How to fix a suspended Google Ads account

Google suspends accounts for different reasons, and each one has a different fix, so read the notification at the top of the account before changing anything. Billing and payment suspensions cover unpaid balances or declined payments, suspicious or unauthorized payment activity, chargebacks against a legitimate Google Ads balance, and promotional code abuse. Policy suspensions come from repeat violations under the strike system or from an egregious violation such as circumventing systems or unacceptable business practices. Google can also temporarily suspend an account when it detects an unauthorized user trying to get in.

Egregious violations lead to suspension on detection, without a warning. Other policies, such as unreliable claims, are handled with disapprovals first, and Google gives at least 7 days' notice before suspending for them. Knowing which path you are on tells you whether this is a payment problem, a policy problem, or a security problem.

The instinct is to create a fresh account and keep ads running. Google's circumventing systems policy names exactly this: creating new accounts to re-enter the system after enforcement. It also names using multiple payment methods across accounts to evade enforcement, and cloaking, which shows Google different content from what users see. Each of these is itself an egregious violation.

Google states that new accounts the advertiser tries to create may also be suspended, and that accounts related to the suspended one may be suspended as well. A second account does not buy time. It turns a fixable suspension into one that is much harder to reverse, so stop and fix the original account instead.

For an unpaid balance or declined payment, pay the balance and verify the payment method. For a chargeback, contact your bank to withdraw the chargeback request before you appeal. For suspicious payment activity, pay only with a valid method you own or are authorised to use, complete advertiser and payment verification if Google asks, and be ready to explain who owns the card and why any payments were declined. For promotional code abuse, use one code per account and never resell codes.

For a policy suspension, remove the cause from the ads and the website, not only from the ads. Unacceptable business practices covers hiding or misrepresenting information about your business, products or services, such as a false affiliation with a brand or organisation, offering products you cannot deliver, or misrepresenting health or safety services. Misleading representation covers an inaccurate business name or obscured identity.

Health, supplement, men's health, sexual wellness and skincare brands are more exposed here. A product page that implies a medical outcome, an endorsement that does not exist, or business details that do not match across the site and the account can all read as misrepresentation. Supplement ads also sit under Unapproved substances, which is one of the policies the strike system applies to, so repeated disapprovals there can build into a suspension. Audit every landing page, claim and testimonial before you appeal.

Select Contact Us in the suspension notification at the top of the account. It opens the appeal form along with the policy information for your suspension. Some advertisers must complete advertiser verification before they can appeal, and Google allows 3 verification attempts. Every advertiser has at least 6 months from the suspension date to appeal, so there is no reason to file before the fix is finished.

Google asks for explanations that are thorough, accurate and honest, plus supporting documents. State what caused the suspension, what you changed, and attach the proof: payment receipts or card ownership details for billing cases, and for policy cases the corrected pages, contracts, licences or partnership documents that back up your business claims. Google reinstates accounts only in compelling circumstances, such as a mistake, so one complete appeal is worth far more than several thin ones.

All ads in the suspended account stop running, but you can still view the account and its reports. Use that access to pull performance data and conversion history for your records.

Merchant Center is not automatically safe. If the suspended Ads account is linked to your Merchant Center account, Merchant Center can show a linked account suspension, which falls under the free listings policies. Google says the Ads suspension has to be fixed before the Merchant Center suspension can be reviewed, and unlinking the Ads account does not resolve it. Your website, email list and other ad platforms such as Meta run under their own rules, so keep them going, but make sure they do not carry the same claim that triggered the Google suspension.

Billing hygiene: one valid payment method that the business owns, no stacking of promotional codes, and billing disputes raised with Google rather than as chargebacks. Avoid suddenly adding several new cards, which Google lists as a suspicious payment pattern.

Landing-page claims: review every ad and page against Google's policies before launch, especially health, supplement and before-and-after content, and keep testimonials honest with clear disclaimers. Business details: keep the business name, address, contact information and policies consistent across the website, Google Ads, Merchant Center and verification documents. Treat every disapproval and strike warning as an early signal, not noise.