Stop Right Now (thank you very much) Google Ads Addition

No one likes being told what to do, but it’s a fact of life that we have to follow the rules in order to remain as functioning civilisations. Google Ads is no different from civilisation and also has a set of policies that we must abide by. Google without policies would simply become a post-apocalyptic cyber wasteland of misleading content and outlandish adverts, viruses driving across the landscape in virtual terror-wagons and pirates swiping our gold. Maybe I’m being dramatic, maybe I’m right… Anyway, here’s a rundown of what you can’t do if you are wanting to run a campaign on Google. A healthy digital advertising ecosystem is a happy digital advertising ecosystem!

There’s a fairly long list of requirements that you must meet in order to advertise on Google, so instead of writing a long boring list, I thought I’d focus on the editorial requirements. This could be a very riveting read so you should probably buckle up! In seriousness, it’s good to know this before you start creating your ad rather than learning the hard way whilst reading your disapproval email from Google. 

All they ask is that ads are clear, professional in appearance, and lead to content that is relevant, useful and easy to interact with. The first request is that style and spelling is in order, which is probably a pretty obvious one. One thing to note with this is that if your brand uses nonstandard grammar/spelling/punctuation etc, (for example, Clthng Brand, Cloth!ng Brand, clothinG branD) then you may have to request a review and show that this nonstandard term is showing consistently on your site.

Punctuation and symbols are also not to be messed around with, Google will stand for no-nonsense in this area and will only accept those that are used correctly for their intended purpose. “Can I use @ in place of ‘at’?”, I hear you ask. The answer is absolutely not. Don’t even think about using numbers, symbols or punctuation in a gimmicky manner. None of these ‘c*o*f*f*e*e coffee!!!’ please. With great power comes great responsibility, so stay away from emojis too. The same goes for CaPiTaLiSaTioN (you’re not a meme) and also s p a c i n g and also repetition repetition repetition. Get the idea?

This point is pretty simple, you can’t add your phone number into the advert copy. It doesn’t actually make sense to do so anyway, you will lose characters for the actual text. Plus you can have a call extension if you wish to display your phone number, this will also allow users to call straight from the advert. Amazing.

The last thing I will bring to light is that if you’re going to make a quality advert then use quality images! Don’t bother with blurry, unrecognisable images. We’re not claiming to have seen the Loch Ness Monster here, show your company off with style!

That’s the only rules I will share with you for now, but if this has made the thought of creating adverts even more daunting then get in touch with Team Embryo and let’s talk! Call us on 0161 327 2635 or drop us an email.