Violation of Shopping ads policy

[Irena]

Hello,

Today we made a change in our product description and soon after that the products become disapproved for "Violation of Shopping ads policy". Since there was no "Request manual review" button available, we contacted Google support.

We told them about changes we made in the description and they submitted re-crawling of our product page, because they agreed that our product page follows all the policies. After that we asked them to manually review and approve our products, however they sent us to another Google support team, which works with that.

The new support told us that re-crawl won't help and that we need to remove the products from Merchant Center and add the new same products with different IDs, which sounds like total nonsense. We explained that it will hurt our Google Ads campaigns and asked them to check our product page for any policy violations - they didn't find anything. Then we asked to manually review and approve our products, but they told us that they can't do this.

So, our products are still disapproved and no one from Google support seem to know how to solve the issue the right way.

Do anyone have any ideas what should we do in this situation?

Here's our product page with 2 affected products: https://exploroproducts.com/products/at-home-marijuana-thc-drug-test-strips-kit-by-exploro

Thanks for any advice!

[EmmanuelFlossie]

The reason you are disapproved is most likely due to the word marijuana, Google has historically, not allowed this word, nor cbd, or any other similar drug related term.

I don't expect you to get these approved, whatever you try.

However, you could try not to mention drug-related terms.

[Irena]

@EmmanuelFlossie, thank you for your answer!

These products were already approved since August and re-approved once by Google support, when those words first time triggered the disapproval. However, the difference is that now there is no "Request a review" button available and no concretised what the exact Violation it is.

Is there a chance that after some time this button will appear and we'll be able to request a review? And why in one case this button appears and in other case do not?

Thanks for clarifying!

[EmmanuelFlossie]

Repeatedly asking for approval and you have not resolved the issue, can indeed remove the review request. And can no longer ask for a review.

However it is also possible that Google detected a more serious violation which you can never ask for a review, and you must update the product or remove it.

As indicated, I recommend you remove drug related terms.

Not getting detected months ago, or initially getting approved, does not mean you where following policies.

[Irena]

Thank you! I'll try to remove all widgets and pop-ups first, because removing words which describe the product itself not a way to go.

[Elias]

Hello, @Irena.

Thank you for reaching out and bringing this to our attention!

Sorry to hear that your products aren't being approved for Google's ad listing. I'm afraid this isn't something that we can help with, as the approvals are completely managed by Google. If you're looking to request another review on your products, then you can consider removing the products and adding them again. However, as @EmmanuelFlossie has mentioned, it is likely that Google is detecting specific keywords that prevents any drug-related products to be advertised. 

You'll also want to review the Google Ads policies, as the THC Test Strips Kit can be classified under Healthcare and Medicines. While I'm not sure if this is the reason your product was flagged, it does make a medical claim on the product.  

If you're still looking to advertise these products, then I'd recommend continuing to work with Google support to see if there's anything they can do. 

[Irena]

Thank you, @EmmanuelFlossie and @Elias for your help with this!

[OlivefromtheRaw]

Hello! @Irena 

Unfortunately i am in the same situation. And I dont know how to correct it.

Did anything work to clear up this issue?

Some background, I went ahead and submitted products with New Shopify ID and description, that hasn't worked. 

No way for me to ask for a Review. This is a REAL KILLER.

[EmmanuelFlossie]

The replies above is the solution to the problem, if as you say, yo have the same exact problem. Don't mention prohibited drug related terms. Google does not allow it.

Based on your image, however, it does not look like you have the same issue. IE drug related.

As you have a different issue, I recommend creating a new thread with your specific issue, and share your URL.