Google’s latest ad policy update promises to severely penalize agencies and third parties for sustained policy violations.
Google`s harsh new penalties
Google will update its third-party policy in November 2024 by implementing severe penalties for third parties (companies who manage or purchase Google advertising on their client’s behalf) that “enable significant or sustained policy violations.”
Google’s new penalties include:
- Removal from Google Partners.
- Loss of privileges.
- Account suspension.
Google announced the update on its Advertising Policy Help, saying:
- “In November 2024, Google will update the Google third-party policy to announce new penalties for third parties that enable significant or sustained policy violations.”
Google wants a healthy ecosystem
Google said it’s introducing the new penalties to encourage third parties to comply with its policies and discourage them from making policy violations.
Google wrote in its update:
- “We want to strongly encourage third parties to promote this healthy ecosystem and discourage the enabling of significant or sustained policy violations.”
Third-party policy violators can expect a harsh response from Google:
- “Activity by a third-party partner that demonstrates a disregard for compliance with Google Ads policies may result in a loss of privileges, removal from Google third-party programs, such as Google Partners, and account suspension.
Google leaves no room for doubt
Similar to Google’s recent update to its Web Search Spam Policy, where the company rewrote it more concisely to make it easier to understand, Google didn’t mince its words regarding ad policy violations and the consequences:
- “We take violations of this policy very seriously and consider them egregious. If we find violations of this policy, we will suspend your Google Ads accounts upon detection and without prior warning, and you will not be allowed to advertise with us again.”
The result is that third-party advertisers must ensure they comply with Google’s third-party policy or risk having their Google Partners account suspended or, in a worst-case scenario, their Google advertising account canceled.
Why the update?
This is the latest in a long line of policy updates that reassert Google’s continuous efforts to remove erroneous practices affecting its advertising ecosystem.
Google’s new ad policy violation penalties aim to discourage non-compliant third parties by making the violation pain greater than the financial gain.
Google also knows it must provide a trustworthy advertising environment; otherwise, the trend towards using social media for search and advertising will continue.
