How-to · Updated October 12, 2026
Check that a new Google ad is approved, not only saved
Updated October 12, 2026
10 minutes, the business day after you create the ad
The day after creating an ad, open Campaigns, then Ads, and read the Status column: Eligible can run, Under review means wait. Read Assets the same way, since each asset has its own status. Then reread the ad's saved text, because a save starts review and proves nothing about approval.
Before you start
- Read-only, Standard or Admin access to the Google Ads account. Read-only access can view campaigns; correcting anything you find needs Standard or Admin access, the levels that can edit campaigns.
- A note of what you meant to publish: the campaign and ad group, each headline and description, the final URL, and the assets you added, such as sitelinks and a call asset.
- Billing in place. Google's checklist for a new ad that is not running starts with whether billing details are entered and whether the card was declined or the bank account is still awaiting verification.
Read the ad's status the next day
Google says most reviews finish within one business day. Leave the ad alone until then: Google says changing ad text, budgets or bid strategies while it reads Under review resets the review clock.
- In Google Ads, open the Campaigns menu, then Campaigns, then Ads, and find the new ad.
- Read the Status column and hover over it for Google's explanation. Eligible means it can show to all audiences. Eligible (limited) means it can run, but not in all situations. Under review means the review has not finished.
- Add the policy column: click the Columns icon above the table, then Modify columns (one help page calls it the All columns drop-down), expand Attributes, tick Policy details and click Apply. It says why an ad is limited or not Eligible, and Google says it also shows the status of a paused ad.
- If the ad reads Not eligible, review is not the cause. Google uses that status when the campaign is paused, removed, ended or pending, or the ad group is paused, removed or incomplete.
Check each asset on its own
Sitelinks, callouts, call assets, images and lead forms are reviewed and labelled separately from the ad. Read their status too rather than assuming the ad's status covers them.
- Open Assets in the Campaigns menu and read the Status column for every asset you added. Approved and Approved (limited) can run.
- Add Policy details to the Assets table the same way, to see why an asset is limited or disapproved.
- Open the Tools menu, then Troubleshooting, then Policy manager, and look for asset-level disapprovals. Google names punctuation, spacing and image quality as examples, and says fixing them starts a new review.
Read the saved text back
Status is not content. Any edit starts a review, and the Status column says where review stands, not what the ad says, so only the text itself proves the ad says what you wrote.
- On the Ads page, hover over the ad and click Edit. Read each headline, description, path and final URL against your note, then close the editor without saving, since a save starts another review.
- In the Assets table, read the text of each asset that matters most: the number in the call asset, the wording and link of each sitelink.
- If anything is wrong, correct every field in one edit, click Save once, and read it back again. This step needs Standard or Admin access.
Approval comes after the save, not during it. An ad or asset that saved without a warning can still read Disapproved later, so look once more after the review finishes.
Check it worked
On the Ads page the new ad reads Eligible, or Eligible (limited) for a reason you accept in Policy details. On Assets, each new asset reads Approved, or Approved (limited) for a reason you accept in Policy details. The text you read back matches your note.
Status says the ad may run, not that it does. Over the next day or two, impressions for the ad should start to appear if its campaign and ad group are enabled and spending. If they stay at zero, work through why the campaign is not spending.
How long to leave an ad in Under review
Google's pages give different times. One says most reviews finish within one business day, standard reviews for Demand Gen campaigns can take 3 to 5 business days and some complex formats up to 7. Another says to check the status after 2 full business days and contact support after a week. A third, Google's definition of Under review, says to contact Google after one full business day.
While it waits, Google says to make sure the account is enabled, has a positive balance and has no pending verification. If nothing has changed after 7 full business days, Google suggests one minor edit to send the ad back into the review queue.
Getting a new ad approved before a launch date
Google says to submit the ad several days ahead and pause the ad, ad group or campaign if it must not run yet. Paused ads are reviewed the same way as active ones. If the ad points at a new page, that page has to be complete for the ad to be reviewed.