09. Text Ad Common Mistakes

Once you save an ad, Google will evaluate the ad for approval and you will be notified when the ad is approved and ready to go. If there are issues with your ad, Google will disapprove your ad, and you will have to edit it.

To ensure that your text ads will be approved, let us walk through some common mistakes. The majority of mistakes fall into two categories: mistakes with ad copy and your ad's URL.

Let’s start with your ad’s copy:

  1. Avoid excessive or unconventional capitalization:
    You are free to capitalize words, but stay away from excessive capitalization. For example, Google doesn’t allow ALL CAPS or capitalization within a word (such as SpEcIaL OfFeR).

  2. Only use appropriate punctuation and symbols:
    You’ll also want to look out for excessive punctuation (“Buy Now!!!!”) and symbols (“Save $$$” or “flowers”). AdWords will disapprove ads with: multiple exclamation points (your ad description can only contain one exclamation point), an exclamation point in your ad's headline, repeated punctuation or symbols (e.g., !!!), non-standard symbols like bullet points and vertical lines, or symbols or characters that don't match their true meaning, such as using the @-symbol next to the word ‘home’" to mean "at home."

  3. Check your spacing: Make sure that you don’t use any extra spaces between letters or words in your ad’s text, such as f l o w e r s.

  4. Don’t include phone numbers in your ad: Next, make sure you don’t include any phone numbers in your ad headline or description. Instead, use call extensions to include a phone number in your ad. Google doesn’t allow phone numbers in the ad copy because it can’t track someone making a call (and thus can’t charge you for the action).

  5. Make sure your ad copy is clear and describes what you're selling: Your ad can be disapproved if it uses gibberish or random letters, or if your ad’s text and URL don’t match, such as an ad for a clothing store that uses www.udacity.com as the URL.

Now let’s look at common mistakes related to your ad’s URL

  1. Double-check your Display URL: Make sure that the display URL (the URL that people see in your ad) isn't mistyped, doesn't include "http" or "https", and doesn't use non-standard characters like exclamation points.

  2. Make sure to use the same domain: Another common disapproval reason has to do with your URL’s domain. Every website has a domain, for example, udacity.com in udacity.com/courses. All ads within the same ad group must have the same domain. Also, the domains for your ad’s display URL, final URL, and landing page URL need to have the same domain. In other words, the website listed in your ad needs to accurately show which website people will be taken to when they click your ad.

These were the most common mistakes that could lead to Google disapproving your ad. Visit the AdWords policy center to learn more about the requirements for advertising on the Google Network.

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