For unacceptable business practices and for coordinated deceptive practices, Help states that Google Ads accounts are suspended upon detection of a violation, without prior warning. Both subcategories fall under the Misrepresentation policy.
The account is down, ads aren't showing and the notice has one sentence about a policy violation. It doesn't tell you where on your website to start looking.
So I'll separate what the policy says in Google Ads and what it says in Merchant Center. Then we'll go through the categories you can use to check your website.
Misrepresentation in Google Ads
Google Ads Help lists ten subcategories under the Misrepresentation policy: unacceptable business practices, coordinated deceptive practices, misleading representation, dishonest pricing practices, clickbait ads, misleading ad design, manipulated media, unreliable claims, unclear relevance and unavailable offers. Coordinated deceptive practices, meaning concealing or misrepresenting your identity, have their own Help page.
For unacceptable business practices and coordinated deceptive practices, Help describes the consequence in one sentence: "If we find violations of these policies, your Google Ads accounts will be suspended upon detection and without prior warning, and you will not be allowed to advertise with us again." The sentence talks about suspending the account, not disapproving one ad. And it talks about Google Ads accounts in the plural. For the remaining eight subcategories, Help doesn't include this sentence.
Misrepresentation in Merchant Center
Merchant Center has its own policy with the same name. On reinstating accounts under it, Help says accounts are reinstated only in compelling cases backed by honest and accurate arguments, and only when there is good cause to reinstate. According to the same page, an account review usually takes seven business days, and more complex reviews can take longer. Seven business days apply to an account review, not to the disapproval of a single product in the feed.
A different situation arises when a single product is disapproved in the feed; I cover disapproval of a single product separately. Help doesn't give a percentage of disapproved products that triggers account-level action.
| What you're dealing with | Google Ads | Merchant Center |
|---|---|---|
| Policy name | Misrepresentation | Misrepresentation |
| What Help says | for two subcategories, Google Ads accounts suspended upon detection | account reinstated only in compelling cases with honest arguments |
| Deadline from Help | at least 6 months to file an appeal | account review usually seven business days, longer for complex ones |
Suspension and appeal according to Help
Only one number on appeals has a source. Help on account suspensions gives advertisers at least 6 months from the date of suspension to file an appeal. That is a filing deadline. The sentence doesn't promise any processing time.
Half a year sounds like plenty of time. Meanwhile, the account is down from day one.
So you do have room to fix your website. Go through your website using the table a little further down, and for every change write down the date and the page URL. Send the appeal only once the fix is done. Don't create a new account instead of appealing; Help itself names it among the accounts that may be suspended.
Timeline
From suspension to appeal
Day of suspension
The account is down
Ads stop showing from day one. The appeal deadline runs from this date.During the deadline
Website fixes
For every change, write down the date and the page URL. Don't create a new account instead of appealing.Any time before the deadline ends (at least 6 months)
Appeal with the fix done
You have at least 6 months from the date of suspension to file an appeal.No deadline given
Appeal processing
Help doesn't promise a processing time.
What to check on your website
For each subcategory, Help lists the prohibited practices, and for misleading ad design it gives examples too. So I build the check around the category names from Help. I picked six of the ten for the table, the ones where the check leads to your own website. The left column is Google's wording, the right one is my checklist.
| Category in Help | What to check on your website |
|---|---|
| Unacceptable business practices | Your website makes clear what you sell and on what terms |
| Dishonest pricing practices | The price on the product page against the amount in the last checkout step, including packaging and cash-on-delivery fees |
| Misleading ad design | Buttons, forms and pop-ups lead where their labels say they lead |
| Manipulated media | Photos and videos show the product the way the customer receives it |
| Unavailable offers | The advertised product can be bought at the advertised price and in the condition it's offered in |
| Coordinated deceptive practices | The operator of the e-commerce store can be found on the website and matches the details in the account |
The price check is the fastest. Put your best-selling product in the cart and click through checkout to the last step. The amount on the product page and the amount before confirmation must match. Count packaging and cash-on-delivery fees in too.
The last row of the table is about identity. Open your website through the eyes of someone who doesn't know you: can they find the operator of the e-commerce store, and do the operator's details match what you have in your Google Ads account? If finding the operator takes a long time, say more than a minute, start here.
For media and design, it's about matching what the customer eventually receives. Go through the photos for products sold in multiple variants. The image must match the variant the customer puts in the cart. Then try placing an order on mobile: a button should lead where its label promises.
Do the stock check on the products that spend the most in your campaigns. Pick, say, ten of them; with a small catalog, all of them. For each one, verify it can be ordered in the condition you advertise it in. Watch out especially for clearance items and slow movers.
You read your own website as its author and you'll miss some things. So have someone from outside go through it too, for example as an independent PPC audit.
Add prevention to the check. Monitor product status in Merchant Center continuously. I describe the process and the script in the piece on daily monitoring of disapproved products; the monitor is public on GitHub. It won't predict account-level action for you. It will show you what's disapproved in your catalog.
Summary
- Misrepresentation is a policy in both Google Ads and Merchant Center. Each has its own policy under this name.
- For two subcategories, Help doesn't promise a warning in advance. For unacceptable business practices and coordinated deceptive practices, it describes Google Ads accounts being suspended the moment Google detects the violation.
- Creating another account doesn't pay off. Help on suspensions names the advertiser's new accounts too.
- You have at least 6 months to file an appeal from the date of suspension. This deadline says nothing about processing time.
- Seven business days is what Merchant Center Help gives as the usual time for an account review; for more complex reviews, expect longer.
- Run the website check by the categories Help names, and monitor disapproved products in your catalog continuously.
The policy asks one thing: whether a customer can verify on your website what they're buying and from whom.
Go through the six categories from the table today and for each one write down what you changed and when. Repeat the same check in, say, three months.
