AdWords Text Ad Policies

As part of a constant education on the details of paid search, today I am focusing on AdWords’ policies.

Google’s paid search advertising program is guided by 3 main categories of text ad policies: Editorial, Content, and Link.
Text ads describe the product or service of an advertiser and usually contain action-oriented copy to drive traffic to the website. Those 3 categories of policies guide advertisers to keep everyone level playing field.

Below I will break down some of the details of these 3 categories of policies

1.) Editorial
Editorial (and Format) policies handle the content of ads and keywords. Ad character limits and restrictive words are all monitored via the editorial policies. Editorial policies also manage the use of illegal punctuation and symbols.

2.) Content
Content policies monitor the restriction on products that are promoted. For example, Google does not allow promotion of certain weapons or gambling websites. These are enforced through the content polices.

3.) Link
Link polices make sure URL’s match all guidelines as defined by the terms and conditions. Destination URL’s, for example must link to a working website, not under construction, and not a redirected. Those are policed through the Link Policies.

These policies guide all ad creation and placement. Ads that do not meet the policies will be disapproved. For specific details on the policies within the categories mentioned above follow this link: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/static.py?hl=en&topic=23208&page=guidelines.cs&adtype=none&country=united_states