Issues with Google ID validation process as a sole trader

Ask Me Anything Q&A Googleshoppingamarepo
1

I had registered my business as an individual in the UK, since I am a sole trader, and therefore do not have a business registered with companies house or any form of government ID for my business. I provided the appropriate ID for myself i.e driving licence etc and this was accepted. But they wanted me to complete a validation form for the business (even though it says when registering as an individual this is not required). I kept getting refused and my google ads were shut down, based on the fact I had no government ID. I raised this in a ticket, explaining I am a sole trader and therefore considered an individual but just got the same reply. I had planned to change my business’ name so I did this and then re-registered on google. I am now being prompted to go through the same process as before and no doubt will be shut down again. What can I do?

2

Hello Angelface, thank you for your question.

Creating a new Google Ads account is actually not advised, because that will make the whole situation worse. I recommend you go back to your original account and close down the new account.

If they are asking for business details, that might mean you have accidentally created your Google Ads account as a business rather than a individual account.

Here is a great reply from one of my colleagues over at the Google Ads community: https://support.google.com/google-ads/thread/340915019

3

Thanks for your reply. I hadn’t accidentally registered as a business, I
have training in former employment so knew how to register, and when issues
arose I double checked and was registered as an individual . I pointed this
out to google. They just kept repeating the missing info re government ID .

I changed the business name because it was more relevant to my product and
am applying for a trade mark for the new name so I need to keep the new
account.

It does appear that they’ve changed the format for the ID requests and I’m
just waiting on whether they require further information from me. We shall
see. Many thanks

4

Understood, if you continue to get stuck, I recommend you post your issues here: https://support.google.com/google-ads/community?hl=en