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How to Resolve a Google Ads Circumventing System Policy Suspension
It doesn’t get much worse as a marketer than seeing that your Google Ads account was suddenly suspended for “circumventing systems.” It’s one of the strictest penalties Google can impose on advertisers and can be extremely disruptive. This policy is designed to protect users from malicious and deceptive practices. Violations are taken extremely seriously, often resulting in immediate and sometimes permanent account suspension. While potentially devastating, with the right reaction, it is reversible. By carefully investigating and correcting the issue, many accounts can be reinstated. In this article, we will go over the steps businesses can take to appeal and fully resolve a Google Ads circumventing system policy suspension.
Get started with Media Blast today! With Media Blast, you can efficiently create and manage multiple Google Ads accounts without the typical restrictions and risks of suspension.
Table of Contents
What is a Google Ads Circumventing System Policy Suspension?
Google Ads Circumventing System Policy Suspension is aimed at preventing deceptive practices within its ad network. This policy targets behaviors that Google views as attempts to bypass or manipulate its systems, which could result in immediate account suspension without warning.
When an account is suspended for circumventing systems, Google has flagged it for engaging in practices like redirects, cloaking, or running multiple accounts with similar content. Here are the most common offenses:
- Redirects: One of the most common causes of suspension, redirects occur when the URL shown in the ad takes users to a different destination than expected. Even well-intentioned redirects, such as rebranding to a new domain, can trigger this if old URLs still exist in your ad account.
- Cloaking: This involves showing different content to Google’s review team than what actual users see. Cloaking is often used to hide non-compliant content from Google’s automated checks, but even minor changes in landing page content for certain audiences can mistakenly trigger this violation.
- Multiple Accounts with Similar Content: Creating multiple Google Ads accounts that promote the same or highly similar ads, products, or websites can also violate this policy. Businesses sometimes set up multiple accounts to appear in more ad slots on the same search page, but Google sees this as gaining an unfair advantage in its ad auction.
- Malicious or Compromised Websites: Google also checks for malicious code or unwanted software in your ads or on your landing pages. If a site appears compromised (e.g., contains malware or redirects users without consent), it poses a risk to users and leads to immediate account suspension.
Oftentimes, a circumventing system policy suspension can occur unintentionally. As a marketer, these specific triggers are essential to understand. Make sure you go over Google’s updated guidelines here.
Make sure you stay up to date and check out this article: [Updated] 11 reasons why your Google Ads account is suspended in 2024.
Google’s Updated Policy (July 2023)
In July 2023, Google introduced an update to its Circumventing Systems Policy, clarifying how it handles repeated or concurrent policy violations across multiple Google Ads accounts. This update addresses advertisers who manage several accounts, especially those who may unintentionally repeat policy violations across them. Google now explicitly prohibits simultaneous policy violations across any of your accounts, even if the issues are unrelated.
Key Policy Changes in July 2023:
- Simultaneous Violations Across Accounts
Google now views policy violations across multiple accounts as a coordinated effort to circumvent rules, even if the violations are not identical. For instance, if one account is flagged for malicious software while another has ads with misleading claims, Google may see this as a pattern of circumventing its policies. - Multiple Accounts with Related Content
Google’s updated policy explicitly warns against creating multiple accounts that serve similar ads or promote the same business. This practice can mislead users and unfairly dominate ad spaces, resulting in suspension for circumventing policies. - New Example Clarifications
The updated policy now includes examples that outline specific behaviors considered violations, such as creating a new account to post ads similar to those that were previously disapproved. Google’s update emphasizes that violations don’t need to be identical to trigger suspensions across multiple accounts.
How This Policy Update Affects Advertisers
For advertisers managing several accounts, this policy change means you’ll need to be vigilant about consistent compliance across all campaigns. Even if you operate different businesses under separate accounts, any patterns of non-compliance across them can lead to a blanket suspension.
Steps to Ensure Compliance with Updated Policy
- Regularly Audit All Accounts: Check each account for any issues that could result in a suspension, including ad content, links, and landing pages.
- Align Ad Content Across Accounts: Avoid having multiple accounts with ads that appear to circumvent policies through similar or duplicate content.
- Coordinate Account Management: Ensure that team members managing different accounts are informed of policy updates and compliance requirements to avoid inadvertent violations.
Google’s 2023 policy update reinforces the importance of managing all accounts with a high standard of compliance. Staying aware of these updates helps advertisers avoid suspensions that could impact multiple campaigns and business channels.
Steps to Resolve a Google Ads Circumventing System Policy Suspension
Facing a suspension for circumventing systems is frustrating, but a structured approach can increase your chances of resolving it. If you want professional assistance with this process, reach out to us at Adcore. We specialize in resolving Google Ads compliance issues and policy reinstatements. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you identify the root cause, fix issues, and appeal the suspension.
Step 1: Stop and Review
The first step is to pause all actions on your Google Ads account and avoid submitting an immediate appeal. Rushing can lead to an unsuccessful appeal if issues haven’t been thoroughly addressed. Instead, take time to carefully review the possible violations and understand what may have triggered the suspension.
Mistakes to Avoid: Avoid submitting multiple appeals or modifying ads without understanding the cause of the suspension. This can create a pattern of non-compliance and decrease your chances of successful reinstatement.
Step 2: Conduct a Policy Violation Audit
Perform an audit of your Google Ads account, ad campaigns, and website to identify any potential violations. This should include checking for redirects, ensuring ad content compliance, and verifying that site links and URLs align with policy requirements.
Here’s a checklist to help guide your audit:
Step 3: Fix All Detected Issues
Once you’ve identified the problems, take immediate corrective action to resolve each issue. Google’s systems will review the entire account and website during an appeal, so addressing only the main violation might not be enough. Ensure every aspect of your account is fully compliant.
- Redirects: Remove or update any redirects that violate Google’s policies.
- Content Alignment: Ensure all content and links align consistently with your primary domain.
- Security Measures: If malware or malicious code is detected, work with a developer to remove it, and consider implementing stronger security protocols to prevent future issues.
Click here to learn How to Fix A Google Ads ‘Suspicious Payments’ Issue.
If at any point you need help to resolve your suspension, reach out to us, this is our specialty.
In the meantime, check out Media Blast. With this app, you can bypass your Google Ads suspension, allowing you to continue advertising while you work on resolving the issue!
Conclusion
As crippling as getting a circumventing system policy suspension can feel, it’s not unresolvable. In most cases, it is the product of a simple misunderstanding that can be taken care of amicably. Make sure to listen to Google’s feedback carefully and engage with them calmly. You want them on your side to resolve this issue sooner rather than later. The policy is in place for good reason, to protect against dishonest advertising practices.
While you wait for the suspension to be lifted, sign up for Media Blast. Media blast is a tool that allows you to set up ads, without a Google Ads account. This is perfect for people who are dealing with suspensions to their Google Ads accounts.
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