason. Your advert points at a page that does not load, does not work or gives no clear information about your service. If your advert says 'roofer Bristol' but the page is about the whole of the south west with hardly any text, that is a mismatch to Google.
• Unclear or misleading copy. Google allows no exaggerated claims. 'Best painter in the country' or 'guaranteed lowest price' will almost certainly get you a disapproval. The same goes for prices or offers that appear in the advert but not on your page. If you want to know how it should be done, read our explanation of ad copy that does get approved.
• Missing business information. Google sets requirements for your destination and requires advertiser verification: you show with a document who sits behind the advert. A telephone number and an address on your site help with that. Naming your company number is not a requirement from Google but from law: for a service provider selling online in the United Kingdom, regulation 6 of the Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 asks for the name, the geographic address of establishment, contact details including an email address, the trade register number or equivalent, the regulator where the service needs authorisation, and the VAT number where the activity is subject to VAT, all easily, directly and permanently accessible. Checked on 25 August 2026.

A fourth, less common reason is sensitive keywords. If your ad group holds terms Google treats as sensitive, the whole group can be disapproved.

Note: if your account has had a warning before and you change nothing, Google can suspend your whole account temporarily on a new breach. A disapproved advert you repair quickly, a suspended account takes far longer. A considered ad schedule and sharp copy keep you out of that situation.

Once you know why your advert was disapproved, you can deal with the problem and appeal. That sounds formal, but in practice it is simply a button in your dashboard.

Step 1: find the reason

Log in at ads.google.com and go to the Ads tab. On disapproved adverts you see an icon or the word 'Disapproved' in the status column. Click it for more information about the reason.

Step 2: fix the problem first

This is where people usually go wrong. They click the appeal button straight away without changing anything, and simply get another disapproval. Read the reason properly. If it is about the destination page, change that first. If it is about the ad copy, change the copy. Save and wait for the change to go through.

Step 3: request a review

Go back to the disapproved advert and click 'Request review'. Google checks again whether the advert meets its policies. How long a review takes Google does not say; about the ordinary review Google does write that most adverts are reviewed within one working day, and that you should check the status after more than two full working days. Checked on 25 August 2026.

Step 4: check the result

If the advert is approved, the status changes to 'Under review' and then to 'Eligible'. If the disapproval stands, Google gives a new or the same reason. Then you have two options: change it again and request another review, or contact Google support through the chat in your dashboard.

Tip: use the free Google Ads chat support, available through the question mark at the top right of your dashboard. You sometimes wait a while, but an adviser can tell you exactly which part of the advert or the page is the problem.

If several adverts are disapproved at once, something bigger is probably going on. Think of a change to your website that has unintentionally broken pages, or a change to your domain or TLS certificate.

A disapproval can be repaired, but it always costs time and potentially revenue. If you have been running campaigns for a while, or you use them seriously as a source of leads, it is worth arranging a few things structurally. Whether those campaigns can pay for themselves at all is a separate sum, with your margin and your conversion rate in it, and we make that sum in does Google Ads really work.

• Make sure your landing page holds up. The page your advert points at has to load quickly, work on mobile and be clear about what you do and where you work. No stock photographs of generic builders, just your work, your name, your area.
• Keep your ad copy level headed. You do not have to exaggerate to stand out. 'Painter in Bristol, 12 years in the trade, free quote' is more concrete and more credible than 'the best painter in the country'.
• Check your account regularly. Not every day, but going through the status of your adverts once a week is enough. That way you see in time when something has been disapproved and you are not searching back weeks later for why your campaign stopped.

Do you keep coming back to the same problems, or do you simply want this kind of hassle to stop landing on your desk? Our paid search specialists take the campaign management over, from set up to daily checking, so that you can focus on your real work. Book a call and we will look at your account together.

How long does it take for my appeal to be reviewed?

Google writes that most adverts are reviewed within one working day. If yours is still under review after two full working days, check the status. If it takes longer than a week, get in touch through the Google Ads chat support in your dashboard.

Can my whole account be suspended because of one disapproval?

One disapproval does not lead straight to a suspension. If your account has had warnings before, or Google finds a serious policy breach, your account can be suspended temporarily. You usually solve that by fixing the problem and giving an explanation through the appeal form.

My advert is approved but I get no impressions. What is going on?

An approved advert and an advert that actually gets impressions are two different things. You can be approved and still get too few impressions because of a bid that is too low, a budget that is too limited, an audience that is too narrow or simply little search volume on your keywords. Check the 'Impressions' and 'Impression share' columns in your dashboard.

Two recent changes at Google touch exactly that budget limited state: since 17 August 2026 Smart Bidding steers those campaigns differently, which we take apart in the Google Ads target CPA change, and the pacing change of June 2026 moves what a daily budget adds up to in a month, which is in the budget pacing change.

Do I have to pay when my advert is disapproved?

No. With Google Ads you pay per click. A disapproved advert is not shown and therefore cannot be clicked. You are only billed for clicks that actually happen on approved, running adverts.