The manual way comes first, in Google Ads itself. Then the same problem as Goldbeater finds it, every day, without anyone asking.
Google disapproves an ad whose landing page doesn’t work.
Google’s destination policy asks that the page a click lands on is functional, useful and easy to navigate. An ad or asset is disapproved as Destination not working when its page fails, and Google’s policy names the ways it can:
- An HTTP error, such as 403 Forbidden, 404 Not Found or 500 Internal Server Error.
- A domain that doesn’t resolve, a private IP address, a malformed response or a page that times out.
- A redirect loop, or a redirect URL that’s empty, malformed or too long.
- A page that needs a login, or one that says it’s under construction or reached in error.
Google checks with its own crawler, AdsBot, and asks that your page returns HTTP 200 to it from everywhere. That’s why a page can work in your browser and still be disapproved: a firewall, a country block or a bot filter can answer AdsBot differently.
A redirect is its own policy. A final URL that redirects to a different domain is disapproved as Destination mismatch, since the ad no longer says where the click goes. Both are parts of Google’s Destination requirements policy, and Google says it warns at least 7 days before it would suspend an account under it. A page that loads and was hacked is disapproved under another policy, which the compromised site guide covers.
How to find the pages that fail
Start with what Google has already disapproved.
- Go to Campaigns › Ads, and to Assets for sitelinks.
- Hover over a Disapproved status in the Status column to see the policy.
- For the whole list, select the columns icon, open Attributes, tick Policy details and select Apply.
Then check the pages before Google does. A page that breaks after its ad was approved can go on taking clicks until the next review.
- Go to Campaigns › Insights and reports › Landing pages. Each row is a final URL that took clicks.
- Open each one in Chrome with the developer tools open. In Network conditions, untick Use browser default under User agent and enter AdsBot’s, “AdsBot-Google (+http://www.google.com/adsbot.html)”.
- Reload, and read the Status of the first request in the Network tab: 200 is what Google wants. A 301 or 302 means the page redirects; the address bar shows where to.
| Landing page | Clicks | What it answered AdsBot |
|---|---|---|
| example.com/sofas/linen-3-seat | 62 | 404 Not Found |
| example.com/beds/oak-frame | 40 | 301 to /beds/oak-bed-frame |
| example.com/rugs/wool | 118 | 200 OK |
The report lists the pages that took clicks. A sitelink or a keyword with its own final URL can send clicks to a page no ad names, so check theirs too.
Fix the page or the address, and the ad is reviewed again
A page that’s gone. If it moved, redirect the old address to the new one on your site: that fixes every ad, keyword and sitelink that names it at once. If it’s gone for good, point the ads at a live page.
A page that works for you and not for AdsBot. Let AdsBot through whatever blocks it. AdsBot ignores the rules robots.txt gives every crawler (User-agent: *), so only a rule naming AdsBot-Google keeps it out.
A page that redirects. To another domain of yours, change the final URL to the page it ends at, or Google disapproves it as Destination mismatch. To a site you don’t know, change nothing yet: the compromised site guide says what to check first. Within your own site, the ad still works, but every click makes a round trip to the old address first; change the final URL to the new one.
Then have it reviewed again. Editing the ad and selecting Save sends it for review. If you fixed the page rather than the ad, appeal the disapproval from its status so Google looks again. The disapproved ads guide has an appeal’s steps, its limits and how to track one.
What it looks like when Goldbeater finds it
Every day Goldbeater opens every page your enabled ads, keywords, Performance Max asset groups, sitelinks, promotions and price assets name, whether or not it took a click, and the pages Google chose itself that took clicks that week. It asks as a visitor would, and asks a failing page again before counting it. A page that answers 404, 410, a server error, an unresolved domain or a refused certificate both times is raised; one that blocked the request or timed out isn’t, since that can be the site turning Goldbeater away rather than a broken page. It marks the finding high from $200 of clicks in 30 days, medium with any click.
example.com/sofas/linen-3-seat answers 404, page not found; $148 of clicks went to it in 30 days
Sofas — Phrase › Linen sofas
Goldbeater asked twice for https://example.com/sofas/linen-3-seat, the final URL of 2 ads, and it answered 404 both times.
