What is Evasive Ad Content Policy — Google Ads update you Should Know
For its Google Ads website, Google has a new content strategy called “Evasive Ad Content.”
This means that they now expressly prohibit:
- Trademark word manipulation in ad text.
- The use of UNICODE characters in advertisements that are not visible
- Picture or video manipulations to conceal policy-violating content
Of course, they’ve always been critical of this, but now they’re enshrining it in their official rules, just in case anyone needs to be reminded. (And it seems that some people do. It becomes effective on May 4th,2021.
You’ll get an alert, just as with any other Google Ads policies, at least 7 days until your account is suspended. This is in sharp contrast to Facebook’s ad policies, which would suspend your entire Ad Account for any reason. Such instances are as follows:
- You used a vowel in your sentence.
- Or there was a hat in that shot.
- You should be ashamed of yourself.
The Digital Marketing Services and Social Media Posts must avoid these evasive contents. The below are the listed prohibited and evasive contents to be avoided.
Prohibited content
- Counterfeit goods
The selling or promotion of counterfeit products is prohibited on Google Ads. Counterfeit products have a trademark or emblem that is almost identical to or indistinguishable from another’s trademark. They try to pass themselves off as a real product of the brand owner by imitating the product’s brand features.
- Dangerous products or services
We don’t allow the promotion of any products or services that cause damage, harm, or injury because we want to keep people safe both online and offline.
Dangerous material examples include: Weapons, ammunition, explosive materials, and fireworks; instructions for producing explosives or other harmful products; tobacco products; recreational drugs (chemical or herbal); psychoactive substances; equipment to promote drug use; weapons, ammunition, explosive materials, and fireworks; instructions for making explosives or other harmful products.
- Enabling dishonest behaviour
Since we respect integrity and fairness, we don’t support the marketing of goods or services that encourage dishonesty.
Products or services that encourage dishonest behaviour include: Fake documents; academic cheating services; hacking software or instructions; services designed to artificially inflate ad or website traffic;
• Inappropriate content
We value diversity and respect for others, and we don’t want to offend our users, so we don’t allow advertising or destinations that encourage hate, intolerance, discrimination, or abuse.
Prohibited practices
- Abusing the ad network
Users should find advertising on the Google Network to be useful, varied, relevant, and clean. Advertisers who try to trick or circumvent our ad review processes are not allowed to run advertisements, material, or destinations on our network.
promoting malware-infected content; “cloaking” or using other tactics to mask the true destination that users are led to; “arbitrage” or promoting destinations solely for the purpose of displaying ads; promoting “bridge” or “gateway” destinations that are solely intended to take users elsewhere are all examples of ad network harassment.
- Data collection and use
We want users to have confidence that their personal details will be treated with dignity and care. As a result, our advertising partners should not abuse this data, nor should they collect it for nebulous reasons or without proper disclosures or security measures.
When using targeted ads, such as remarketing and custom markets, additional policies apply. If you use targeted advertising targeting features, make sure to read the data collection and use policies for personalised ads.
User details that should be dealt with caution includes: national identity, pension, social protection, and tax ID; full name; email address; mailing address; phone number; national identity, pension, social security, and tax ID.
Obtaining credit card details over a non-secure server, advertisements that claim to know a user’s sexual preference or financial status, and breaches of our interest-based ads and remarketing policies are all examples of reckless data collection and usage.
- Misrepresentation
We want users to trust the advertising on our site, so we work hard to make sure they’re transparent and truthful, and that they give them the knowledge they need to make educated decisions. We don’t accept advertisements or destinations that intentionally confuse users by omitting important product details or offering false information about goods, services, or businesses.
Omitting or obscuring billing data, such as how, when, and when users will be charged; omitting or obscuring charges associated with financial services, such as interest rates, fees, and penalties; failing to show tax or licence numbers, contact information, or physical address where applicable are all examples of misrepresentation.
