Google Ads suspension - Circumventing Social Policy

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Hello all,

Google Ads banned us for Circumventing Social Policy.
Everything was going on fine as we ran the ads successfully for 12 weeks. We changed our server around 12 days before the ban.

Other than that, nothing comes to mind which changed.

Is there a playbook to ensure that our appeal becomes successful.

Thank you!

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Hi @abhi ,

I’m so sorry to hear that. I am happy to get you the help you need. First wanted to take a moment to welcome you to our community. Your post helps our community see experiences and help navigate them.

We have tons of playbooks that cover Google Ads, but we do yet have one for appealing suspensions. We will definitely consider creating one for reference. In the meantime, I am tagging some of our community experts on Google Ads to see if anyone has experience with this while I dive deeper into this.

@amy_hebdon @sandeep_bansal @boagworld Would you or anyone you know have experience successfully appealing a Google Ads ban? Feel free to share any resources or insights if you have any.

Thank you for your post, will check back soon.
Tania

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I’d be surprised if changing your server is the impetus for a ban, although depending on how it was setup, it’s possible.

Unfortunately I’m not aware of any resources for how to win an appeal. Google Ads bans aren’t nearly as ubiquitous as Facebook Ads bans from what I understand, but seem to be pretty permanent. Most attempts to argue against, or “start new” with a new payment method and account are not successful.

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Hi Amy,

Thank you for your reply. Your insights help a great deal.

Winning an appeal, after my deeper dive into it, agrees with your experience in that it is pretty permanent. I’ve had some experience appealing Facebook ad bans in the past and thought I may have come up with a solution.

Would you be able to describe, in a little bit more detail, what changes you made to your server, @abhi? That might give us more info to work with.

I look forward to hearing back.

Tania

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Hi Amy, Tania,

Thanks for your reply.

Here are some additional details:

  1. We implemented an OAuth certification which allows users to login thru Google login. This is already verified by Google.

  2. The server change was that we moved our data from Azure to Firebase. We already had Firebase authentication but only migrated the data. So, changes in terms of workflow there.

  3. Verified for any cloaking that might have happened inadvertently, but no issues there.

  4. Done an internal audit of all content.

Any other information required, please let me know.

Thanks,
Abhi

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Hi Abhi,

Thank you for the details. I’ll come back after looking into this for you. See if there is anything you could fix or change.

Another follow-up question: are you able to get into contact with Google Ads to ask them what you were specifically banned for Circumventing Social Policy?

Thank you,
Tania

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Hello Tania,

Thank you for the support,

Not yet connected to the customer care, i ll try that today. Google does not specify the real reason, they have a section on it here.

Thank you once again,

Regards,
Abhi

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Hey @amy_hebdon welcome back :slight_smile: hope your enjoying the new form of playbooks.

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Hi Abhi,

Of course, it’s why I’m here. In cases where we can’t help with a direct solution, we can guide you in the right direction.

Let us know what you find after connecting to customer care. I perused through the section linked, and cloaking stands out as the biggest offender. It’s possible they interpreted one of the changes you mentioned as similar to that, though it’s hard to say since they don’t list out every possible offense (with reason).

Thank you for your time, and look forward to hearing back,
Tania

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Hi Tania,

Thank you for your help,

The customer care person said they are also not aware of any specifics as the reasons are not shared by the customer care team. They also mentioned that appealing is the only way to recover the account.

I agree with you cloaking might be the reason - i m wondering how to double down on rectifying the cloaking thing. Thank you once again,

Best,
Abhi

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Hi Abhi,

You’re very welcome. We are here to help find answers and get guidance when you need it.

Customer care not knowing may not be helpful, but getting a confirmation of why is important. And it seems like appealing will help you uncover the exact reason so you can make changes in the meantime to make sure the appeal goes smoothly.

I believe you may be able to help your appeal by providing them with context:

  1. Documentation for the server change (and how it only migrated data)
  2. Documentation verifying no cloaking.
  3. For any inadvertent cloaking that may have occurred, and how your changes ensure it does not happen again.

Keep private what you need to keep private, of course. Let us know what happens. And if you have any other questions or need further help, let us know.

Thank you so much,
Tania

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Thank you Tania, this really helps.

This seems like the right approach.

I am going to provide a thorough documentation to Google.

Thanks again,

Abhi

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Hi Abhi,

We are always happy to help. Let us know how it goes.

Thank you for being part of our community,
Tania

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Hello folks,

thank you for all the help.

Google finally unsuspended us, when we applied the second time. While we tried to identify and work on all possible reasons, but the primary reason was the keeping the credit card and billing address same.

Thanks again,

Abhi.

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Hi Abhi,

The reason ended up being so simple, and it’s great you did your due diligence in case.

Whenever you have questions, need to be connected to someone, you’re always welcome.

Thank you so much,
Tania

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Hi Tania,

You’re right! It was a rules driven automated audit at their end and due diligence helped.

Thanks to you and all the members and team at CXL.

Best,
Abhi

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