There is constantly a whole bunch of threads over at Digitalpoint that pretty much ask the same question time and time again. Why does my Google ad not show? Why is my ad not showing when it says its active?

Most advertisers can find out reasons why their advert is not showing by working through Googles help list or simply using the Google ad diagnostic tool which can now also be found next to your keywords in the form of a magnify glass. Then of course, there is the disapproved ads tool that provides reasons (with a link to policies/regulations) why the advert may have been disapproved.

However, there can be instances where adverts are not immediately shown on Google, while the keywords are ‘active’ and the adverts are not shown as ‘disapproved’. This is because the keyword, advert or both have been automatically ‘flagged’ by Google to be manually approved before they can be shown. Generally speaking this is because they might contain material that may not meet Googles editorial or content polices.

Don’t forget, all adverts are manually approved in the end - Adverts are only automatically approved by Googles system to be shown on Google itself straight away. Adverts require manual approval to be shown accross their search and content networks. So while your advert might initially get shown on Google, it might well get disapproved later anyway. As explained within Googles help centre;

All ads must comply with our Editorial Guidelines and advertising policies. While some ads may run on Google prior to review, others may not run at all before being reviewed and approved by an AdWords Specialist. If your ad is awaiting review, we’ll get to it as soon as we can. While your ad is in queue, you can review our advertising guidelines to ensure that your ad complies. Also, note that no ads will show on the Google Network until after being reviewed and approved.

So looking at a couple of the threads above, we can easily work out why their adverts might be under review.

Case 1

Hey guys, I activated my adwords account, added my keywords, wrote my ads and activated my CC card all over 24 hours ago and my ads still aren’t showing up. (it also says “active” next to all of my keywords and ads…and nothing has been disapproved by google) Is this normal? My website is an ebay store that sells a “marijuana alternative”…it’s 100% legal so I don’t think it is against their guidelines. Any idea why this might be? Thanks a lot, Fernando

SO this has obviously been flagged, straight from Googles content policies -

“Advertising is not permitted for the promotion of drugs and drug paraphernalia. This includes drug accessories, illegal drugs, and herbal drugs such as salvia and magic mushrooms.”

To be honest, regardless of whether the drug alternative is legal, I doubt Google will allow this at all. They will not allow advertising on illegal drugs even if you are offering a legal one or what could be easily altered on landing page side to ’supply the real thing’. As someone mentioned, they don’t allow advertising on Tobacco for example.

Case 2

Hello, I am new to Adwords. I have set up an account. My ad is below:

Glucose Tablet Keyring
For Diabetics in case of a HYPO
Helps you to remember glucose!
www..com

My keywords are: diabetes hypoglycaemia hypo glucose tablets. I left my account overnight in case it needed time to get into the system, however the next day, even when putting in ALL keywords it doesn’t show my ad. In fact, it doesn’t show any ads for these keywords, so why wouldn’t mine be there and at the top?

The only thing I can think of is that it questioned whether I was selling pharmaceutical products, which I’m not, but to get around it I had to add keywords which were an “exception” or something when setting up my ad (I ticked a check box which was next to my keyword list) It said that I needed approval, but my ad says that it is active and all my keywords are shown.

I think he pretty much answered his own question? Its been flagged under content polices again -

“Pharmacies advertising prescription drugs or using prescription drug keywords may only target the U.S. or Canada, and must be PharmacyChecker approved. Ads will not run until a valid PharmacyChecker identification number is provided. AdWords only accepts advertising from pharmacies that are based in the U.S. or Canada. Please read our FAQ for further details, or review Google’s online pharmacy qualification process.”

Case 3 - The grey area

I have only four keywords for my adwords campaign. They have been all disapproved few days ago. I contacted Google adwords support but no answer yet. My ad is:

Live premiership on PC
Live Premiership matches each week
for a low one time fee of £6.95
www.******.com

And my four keywords are: LIVE premiership, live football, LIVE football, live soccer

Any thoughts why they are disapproved?

This one is a little different. The keywords have been disapproved, rather than the advert. To me, it looks as though Google are taking a dim view of sending traffic to a site that provides links to illegal broadcasts of Premiership football games. This is kinda a grey area on the net at the moment. However, there seems to be LOTS of adverts displaying against these terms still. Take a look.

So whats the deal here? Have those adverts not come under manual review yet and are only displaying under the auto review period? Are Google cracking down on this area and they will be next?

It seems to be a ‘grey’ area for Google certainly. Ad and keyword approvals depend on who is reviewing aswell lets not forget, so perhaps in this case a reviewer determined this not suitable. Googles guidelines hold a interesting paragraph -

“As a business, Google must make decisions about where we draw the line in regards to the advertising we accept. We, therefore, may not accept ads or keywords containing or relating to certain products or services. We reserve the right to exercise editorial discretion when it comes to the advertising we accept on our site, as noted in our advertising terms and conditions.”