- Adult content
We don’t support such types of adult content in advertisements or destinations because we believe ads should respect consumer expectations and adhere to legal regulations. Adult-oriented advertisements and destinations are permitted if they adhere to the policies below and do not target minors, but they will only appear in specific situations based on user search queries, user age, and local laws in the area where the ad is serving.
Find out what happens if you break one of our rules.
Strip clubs, pornographic cinemas, sex toys, adult magazines, sexual enhancement goods, matchmaking sites, and models in sexualized poses are all examples of restricted adult content.
- Alcohol
We don’t approve those types of alcohol-related advertisements, both for alcohol and drinks that emulate alcohol, because we follow local alcohol laws and industry guidelines. Any forms of alcohol-related advertisements are permitted if they adhere to the policies outlined below, do not target minors, and only target countries where alcohol advertisements are expressly permitted.
Brew, wine, sake, spirits or hard alcohol, Champagne, fortified wine, non-alcoholic beer, non-alcoholic wine, and non-alcoholic distilled spirits are examples of limited alcoholic drinks.
- Copyrights
We don’t allow advertising that is illegal to use licenced content because we follow local copyright laws and want to respect the rights of copyright holders. Apply for certification to advertise whether you are legally permitted to use copyrighted material. If you come across infringing material, file a copyright lawsuit.
- Gambling and games
We believe in responsible gambling advertisements and follow local gambling laws and industry practises, so some types of gambling-related advertising are prohibited. Ads related to gambling are permitted if they adhere to the policies mentioned below and the advertiser has obtained the required Google Ads certification. Gambling advertisements must only target licenced countries, have a landing page with responsible gambling information, and never target minors. For the areas you want to target, look into local regulations.
Limited gambling-related material includes the following: national or private lotteries; physical casinos; places where users can bet on poker, bingo, roulette, or sporting events.
- Healthcare and medicines
We are committed to adhering to advertisement legislation in the healthcare and medical fields, so we require advertisements and destinations to adhere to the relevant laws and industry standards. Some healthcare-related material cannot be marketed at all, whereas others can only be advertised if the advertiser is Google-certified and only targets countries that have been licenced. For the areas you want to target, look into local regulations.
- Political content
We endorse responsible political advertising and demand that all political advertisements and destinations follow local campaign and election laws in the areas they address. This strategy involves election “silence periods” that are required by law.
Political material examples: Political issue advocacy, as well as the promotion of political parties or candidates.
We want consumers to be able to make educated financial decisions based on the knowledge they have. Our policies are intended to provide consumers with the knowledge they need to weigh the costs of financial products and services, as well as to protect them from harmful or deceptive practises. Financial products and services, including personalised advice, are described as those related to the management or investment of money and cryptocurrencies for the purposes of this policy.
You must comply with state and local laws for any area or country that is your advertising target when promoting financial products and services — for example, provide relevant disclosures mandated by local law. For more detail, see our non-exhaustive list of country-specific criteria, but keep in mind that advertisers are responsible for doing their own research into local laws for every area where their advertisements are targeted.
- Trademarks
When trademarks may be used in advertisements is determined by a number of factors. These policies apply only where a trademark owner has filed a valid complaint with Google, in addition to the factors listed in our Policy Centre.
- Legal requirements
You are always responsible for ensuring that your advertisements are compliant with all relevant laws and regulations, as well as Google’s advertising policies, in all places where they appear.
- Other restricted businesses
To prevent users from being abused, we exclude those types of businesses from advertising with us, even though individual businesses tend to follow our other policies. We occasionally recognise goods or services that are vulnerable to misuse based on our own ongoing reviews and input from consumers, regulators, and consumer protection authorities. If we believe that certain types of businesses pose an unacceptable risk to user safety or experience, we can restrict or prohibit the display of related advertising.
- Restricted ad formats and features
Access to advanced ad formats and features on Google Ads is determined by a number of factors. Advertisers who do not follow our strict criteria or complete the certification process will not be eligible to use such ad formats.
- Requirements for made for kids’ content
Advertisers are not permitted to run personalised advertisements on content intended for children. Here are the categories where advertising on made-for-kids content is prohibited.
