Google Ads guide

Suspended for circumventing systems? What it means and how to respond

Circumventing systems is one of Google's most serious policies. It covers practices that get round, or try to get round, Google's advertising checks and processes: showing Google different content from customers, using new accounts after a suspension, or switching what people see. Some causes are deliberate. Others, like a hacked site or a misbehaving redirect, can happen without you knowing.

Guides · Updated 29 October 2026 · 6 min read

Nonewarning before suspension
6 monthsat least this long to appeal a Google Ads suspension
7 dayspause on certain appeals if Google sees the appeal form misused
3identity verification attempts, for advertisers asked to verify
The short version
  • Google Ads treats circumventing systems as egregious: accounts are suspended on detection, with no warning.
  • It includes cloaking, using new accounts after a suspension, spreading violations across accounts and giving false information during verification.
  • Some causes can happen without you knowing, such as a hacked site serving hidden redirects.
  • Don't open another account. Find the cause, fix it, then appeal from the suspension notification.

What Google counts as circumventing systems

Google's policy covers "practices that circumvent or interfere with Google's advertising systems and processes, or attempting to do so". Its examples include:

  • Cloaking: showing different content to Google than to the people who click your ads
  • Using Google Ads again after a previous suspension decision, including by creating new accounts
  • Creating variations of ads, domains or content to get past enforcement
  • Running ads similar to ones already disapproved from new websites or accounts, or spreading violations across several accounts
  • Submitting false information during Google's verification programmes
  • Using product features to show non-compliant content or to gain extra traffic

Merchant Center has a matching section in its abuse of the network policy. It adds examples such as restricting crawler access to your landing pages, using dynamic DNS to switch pages, and changing product data or site content to get past automated checks.

What a suspension means

  • Google treats these violations as egregious. The account is suspended on detection, without a warning.
  • All ads stop running, although you can still view the account and its reports.
  • Related accounts may be suspended, and new accounts you try to create may be suspended too.
  • Google says accounts are only reinstated in compelling circumstances, such as a mistake.
A new account makes it worse

Creating accounts after a suspension is one of the policy's own examples. It won't get you back online, and it can lead to more suspensions.

Website causes worth checking

Some of these come straight from Google's policy text. Others are reasonable things to rule out, because they can make your site behave differently for Google than for customers.

01

A hacked site

Google warns that sites can be hacked and cloaking content added without the owner knowing. Hacked sites often show injected redirects only to some visitors.

What can raise concernsVisitors from Google sent to a spam site, while you never see it when you visit directly.
What worksSite cleaned, passwords changed, software updated and a Safe Browsing check run.
02

Content that differs for Google

Google allows slightly different content for different people, such as language, but the product or service promoted must be the same for everyone.

What can raise concernsGoogle's crawler sees one product page, while shoppers see a different offer.
What worksEveryone sees the same product, price and offer.
03

Redirects and click trackers

Google says appropriate click trackers and redirects are fine, as long as they aren't used to hide anything that breaks its policies, such as sending people to prohibited content. It recommends click trackers certified by Google, and redirects to another domain belong in the tracking template, not the final URL.

What can raise concernsA final URL on one domain that redirects to a different domain.
What worksA final URL on your own domain, with tracking set up in the tracking template.
04

Blocking Google's crawlers

Merchant Center lists restricting crawler access to your landing pages. Strict bot protection or firewall rules can do this by accident. In Google Ads, a page Google can't crawl is normally a disapproval under destination requirements rather than circumvention, but it's still worth ruling out.

What can raise concernsA security setting that blocks Google's ad crawler (AdsBot) or shows it a challenge page.
What worksGoogle's crawlers allowed, and checked again after any security change.
05

Switching pages after approval

Merchant Center lists using dynamic DNS to switch pages, and changing site content to get past automated checks.

What can raise concernsA domain that starts showing a different site or product once ads are approved.
What worksChanges made openly, with ads and products updated to match.
06

Accounts and verification

Google lists spreading violations across several accounts, and giving false information during verification.

What can raise concernsSeveral accounts running the same disapproved ads.
What worksEvery account tied to your real business, with accurate verification details and no accounts opened since the suspension.
Check your site for these problemsThe free scan reads the key pages a Google reviewer typically checks and shows your score and the areas that need attention.

How to appeal

  1. 1

    Find the cause first

    Check your site for hacks, unexpected redirects and anything that shows Google something different. Check whether any accounts linked to you were also suspended.

  2. 2

    Fix it completely

    Remove injected code or redirects, allow Google's crawlers, and make sure every ad leads to the same content for everyone.

  3. 3

    Complete verification if asked

    Some advertisers must complete verification before they can appeal. For them, Google says that if identity can't be verified after 3 attempts, it won't accept an appeal.

  4. 4

    Appeal from the notification

    Select Contact us in the suspension notification. Explain what happened and what you've changed. For cloaking, Google suggests explaining why different content was shown to Google than to other people. Submit a separate appeal for each suspended account.

  5. 5

    Be patient

    You have at least 6 months to appeal. Google may not process repeated appeals for the same suspension, and misuse of the appeal form can pause appeals for 7 days.

  6. 6

    If it's rejected

    Google says you can appeal again using the same process. Only do so once you've found and fixed what was missed.

If your site was hacked

Say so, with what you found and what you did to clean and secure it. A clear, honest explanation is far stronger than a general denial.

Your circumventing systems checklist

Tick these off as you go. Your progress is saved on this device.

0 of 10 doneTick each one off as you fix it.
What a checklist can't catchMany of these sit in your page code, structured data or settings Google reads but shoppers never see, so they're easy to miss by eye. Any one of them can be enough for a review to fail.
  • Redirects that only happen for visitors arriving from ads, or on mobile
  • Hidden spam links or injected scripts in your page code
  • Bot protection or robots.txt rules blocking Google's ad crawler
  • A final URL that redirects to a different domain
  • Pages that return errors to Google's crawler but load for you
  • Meta refresh or JavaScript redirects you didn't add
  • Old domains still pointing somewhere unexpected
  • Checkout or payment pages on a different, unrelated domain
  • Pages that switch between http and https inconsistently
  • Content that changes by location in a way that changes the product shown
The free scan runs checks like these on the key pages a Google reviewer typically checks, and shows your score and the areas that need attention.Scan my site free

Common questions

Google says you won't be allowed to advertise again, but it also offers appeals and reinstates accounts in compelling circumstances, such as a mistake. If your appeal is rejected, Google says you can appeal again.

Google warns that sites can be hacked and cloaking content added without the owner knowing. If that's what happened, clean and secure the site before appealing, and explain what you found.

Yes, if they're used properly. Google says appropriate click trackers and redirects are fine, as long as they aren't used to hide anything that breaks its policies. Redirects to another domain should go in the tracking template rather than the final URL.

Not necessarily. Google allows slightly different content for different people, such as language, as long as the product or service promoted is the same for everyone.

No. Creating accounts after a suspension is one of the policy's own examples, and new accounts may be suspended too.

Sources

Certanza is independent and not affiliated with Google. This guide is general information, not legal advice, and Google's policies can change.

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