How-to · Updated October 11, 2026
Fix a disapproved Google ad and get it running again
Updated October 11, 2026
15 minutes, then up to a few business days for review
Open Campaigns, then Ads, and hover over Disapproved in the Status column to see which policy it broke. Edit the ad, asset or landing page to fix that one thing and click Save, which starts a new review. Open the ad again to confirm your change saved. If Google got it wrong, appeal from Policy manager.
Before you start
- Standard or Admin access to the Google Ads account. Editing an ad is a campaign edit, which Read-only access cannot make.
- The disapproval email, if you have one. Its View and fix policy issues link, then View ads, opens the affected ads in Policy manager.
- Access to your website, or to whoever edits it, in case the reason is the landing page rather than the ad.
Find the reason
The policy name says what to change, so read it before editing anything.
- In Google Ads, open the Campaigns menu, then Campaigns, then Ads. Hover over Disapproved in the Status column, then click Read the policy to see the rule the ad broke.
- For more detail, click the Columns icon above the table, choose Modify columns, expand Attributes, tick Policy details and click Apply. The new column says why each ad is not Eligible.
- If a sitelink, image, callout or lead form is the problem rather than the ad itself, open Assets in the Campaigns menu and read its Status column the same way.
- Note which of three it is: the ad or asset text, the landing page (such as Destination not working), or a decision you believe is wrong.
Fix the ad or its landing page
Change only what the policy names, then save, which sends the ad back for review.
- Go to Ads in the Campaigns menu, hover over the ad or asset and click Edit.
- Change only what the policy names, such as repeated punctuation in a headline. If the landing page is the problem, fix the page with whoever runs your site, or change the ad's final URL to a page that meets the policy.
- Click Save. Google starts a new review on its own; there is no separate submit button.
- Open the ad or asset again and read the field you changed. The status can read Under review after a save even when your change was not kept, so the status does not prove the edit saved. The text in the field does.
Approval is decided after the save, not during it. An edit that saves without a warning can still come back Disapproved hours or days later, so look again after the review finishes.
Appeal if Google got it wrong
Appeal when the ad already follows the policy, or once a fix is in place, to ask Google to review the decision.
- Open the Tools menu, then Troubleshooting, then Policy manager.
- On the Policy issues tab, click Appeal on the affected ad.
- Under Reason for appealing, choose Dispute decision if the ad was compliant all along, or Made changes to comply with policy if you fixed it. Click Submit.
After 3 unsuccessful appeals on an ad, Google wants you to contact support, and an appeal on the same ads within 24 hours of the last can be marked as a duplicate. If a fixed ad's appeal fails or is marked duplicate, Google advises a small edit to its text or final URL, saved, instead of another appeal.
Check it worked
Look at the Status column on the Ads page, or on Assets for an asset. A fixed ad reads Eligible and a fixed asset reads Approved. Google says most reviews finish within one business day, and some take longer.
For an appeal, open Policy manager and the Appeal history tab. Review complete means the Results column has the answer: Successful, Partially successful, Failed or Duplicate. In progress means check back in 24 hours.
An Eligible ad in a paused campaign or ad group still shows nothing, so confirm impressions return over the next few days.
How long should an ad sit in Under review before you do something?
Google's pages disagree. One says check the status after 2 full business days and contact support after a week. Another says allow up to 7 business days and avoid changing ad text, budgets or bid strategies meanwhile, since a change resets the review clock. A third says contact support after one full business day.
A reasonable middle course: leave the ad alone for 2 business days unless your edit did not save. After a week, contact Google Ads support rather than editing again.
What does Eligible (limited) mean, and should you appeal it?
Eligible (limited) is not a disapproval. The ad runs, but only in some locations, on some devices or for some ages. Appeal it from Policy manager only if the label is wrong, such as a health label on an ad unrelated to health.
Can you appeal an old disapproval?
Starting July 21, 2026, Google says an appeal from inside the account is not available for policy decisions made more than 6 months earlier. For those, contact Google Ads support.