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Ad copy or sitelinks rejected by Google

Google reviews every ad, and individual ads or sitelinks can be disapproved even when the campaign overall is approved. The first step is to read the disapproval reason, Google's reasons are specific, and the reason tells you exactly what to fix.

Where to see the disapproval reason​

  1. Open Google Ads.
  2. Find the campaign.
  3. Open its ads or assets tab.
  4. Disapproved items show a "Disapproved" status with a reason.

The reason text is the most important thing on the screen, match it to a section below.

Trademark in the headline or description​

Google's trademark policy limits using another company's trademark in ad text to the trademark owner, its authorized resellers, or informational sites about the trademark. A competitor's name in your headline or description sits outside those exceptions, and the trademark owner can file a complaint that triggers a disapproval, usually applied to your whole domain on an ongoing basis, not just one ad.

This catches comparison phrasing too. "Better than Salesforce," "Salesforce alternative," and "Switch from Salesforce" all use the Salesforce trademark and fall under the same rule even though they're framed as comparison. They often pass automated approval; the risk is the complaint that lands later.

If you ran the campaign through Hero Marketer's wizard with the Competitor type selected, the generated copy already avoids competitor names. If you're seeing this disapproval anyway, the trademarked term crept in through a manual edit or because the campaign was built as Branded or Non-branded with a competitor name in the seed, worth checking the campaign type you picked in the wizard.

To fix it:

  • Rewrite without the trademarked term. "Top alternative," "A faster legacy-CRM swap," and "Switch in minutes" carry comparative weight without naming the competitor.
  • Ask Google to authorize the trademark only if you genuinely have written permission from the owner (rare). See Google's trademark help for advertisers.
  • Keep bidding on the competitor's name as a keyword. That stays allowed. Only the ad text is the problem.

Misleading or unverifiable claims​

Claims like "Best CRM in the world," "Guaranteed to double your sales," or "10x faster than X" are disapproved unless you can substantiate them. To fix it, remove the claim, soften it ("Built for fast-moving teams" instead of "Fastest CRM"), or replace it with a specific that's verifiable ("Used by 5,000 teams," if true).

Unreachable or broken landing page​

Google checks that your landing page loads, doesn't redirect to an unrelated page, and matches the ad's promise. A page that's down, slow, or failing Google's quality checks gets the ad disapproved. To fix it, open the URL in an incognito window and confirm it loads, doesn't redirect to your homepage or an unrelated page, and matches the ad, an ad about "pricing" should land on a pricing page, not the homepage.

Excessive capitalization or punctuation​

ALL CAPS headlines and excessive punctuation ("Free!!! Sign up!!!") are disapproved. Rewrite in sentence case or title case with normal punctuation.

Health, finance, or other regulated claims​

If your product touches healthcare, finance, legal, or another regulated category, Google applies stricter rules, and specific claims (medical outcomes, financial returns, legal advice) need disclaimers or certification. Review Google's policy for your category, add the required disclaimers, or rewrite to avoid regulated claim language.

Restricted product or service​

Some categories are restricted outright (gambling, pharmaceuticals, weapons); others are limited to specific countries or require certification. Check Google's restricted products policies. If your product genuinely falls into a restricted category, certification may be required before ads can run.

How to fix a disapproved ad​

You have two paths, depending on whether you want a fresh ad or a small edit:

  • Ask Hero AI for a replacement ad. The Ad Copy Agent pulls your product context, the ad group's keywords, and your existing copy, then drafts new headlines and descriptions. Confirm to apply, and Hero AI creates the new ad in the target ad group. This is the fit when the disapproval is about trademark, a claim, or relevance and a rewrite is the fix.
  • Edit the existing ad in Google Ads when you want a small change rather than a new ad.

Either way, once the edit or new ad lands:

  1. The ad re-enters review automatically.
  2. Re-review usually finishes within hours, sometimes a day.
  3. Once approved, the ad starts serving.

Sitelinks are reviewed independently of the main ad, a disapproved sitelink stops showing but doesn't pause the campaign. Fix it in the assets section of Google Ads:

  1. Find the sitelink.
  2. Edit its text and destination URL.
  3. Save. Re-review starts automatically.

For sitelinks Hero Marketer generated, you can also rebuild them with different copy through the campaign or asset picker. See Add sitelinks.

How to appeal a disapproval you think is wrong​

Google sometimes flags ads incorrectly. To request a manual review:

  1. Open the disapproved ad in Google Ads.
  2. Click Appeal or Request review.
  3. Explain why you believe the disapproval is incorrect.
  4. Submit. Manual review takes 1 to 3 business days.

Manual review reverses incorrect disapprovals roughly half the time. It won't reverse a disapproval that is policy correct, for those, the rewrite above is the path.

Most or all of my ads were disapproved at once​

When nearly every ad comes back disapproved, the cause usually affects the whole account rather than one ad:

  • A landing page that's down.
  • A category Google doesn't allow ads in.
  • A suspension affecting the whole account and all its campaigns.

Check your account status in Google Ads first. If the account itself is suspended, resolve that with Google before troubleshooting individual ads.

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