- Spend
- $148
- Clicks
- 62
- Ads naming it
- 2
| Sofas — Phrase › Linen sofas | 2 ads | 62 | $148 |
A page your ads, keywords, asset groups, sitelinks, promotions or price assets send clicks to, or one Google chose for a search itself, that answered with an error when Goldbeater opened it, and again when it asked a second time: page not found, a server error, a domain that doesn't resolve, or a certificate browsers refuse. So does a page that loads but whose title or heading says it wasn't found, or that sends a visitor to the home page instead, and an app asset whose store has no such app. Every click to it is billed, and the visitor meets the error instead of the page.
Open https://example.com/sofas/linen-3-seat in a browser. If the page moved, redirect the old address to the new one on your site, which fixes everything that sends clicks to it at once; if it's gone for good, point the 2 ads at a live page.
The steps under What to do are the fix. Goldbeater drafts no change for this one.
This is “Ads sending clicks to a page that doesn't load” on a sample account. See what it finds in your own account and what the fix is worth, and ask your AI analyst about any finding.
Get a free first lookIt raises a final URL that redirects to another domain whatever the status, and one within your site where every step answered a permanent redirect (301 or 308). A change of only https, www, a trailing slash or the query isn’t raised. Where every step was permanent and each ad, keyword or asset naming the page can be edited, it drafts changing the final URL to where the page went, with your own query and tracking kept. Where the page went to a site none of your other ads lands on, it offers that change without recommending it, and says to make sure the site is yours first: a redirect someone else put on your site answers the same way. A redirect can also drop the click ID Google adds to the address, and the GCLID guide has the test for one that does.
example.com/beds/oak-frame redirects to example.com/beds/oak-bed-frame; $96 of clicks went to it in 30 days
Beds — Phrase › Oak beds
Goldbeater asked once for https://example.com/beds/oak-frame, the final URL of 1 ad, and it answered 301, moved permanently, ending at https://example.com/beds/oak-bed-frame.
- Spend
- $96
- Clicks
- 40
| Beds — Phrase › Oak beds | 1 ad | 40 | $96 |
A final URL of an ad, keyword, asset group, sitelink, promotion or price asset that redirects to another page when Goldbeater opens it: to another site, which Google's destination requirements disapprove, or within your site to a page that moved for good. Every click makes a round trip to the old address first, and the ad names a page the site no longer serves.
The site moved this page for good. Change the final URL of the ad to https://example.com/beds/oak-bed-frame, the change below.
- Change the final URLThe ad "Solid Oak Bed Frames | Cedar & Pine Interiors" in Beds — Phrase › Oak bedshttps://example.com/beds/oak-framehttps://example.com/beds/oak-bed-frame
It reaches your account when you approve it in the change set and press Apply. An applied change can be undone.
This is “Ads sending clicks to an address that redirects” on a sample account. See what it finds in your own account and what the fix is worth, and ask your AI analyst about any finding.
Get a free first lookThe same reading of each page finds one more thing: a page that loads but carries no Google tag, where the rest of your site’s pages do, raised as a finding of its own so its conversions aren’t lost. The landing page guide covers the tag, and what else to check on a page that loads.
Questions
- Why was my ad disapproved when the page works?
- Google checks with AdsBot, not your browser, and wants HTTP 200 from everywhere. A firewall, a bot filter, a country block or a login can answer AdsBot with an error. Open the page with AdsBot’s user agent to see what it sees.
- Does a redirect get an ad disapproved?
- A final URL that redirects to a different domain is disapproved as Destination mismatch. A redirect within your own site isn’t a policy problem, but changing the final URL to where it ends saves every click a round trip.
- Does robots.txt stop AdsBot?
- Only a rule that names AdsBot-Google. AdsBot ignores the rules for every crawler (User-agent: *).
- How do I get a disapproved ad reviewed again?
- Edit the ad and select Save, which sends it for review. If you fixed the page instead, appeal the disapproval from the ad’s status.