When you submit either keywords or creatives through the platform, Google's editorial process may result in these being rejected. They may contain references to drugs or alcohol, for example. You can learn more about creative rejections in A Guide to Creative Rejections and Exemption Requests. The process also applies to keywords. You can submit exemption requests to Google to avoid rejection.
How To Submit Policy Exemption Requests In Bulk
You can submit policy exemption requests through the platform using the bulk add/edit function. Just follow these simple steps:
- Upload a bulk file containing your keyword or creatives using the bulk upload functionality.
- Post the job to the publisher. If there are creatives/keywords with policy violations, please contact a Customer Support representative to assist you in finding out which creatives/keywords are causing the error.
- Create a new bulk sheet, and copy/paste all of the keywords or creatives that the publisher has rejected in the relevant fields (Policy Name and Violating Text). For your reference, here are the columns for each bulk sheet:
Keywords: Account > Campaign > Group > Keyword > Matchtype > Policy Name > Violating Text
Creatives: Account > Campaign > Group > Creative ID > Policy Name > Violating Text - When building your new bulk sheet, note that the fields are case-sensitive, and should be entered exactly as they appeared in the error message.
- Re-upload the bulk sheet, post to the publisher, and the operation should succeed.
Submitting Policy Exemptions With New Bulk Upload Creations
You may include policy exemptions with your original bulk sheet upon new creation of keywords and creatives. This will create the object in the platform, while pending review in the publisher. To perform this, you must know beforehand what the policy name and violating text is, and you must include both the Policy Name and Violating Text columns in your bulk sheet in addition to the required columns.
For a list of example policy names and violating texts, refer to the following help article: A Guide to Creative Rejections and Exemption Requests
Note: If the keyword/creative becomes disapproved in the publisher, a sync error status will be returned after syncing or editing the object.
Additional Information
- Please note that the text for policy violations is case-sensitive. When you resubmit your bulk sheet, ensure that the case matches the error message.
When there are multiple instances of the same violating word with different case sensitivities, an exemption request needs to be requested in series for each of the variations. First, upload an exemption request with the lower case version in the Violating Text field, then the same file but with the upper case version in the Violating Text field.
- Note: It is possible to add a creative in the Publisher account and for it to be approved at first. However, upon sync with the Marin platform, the URL Builder will amend the tracking and repost the creative to the Publisher account. As the creative is pushed to the Publisher account via the API, it will be treated as a new object and therefore can be disapproved. Therefore, we recommend to add the creatives in the Marin platform.
- There may be occasions when multiple policies are violated. In these cases, simply insert all of the violating values into the relevant fields comma-separated. Note that the order of the comma-separated terms should match, so that the first violated policy name is paired with the first violating text value, and so on.
- An example of the fields would therefore be:
Creatives:
| Account | Campaign | Group | Creative ID | [Policy Name] | [Violating Text] |
| Campaign1 | Group1 | 654321 | pharma, prescription_drug_terms, drugs_paraphernalia | Meds, tablet, speed | |
| Campaign2 | Group2 | 765432 | trademark, weapons | Nike, pistol |
Keywords:
| Account | Campaign | Group | Keyword | Matchtype | [Policy Name] | [Violating Text] |
| Campaign1 | Group1 | pistol holster | Broad | weapons | pistol | |
| Campaign2 | Group2 | tablet dispenser | Broad | prescription_drug_terms | tablet |
- The Results error message seen in the error file will identify what the Policy Name and Violating Text is for that creative/keyword. For example, if the following error message is seen for a creative:
Google Error: Error: GOOGLE,pharma, operations[315].operand.ad.description1,, en_US,this means that the Policy Name is pharma, and the Violating Text is a term within Description Line 1 for that creative.
