How do I fix or appeal a disapproved ad in Google Ads Policy manager?

Eligible isn’t final: Google says additional policy reviews may take place once an ad is approved, so a status can change with no edit of yours.

An ad’s status reaches its ad group. Google marks an ad group Eligible (Limited) when most of its ads are disapproved, and Not Eligible when all of them are, so an ad group whose only ad is disapproved shows nothing.

Google defines it as “a status given to ads and products that comply with our policies but are limited in where and when they can show.” Policies such as Alcohol, Gambling, Healthcare and Trademarks keep some ads from showing in certain locations, to certain ages or on certain devices. The same words mean something else at other levels of an account, and only some are about policy:

A campaign limited by its budget wants the limited by budget guide. For an ad or asset limited by policy, Google’s pages give four cases:

• The label is wrong. Appeal. Google’s example is an ad labeled for Healthcare and medicines that isn’t for a product that policy governs.
• The policy asks you to apply. Some restricted products can be advertised only once Google approves your application. The ad then serves as Eligible (limited), and in Google’s example reads Disapproved until then.
• The label is right, and limits nothing you need. Leave it. An ad labeled for a policy that doesn’t apply where it targets serves as normal, and Google says policy restrictions are permanent.
• Eligible (limited all locations). The ad can’t run where you target. Fix it to meet the policy there, or target locations the policy allows.

Review starts by itself when you create or edit an ad or asset, and covers the headline, description, keywords, destination and any images and video. Google says most ads are reviewed within one business day.

• Slower formats. Standard reviews for Demand Gen campaigns can take 3 to 5 business days, and some complex formats up to 7. For Performance Max, Google gives 1 to 2.
• After a fix. Google’s policy pages say an edited ad or asset is re-reviewed automatically, typically within 24 to 48 hours.
• Don’t edit during review. Google warns that changing budgets, bid strategies or ad text resets the review clock, and a modified Performance Max asset group doesn’t serve until it has been re-reviewed.
• When it’s stuck. After 2 full business days, check the ad’s status, and that its campaign and ad group are enabled. After 7, Google suggests one minor edit to put it back in the queue, and after more than a week, contacting support.

Google sorts its advertising policies into four areas: prohibited content, prohibited practices, restricted content and features, and editorial and technical requirements. These are the ones an ordinary account meets:

• Editorial. The wording itself: capitalization, punctuation and symbols, repetition, spacing, style and spelling, and a phone number in ad text. Google’s examples are “flowers!!” and gimmicky words such as “FREE” and “f-r-e-e”. A brand name written that way on your site can be approved after a review.
• Destination requirements. The page, not the ad: Destination not working, Destination mismatch, Destination not crawlable and more. The destination not working guide covers those.
• Misrepresentation. Under Unavailable offers, Google doesn’t allow promising products, services or promotional offers that “are unavailable or aren’t easily found from the destination.”
• Restricted content. Alcohol, gambling, healthcare, financial products and other areas Google allows on a limited basis: their ads may not show to every user in every location, and you may have to meet additional requirements first.
• Trademarks. Someone else’s brand in your ad’s words, which the next section covers.

Trademarks in ad text is the reason on an ad or asset that uses someone else’s trademark. Google applies the policy only once the trademark’s owner has submitted a valid complaint, and accepts complaints only against specific advertisers, identified by their URLs.

Google doesn’t restrict a trademark used as a keyword, and leaves a reseller’s ad alone where its landing page is dedicated to selling the trademarked product, shows prices, and is clear that you’re a reseller. The trademarks guide has what Google restricts, each exception’s conditions, the appeal, and how a trademark’s owner files a complaint.

Edit when the ad or asset is what breaks the policy. Go to Campaigns › Ads or Assets, hover over it, select Edit, change it to meet the policy and select Save. Google reviews it again automatically.

Appeal in the two cases Google’s page names: you believe the first review was an error, or you have fixed the ad and its destination, as when the page changed and the ad didn’t.

1. 01Go to Tools › Troubleshooting › Policy manager and open the Policy issues tab.
2. 02Select Appeal on the affected ad.
3. 03Under Reason for appealing, select Dispute decision or Made changes to comply with policy, then Submit.

You can appeal from the Ads page too: tick the disapproved ads, select Edit, then Appeal policy decision. Where no Appeal link shows on a status, Google says to make and save a minor edit to each ad, which triggers a review. Google sets limits:

• Three appeals an ad. After three that fail, you can’t appeal that ad again until you contact support.
• 24 hours apart. Appeal the same ads again sooner, and the appeal is marked a duplicate.
• Within 6 months. Since July 21, 2026, a decision made more than 6 months earlier can’t be appealed from the account: Google sends you to support.
• A failed appeal after a real fix. Don’t submit it again. Google says to make a minor edit to the ad’s text or final URL and save it, which forces a new crawl.

