When a Google Ads account is suspended

What kinds of suspension are there?

Two that matter. A policy suspension names something specific that the advertising broke: a claim, a landing page, a restricted vertical. An account-level notice is about the account rather than any single ad, and the two most common are suspicious payment activity and circumventing systems.

How do you tell which one you have?

Read the notice rather than the forum thread. If it names a policy your ads broke, it is a policy suspension and there is something to correct. If it does not name an ad or a policy, it is an account-level notice and the appeal is about the account's history rather than about any page you can edit.

What the circumventing systems notice means covers that specific wording, which is the one people search for most and understand least.

What does a supplier actually cover?

The state of the account at handover, and nothing beyond it. That means an account that arrives already suspended, one whose currency or history does not match what was stated, one with access left behind, or one carrying an undisclosed balance. All four are things a seller sees and controls.

• Replaced: suspended on arrival.
• Replaced: parameters not as described.
• Replaced: administrator or manager link left behind.
• Replaced: undisclosed outstanding balance.
• Not replaced: a suspension that followed your own advertising, payment behaviour or budget.

How do you keep one suspension from costing a month?

1. Run more than one account — two or three in parallel turn a stop into a share of the month rather than all of it.
2. Keep creatives and landing pages outside the account — rebuilding is an hour's work if they are saved, a week's if not.
3. Put a manager account on top — the hierarchy and access survive individual accounts.
4. Watch the charges, not only the budget — a failed payment stops delivery as effectively as a suspension and is entirely avoidable.

Common questions

What is the difference between a policy suspension and an account-level one?

A policy suspension names something your ads broke — the landing page, the claim, the vertical — and is correctable. An account-level notice is about the account itself, usually payment activity or circumvention, and is correctable far less often because there is nothing in a campaign to fix.

Is a suspended account replaced?

An account that arrives suspended, or that does not match its description, is replaced. A suspension that follows what you advertised is not replaced, here or anywhere, because what is advertised is chosen by the buyer and judged by Google.