How To Solve Circumventing Systems Policy Violations On Google Ads

I have been managing Google Ads for various clients since the inception of Google Ads, which is more than 20 years now! During the past 2 decades, I have taken the utmost care in ensuring that our Ad accounts strictly follow Google Ads policies and guidelines. However, I still came across various account issues for our clients, including the suspension of Ad accounts.

In most cases, it was a quick process to appeal and get the Google Ad account reactivated. However, the most challenging situation was the suspension of the Google Ad account for circumventing system policies. I have helped many clients troubleshoot this situation and get their Ad accounts enabled. 

In this article, let me share my experience in getting the Google Ad account reenabled after the suspension of the account for circumventing system policies. 

What is Circumventing System Policy?

If you are from an agency that works with many clients and adds many Google Ad accounts for the clients, the below notice may not be a surprise for you:

However, many business owners or digital marketers who deal with just one Ad account may be shocked to see such a message when they login to their Google Ad account in the morning.

If you are reading this article because your Google Ad account is suspended for this reason, let me explain this in simple terms.

Basically, “circumventing systems policy” means you found certain loopholes or backdoors in the system that allow you to take advantage of them beyond the way Google designed their system.

Here are a few examples of circumventing system policy:

1. A company creates multiple websites for the same business and runs Ads for such websites with the expectation that the company can occupy multiple Ad slots on the same search window, not allowing others to show their Ads.
2. A company runs Google Ads on a webpage that serves no purpose but simply shows Ads, expecting to spend some money on Ads and earn more money from the Ads shown on the page. In this case, the website owner runs no proper business but simply shows Ads and generates revenue from the Ads.
3. Any activity on Ads that Google thinks is meant to abuse their Ad network. 

Circumventing System Policy for Billing Issues

Recently, I came across an issue where a Google Ad account was suspended for circumventing system policy. This was a basic Ad account that ran a simple search ad for a client in Dubai. After a detailed analysis, I found nothing suspicious on the account. The ad account has been active for 7-8 years, and the ads were running very healthy. All payments were made on time. But Google surprised us with the below email:

Usually, when there is a policy violation, it is quite easy to identify what could have provoked the suspension of the account. But in this case, it was obvious that there was no deliberate attempt to violate any policies. Also, I could not find anything on the account that may have triggered an account suspension. 

After careful analysis, I discovered one problem: we used this account to get the TDS refund for our Ad accounts, and over a period of time, the fund balance in this Google Ad account accumulated to a large amount. Since the account had only minimal spending, the balance kept going up. 

I quickly concluded that the increasing balance in the account that is not funded by us is causing Google to be suspicious of this account. 

What To Do When A Google Ads Account Is Suspended For Circumventing System Violation?

Just like any other violation and account suspension, I suggest the same action in this case too—do nothing for a day. In most cases, I have seen people instantly submit an appeal without doing any analysis of what went wrong. This is probably the biggest mistake you make when your Ad account is suspended. From a reviewer's perspective, you have done nothing to solve the problem but simply blamed the Google team for suspending the account. Instead, you should spend some time, do a thorough check to find what could be the problem, fix all possible issues, and then submit the appeal after a day or two. 

As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, “circumventing system” policy violation is one of the hardest ones. If Google believes you really did that, your account is probably lost forever. 

The best way to get your account reinstated is to convince Google that you have done the right thing, and if there was a mistake, it was due to ignorance or accidental, and request reinstatement. Your message in the appeal should be very clear and convincing. Don’t try to hide anything that you did. Just accept the mistake and explain the corrective measures you have taken to avoid such issues in the future.

Follow the steps if your account is suspended for circumventing system policy violations:

1. Relax; wait for some time. Don’t act in a hurry. Think through the possible violations.
2. Carefully analyze your current and recent Ads. Check if there are any issues.
3. Check your target website or landing page. Look for any policy violations or possibilities of "circumventing." Are you running multiple Ads for the same business?
4. Fix all issues on the Ad campaigns, even if they are not really “circumventing” related violations. In the next review, you don’t want the Ads team to find other issues.
5. Spend some time and carefully craft a convincing message that explains your situation, who you are, how loyal and trustworthy you are, and what your goals are through the Ads. Also, explain what the remedial actions are you have taken after the suspension of your Ad account. Review the message multiple times to ensure your message is convincing enough to Google.
6. Finally, submit your appeal and wait for the good news from the Google Ads review team.

The solution to account suspension for circumventing system violation

We were fortunate enough to get our account reenabled by Google through an appeal submitted by following the link found in the Google Ads account. We are happy that our Ads are up and running.

In our case, it turned out that Google found it suspicious when we got a lot of TDS tax credit refunds from Google itself to our account. Our message to Google was clear and convinced Google to reinstate our Ad account within a day after submitting the appeal.

Are you facing any issues with your Google Ads account? SpiderWorks may be able to help you with the account suspension and help you run your Google Ads. Contact us today to discuss further.