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Understanding Google Ads Disapproval for "Misrepresentation"

What can cause Google to disapprove your website for misrepresentation, and what to review to support an appeal.

C
Written by Charles Fox
Updated this week

Google Ads may flag your site for “Misrepresentation” if it believes that users could be misled or that your business lacks essential trust signals.

This policy is part of Google's Unacceptable Business Practices and aims to protect users from deceptive, incomplete, or unreliable websites.

A disapproval does not necessarily mean your business is untrustworthy, but that your site did not meet Google’s current requirements.

Common causes include:

  • Missing or hidden business and contact details

  • Incomplete or inaccessible policies (e.g., returns, privacy)

  • Mismatches between your product feed and your website

  • False or unverifiable claims

  • Broken or inaccessible websites (especially from Google’s crawlers)


🚫 What Is a “Misrepresentation” Disapproval?

This policy is designed to protect users from misleading or deceptive websites. Google may flag your site if:

  • Key business or policy information is missing or hard to find

  • Product data doesn’t match your ads or feeds

  • Promotions are false or unavailable

  • The site is broken or inaccessible in some regions


✅ Step-by-Step Checklist to Review

1. Clearly identify your business

Make sure your site includes:

  • Your business name and logo

  • A working contact email and/or phone number

  • A physical address (if applicable)

  • A visible contact form

💡 Place these details in a consistent location like the header, footer, or “Contact Us” page.


2. Include standard policy pages

Your website should publish and link to the following pages:

  • Privacy Policy

  • Return & Refund Policy

  • Shipping Policy (if applicable)

  • Terms & Conditions

These should be easily visible and accessible from every page — ideally in your footer. Ensure they are not blocked or region-restricted.


3. Match your product listings and promotions

If you’re using Google Shopping or Merchant Center, the information on your website must exactly match what’s in your feed:

  • Product titles and descriptions

  • Pricing, discounts, and availability

  • Product images and variants

🛑 Avoid mismatches — for example, promoting “Free Shipping” on your site when it is not associated to your products in your catalog. If promotions are listed (e.g. “Free Shipping,” “BOGO”), they must be honored and visible.


4. Use accurate and supportable claims

Avoid exaggerated or unverifiable statements such as:

  • “#1 in the world” or “guaranteed results”

  • Customer reviews making extreme or unproven claims

  • Health, financial, or performance promises without documentation

💡 Stick to honest, clearly explained benefits — and back up any strong claims with certifications or disclaimers.


5. Fix technical or accessibility issues

If Google cannot access or load your website reliably, it may trigger disapproval regardless of content.

Ensure that:

  • Pages do not return 500 (server) or 404 (missing) errors

  • The site loads consistently and quickly across regions

  • No geolocation/IP blocks prevent access from Googlebot

  • Robots.txt and other settings allow Google to crawl key pages

🛠 Tools to help:

💡 Google’s automated systems may disapprove your site if it experiences downtime or inconsistent performance.


🛠 Example: What Might Be Flagged

We’ve seen merchants flagged for issues like:

  • Homepage returning a 500 internal server error

  • No listed business contact information

  • Promotions shown in ads that aren’t honored on the landing page

While these issues don’t guarantee disapproval, they commonly contribute to it. Addressing them may improve your chances of passing Google’s review.


💡 Quick Reference Checklist

Area

What to Check

Business Identity

Clear name, logo, contact info, address

Policy Pages

Refund, privacy, shipping, and terms visible

Product Feed Match

Titles, prices, promos match the live website

Honest Claims

No unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims

Site Functionality

No server errors, fast load, global access

Crawlability

Googlebot can reach all key pages


🧾 Important Reminder

Making these updates does not guarantee that your account will be reinstated. These are best practices and recommendations to help you meet Google’s expectations. Only Google can evaluate and lift a disapproval after you let us know all of the above has been reviewed, and we submit an appeal.

💬 Need guidance?

If you’re not sure where to begin or have questions about the items above, feel free to contact us. While we can’t overturn Google’s decision, we can help you review your setup before you submit an appeal.

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