Write the ad in normal capitals with no exclamation mark in the headline, move the phone number to a call extension, replace unsupported claims with facts the page shows, and match the display address to the landing page.

Written like the flyer

A plumbing company writes its first AdWords ad the way it writes its flyers: FREE in capitals, an exclamation mark after the headline, and the phone number in the second line.

The next morning the ad's status reads Disapproved, and nothing is showing. Nobody said anything untrue; the ad simply broke the editorial rules AdWords applies to every ad.

Those rules are mostly about how an ad looks on the results page, and the habits that work on a flyer trip most of them.

Why every ad is reviewed

AdWords checks each new or edited ad against its policies, usually within a day. Some checks cover what may be advertised; the editorial ones cover how the text is written.

The editorial rules keep the results page readable, so that every ad sits comfortably beside the others. An ad that shouts in capitals or punctuation is refused before anyone sees it.

A disapproved ad does not run at all. A campaign whose only ad is refused spends nothing and shows nothing until someone fixes it.

The rules small advertisers trip over

AdWords publishes its editorial rules in full. These are the ones a first ad is most likely to meet:

Capitals and punctuation are the usual first stumble, because flyers use both freely. Each is an easy fix once the ad is read with the rules in mind.

Where the phone number belongs

A call extension shows the business's number with the ad, outside the ad text. On phones it appears as a button that dials the number with one tap.

It is added once for a campaign, and it can be scheduled to show only during office hours, so the button is gone when nobody can answer.

The ad text is then free for what it does best: the service, the place and one clear reason to click.

Claims need a page behind them

Best, fastest, lowest price and number one are claims. AdWords expects the page behind the ad to support them, usually with something a visitor can check, such as recognition from a named third party.

Most small businesses have no such proof, and do not need it. A specific fact, such as free pickup within the city, says more than best and needs nothing behind it except being true.

Whatever the ad promises should appear on the page it leads to, in the same words. A visitor who clicks for free pickup and cannot find it leaves.

The display address

The display address is the web address shown in the ad. Its domain must match the domain of the page the ad leads to, though the part after the domain can describe the page.

Trouble comes from a second domain the business owns that forwards to the main site, a typing mistake, or an old domain left over from a change of name.

Check it by opening the ad's destination in a browser and comparing the domain in the address bar with the one the ad displays.

Writing for the space an ad allows

A text ad has a headline of 25 characters, two description lines of 35 each, and a display address. A flyer's layout and emphasis do not survive that space.

Put the service and the place in the headline, and the offer and one reason to choose you in the lines below. Words matching the search show in bold, doing the job capitals were meant to do.

A worked example

A document scanning service in an industrial park scans boxes of old files and drawings for offices, and collects the boxes from clients across the region.

The owner wrote a first ad from the company's flyer: FREE PICKUP in capitals, an exclamation mark in the headline, the office number in the second line, and fastest scanning in the region.

The display address used a short second domain that forwards to the main site. The ad came back disapproved, with reasons for the capitals, the punctuation, the phone number and the display address.

The new ad uses ordinary capitals, with free pickup as a plain phrase and no exclamation mark. The number moved to a call extension shown during office hours.

The display address now uses the main domain, and fastest became pickup within two working days, a promise the pickup page states plainly. Each change answers a rule the reviewer checks.

Reading a disapproval

In the Ads tab, the status column shows Disapproved, and the details beside it name the policy concerned, with a link to the rule. The account also receives an email.

Fix every reason listed, not just the first, and save. An edited ad goes back into review as a new version, and the old one stays on record with its clicks.

Approved (limited) means the ad runs, but not everywhere or not for everyone. The reason is shown in the same place.

The counter-case

Some capitals are allowed. Abbreviations, and a business name genuinely written in capitals, can stay, and AdWords will consider a request for an exception.

And an ad that passes review is not necessarily a good ad. Approval says only that the text follows the rules, not that it tells a searcher anything useful.

Neither point argues for writing like a flyer. Both argue for reading the rules once, then writing for the person searching.

Before the ad goes back in

  1. Read every reason listed beside the status.
  2. Use ordinary capitals, keeping full capitals for abbreviations.
  3. Remove the exclamation mark from the headline.
  4. Move the phone number into a call extension.
  5. Replace claims with facts the page supports.
  6. Match the display address to the landing page's domain.
  7. Check that the landing page repeats the ad's promise.

Step four does more than satisfy a rule. A call extension puts the number where a searcher on a phone can tap it, which a number typed into the ad never could.

Why an ad's promise has to match the page it leads to, now that ads look so much like results, is covered in ads in Google's results now carry a small yellow label.

Frequently asked questions

Why was our AdWords ad disapproved?

Usually for editorial reasons: words in full capitals, an exclamation mark in the headline, a phone number in the text, unsupported claims, or a display address that does not match.

Can we write FREE in capitals?

Not as a whole word in capitals. Write it with an ordinary capital letter. Full capitals are kept for abbreviations and names genuinely written that way.

Where does the phone number belong instead?

In a call extension. It shows the number with the ad, appears as a tap-to-call button on phones, and can be scheduled for office hours.

Can the ad say we are the best?

Only if the page behind it supports the claim with something a visitor can check. A specific, true fact usually serves better and needs no proof.

What does the display address have to match?

The domain of the page the ad leads to. A second domain that forwards to the site, or a typing mistake, is enough to have the ad refused.

What happens after we fix a disapproved ad?

Saving the change sends the ad back into review, usually within a day. Fix every reason listed at once, so the ad is not refused again.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

An ad sitting at Disapproved?

Send us the ad text and the reasons AdWords gave, and we will rewrite it to follow the rules and still read well.

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