Episode 026: Cautionary Tale: Don't let your Google Ad account get shut down

00:00:56 [JACK]
How’s everyone doing? I’m Jack Ancovia, the PPC specialist here at Fat Cat Strategies. What are we talking about today, Janet?

00:01:04 [JANET]
Today, we’re sharing a bit of a cautionary tale, something we’ve encountered with some of our clients. I’m not sure if all our listeners know this, but online advertising platforms have detailed policies that we all have to follow. Today, we’ll be focusing on Google Ads. Just to clarify, these are the paid search ads that show up at the top of the search results page or at the top of your phone when you search for something—not organic SEO results. Google Ads operates under a strict set of terms and conditions. So, let’s say you’re a siding contractor running ads to connect with local homeowners—when you’re advertising on Google, you’re considered the advertiser and are required to follow their rules.

From our experience in the industry, if you violate Google’s rules, it’s not just that your ads might get paused. For serious enough violations, you could be completely banned from advertising on the platform. Google could even say, “Hey, not only are we stopping your ads now, but we’re not going to allow you to advertise with us ever again.” This episode is about raising awareness, especially for contractors who might not be familiar with these risks. Jack, could you go over some high-level reasons that might cause an advertiser’s account to get suspended?

00:02:58 [JACK]
Sure, Janet! Before we get into specifics, let’s cover some of the main reasons an ad account might be suspended. The most common reasons include: creating multiple ad accounts for the same company or website; misleading or deceptive content (often called cloaking); violating ad policies; circumventing systems; unacceptable business practices; phishing and malware; billing and payment issues; user safety and privacy violations; advertising restricted products or services; misuse of the ad network; and content violations.

00:03:38 [JANET]
That list probably sounds like we’re reading from a legal document, so let’s break down a few of the more common violations. The first one you mentioned, Jack, is “multiple ad accounts.” This is something we’ve encountered before—not something we’ve done, but clients have come to us after their ad accounts were shut down. They were understandably panicked. For instance, one of our clients was a high-volume home improvement company, generating a significant portion of their monthly leads through Google Ads. When their account was shut down, it was like turning off a faucet. Their sales reps were left idle with no appointments to run, no jobs to sell, and nothing to install.

So here’s what happened. This business owner, already working with one agency, went out and hired a second agency without notifying the first one. I get the logic—if one source is good, two might be better. Many of our listeners use multiple lead sources, like buying leads from QuinStreet, Modernize, or HomeAdvisor. So it seems reasonable to think that having two different agencies running two different ad accounts would maximize visibility on Google. But Google saw this as a violation. They had two websites, two ad accounts for the same business, and in one of those accounts, ads were going to both websites. Untangling this was complicated.

If you’re flagged for these kinds of policy violations, Google doesn’t tell you exactly what went wrong or how to fix it. They simply say, “You’ve violated our policy, and you need to fix it.” If you ask how, they won’t give specifics, likely to prevent bad actors from learning to sidestep the rules. This situation illustrates the risk of running multiple ad accounts, and it can really backfire. If you’re not careful, you could end up as a multi-million dollar company that can no longer advertise on Google. Jack, why don’t you go over some other issues?

00:07:36 [JACK]
Exactly. Besides the multiple ad accounts issue, another common reason for account suspension in the home services industry is billing and payment issues.

00:07:53 [JANET]
Could you break that down for us, Jack?

00:07:57 [JACK]
This usually involves outdated cards, canceled bank accounts, or failed payments. We’ve never seen issues with stolen credit cards, but we’ve definitely seen expired credit cards causing temporary issues.

00:08:22 [JACK]
Luckily, billing and payment issues are usually straightforward to resolve. You just need to update your payment information and confirm it with your Google rep.

00:08:45 [JANET]
What are some other issues you see, Jack? You listed a whole “top 10” list earlier. Are there any other violations home improvement contractors should be aware of?

00:09:03 [JACK]
Another subtle one is ad policy violations, especially with financing offers. Financial services are restricted within Google Ads, so certain language around financing can be flagged.

00:09:53 [JANET]
We mostly see this on Google, but Facebook has similar restrictions. If you use too specific demographic targeting, Meta’s policy may flag it as discriminatory.

00:10:21 [JACK]
Exactly. With Meta, they typically won’t suspend your account. Instead, they’ll just reject the ad itself.

00:10:54 [JANET]
Looking at another issue, let’s talk about phishing and malware. I don’t think anyone listening to this podcast would intentionally create a phishing scam, but if your site is compromised without your knowledge, your legitimate ads could lead to malware-infected pages.

00:11:31 [JACK]
Right. I’ve seen this with a few larger companies that experienced website security breaches. Fortunately, it never escalated to full infiltration, but it’s a serious concern and also ties into user safety and privacy.

00:12:01 [JANET]
What’s involved with that?

00:12:01 [JACK]
If you don’t properly protect your users’ personal information or use it in ways they didn’t approve, this could lead to account suspension—or worse, legal issues. Google itself has had multiple lawsuits over this, and many ad accounts were subpoenaed for data.

00:12:51 [JANET]
Wow. So, I’m looking through the list, and many of these issues aren’t common in home improvement, but it’s still worth knowing the rules and that violating them could get your account suspended.

00:13:50 [JACK]
The only other issue worth mentioning is deceptive content or “cloaking,” where different content is shown to search engines than to users. Dynamic landing pages, for example, can technically fall into this category.

00:14:58 [JANET]
I was wondering about that. Would Google consider it cloaking?

00:15:24 [JACK]
Technically, yes, but we’ve never had issues with using location-based dynamic landing pages, since Google allows it with specific ad parameters.

00:16:13 [JANET]
Let’s move on. If an ad account gets suspended, what should you do first?

00:16:32 [JACK]
First, resist the urge to create a new account. That will only make things worse.

00:16:48 [JANET]
Yes, don’t create a new account! That’s the one time we saw a client nearly get banned permanently from Google.

00:17:23 [JACK]
Instead, learn the appeals process. Make sure your appeal is thorough because Google isn’t typical customer service where reps will help you fix things.

00:17:50 [JANET]
You can’t expect to reach anyone by phone; they likely won’t help.

00:18:14 [JACK]
Right. Google’s support process happens through an online web form and email. It can take a week, sometimes up to a month, to hear back, depending on the issue.

00:19:05 [JANET]
We once had a client wait several months while trying to resolve their issue with another agency, and it still took us another month or so after we stepped in to finally fix it.

00:19:29 [JACK]
For complex cases, it could take up to a year. You submit your request, it goes to a pool of support reps, and if the appeal isn’t spot-on, it can get rejected. Then, you’re back at square one.

00:20:37 [JANET]
So, we’ve covered the basics. Hopefully, our listeners never encounter these issues, but if you do, we’ve given you some high