Track an appeal on Policy manager’s Appeal history tab. Its Status reads In progress, Review complete or Not reviewed, and Results says how it ended: Successful, Partially successful, Failed or Duplicate among them.

• Marram Loom Wool Rugs. Marram Loom makes the rugs Cedar & Pine sells, so this is a reseller’s ad. But the wool rugs page doesn’t say whose rugs they are, so it isn’t clear that Cedar & Pine is a reseller. The quick way out is a headline without the name. To keep the name, make the page say so first, then appeal.
• Linen sofas. Its page answers 404, so there’s nothing to dispute. Point the sitelink at a page that loads and save it.
• Free delivery on everything. Delivery is free on every order, and the page the asset group sends people to never says so. Cedar & Pine states the offer on the page, leaves the headline alone, and appeals with Made changes to comply with policy.

At first a disapproval costs you that ad’s impressions and nothing more. Google’s advice on an ad you can’t or won’t fix is to remove it, “to help prevent your account from becoming suspended in the future for repeated policy violations.”

• These policies warn first. The pages for Editorial, Destination requirements, Trademarks and Unavailable offers each say a warning comes at least 7 days before any suspension.
• Some carry strikes. For a list of policies that includes Clickbait, Misleading ad design and Personal loans, Google counts repeat violations: a warning, then account holds of 3 and 7 days at the first and second strikes, and suspension at the third.
• Egregious violations skip the warning. Google suspends the account at once.

A suspension is the account’s, not an ad’s: Google says all ads in a suspended account stop running, and it has an appeal of its own.

Every day Goldbeater reads Google’s verdict on each enabled ad, on every headline and description of your responsive search ads, on each keyword, and on each asset linked to your account, campaigns, ad groups and Performance Max asset groups, with the policy Google names and any words it points at.

It raises an ad Google disapproved, high. An ad a policy keeps out of every place its campaign targets is high too, and one allowed only outside them is medium. An ad that serves with limits is low, and its finding says which of three things the policy calls for: a review, a certification, or nothing. A responsive search ad’s own headline or description that Google disapproved is medium, raised once however many ad groups the ad runs in.

That is the table’s first row. Goldbeater drafts the change and leaves the words to you, in a field that counts the 30 characters and refuses the words Google named, here Marram Loom. Goldbeater’s AI agent suggests up to three replacements to start from, and you edit one before you approve it. The one shown is the kind a person writes. The ad keeps its 9 headlines.

The same run raises the other two rows, and a fourth check reads keywords:

• The sitelink "Linen sofas" is disapproved: destination not working. Medium, since its campaign carries spend. A disapproved sitelink, callout, image, business name or logo gets one finding, listing every campaign and ad group it’s linked to. Its advice goes by the policy, and no change is drafted.
• The headline "Free delivery on everything" is disapproved. Low, since Living room keeps 14 other headlines, and high where a disapproval leaves a serving asset group under Google’s minimum. For a disapproved headline or description Goldbeater recommends the same replacement, and offers removing it where the group has others to spare. An image or a video is drafted for removal, and its replacement is uploaded in Google Ads.
• Keywords. A keyword Google’s review disapproved or limited, with the policies Google gave: high where it converted in the last 30 days, medium where disapproved, low where limited. The fix is the keyword’s words or its page, so this one is advice.

An ad or asset still under review has no verdict, and isn’t raised. An ad Google flagged only for its landing page belongs to a check about where ads send clicks, which the destination guide covers. An appeal is filed in Google Ads, and where one is the answer, the finding says so. The audit checklist has each of these with where to find it by hand.

Where is Policy manager in Google Ads?

Under Tools, then Troubleshooting. Its Policy issues tab holds the affected ads, each with Appeal beside it, and its Appeal history tab holds every appeal with its status and result.

How long does Google Ads take to approve an ad?

Google says most ads are reviewed within one business day. Standard reviews for Demand Gen campaigns can take 3 to 5 business days, and some complex formats up to 7. Editing an ad while it’s under review resets the clock.

What does Eligible (limited) mean in Google Ads?

On an ad, that it runs but not in all situations, because a policy limits where and when it can show. On a campaign, Google’s status page gives budget or a limited bid strategy, and on a keyword a low bid, low search volume or a low Quality Score.

How many times can I appeal a disapproved ad?

Three. After three unsuccessful appeals you can’t appeal that ad again until you contact support. Wait at least 24 hours between appeals of the same ads, or the new one is marked a duplicate.

Can I use another company’s trademark in my Google ad?

As a keyword, yes: Google doesn’t restrict trademarks used as keywords. In the ad’s text, Google may restrict it once the owner complains, and does for a direct competitor’s ad. A reseller can use it where the landing page is dedicated to selling the trademarked product, shows prices, and is clear that you’re a reseller.

Will a disapproved ad get my account suspended?

Not by itself. Google’s pages for editorial, destination and trademark policies say a warning comes at least 7 days before any suspension. Repeat violations of some policies bring strikes, and Google suspends at once only for violations it calls egregious.