ReferenceGoogle Ads account suspension
Unauthorized account activity
Google suspends the account temporarily when it detects an unauthorized user trying to access it, which can follow stolen sign-in details. Report the activity through the form Google's suspensions page links to, follow the preventive steps Google sends once it secures the account, then review who can still reach it. The appeal route on the same page is for suspensions believed to be an error.
At a glance
- Where it shows
- The suspension notification at the top of the Google Ads account.
- What stops
- Every campaign in the account, until Google restores it.
- How serious
- Temporary, according to Google's page, and triggered by detection rather than by a warning.
What it means
Google's suspensions overview says that when it detects an unauthorized user trying to access an account, it temporarily suspends the account to protect against unauthorized charges. The page describes an unauthorized user who can steal credentials and get in without permission.
The suspension protects the account's spend and access. It is not a review of the ads, so changing the ad copy or the billing details will not clear it.
What actually triggers it
Sign-in details obtained by someone outside the business
Google's page describes an unauthorized user who steals credentials. It also asks for a report when the unauthorized activity is in the emails connected to the ads account, not only in the account itself.
Access from a former employee or contractor that nobody removed
Not on Google's help page
Google's page does not name where unauthorized access comes from. A sign-in held by someone who left the business, and was never taken away, is one place it can come from.
Fix it in this order
- Report the activity through the form that Google's suspensions page links to. Google says it will secure the account immediately.
- Follow the preventive steps Google sends once it has secured the account.
- Use the account security guide the page links to for the password and sign-in steps, including on the emails connected to the account. The page itself does not list them.
- Review who can reach the account and remove anyone who should no longer have access, using the steps in the linked guide below.
Google's page lists unauthorized activity among the suspensions that are temporary, and says it secures the account after the report.
When to appeal
Start with the report form, not an appeal. Google's appeal route is for a suspension believed to be an error, while this one is lifted by Google securing the account after the report.
Often confused with
A policy suspension for getting around Google's review, decided on the account's pattern and appealed through the policy route. Unauthorized account activity is about someone else reaching the account, so the route is the compromised-account report.
A billing decision about the payment method. Unauthorized account activity is about access, and the fix is in who can sign in.