Ads API - policy violation and exemption requests

[Vlad Zloteanu]

Hello,

As we control the accounts of multiple publishers, from multiple industries, we need a way to automate the treatment of policy violation errors (for example, a "false ceiling" campaign will have all the keywords and ads submitted to review because of the presence of the word 'false').

If I push all the ads using MutateJobService, for the ads marked as 'pending review':

1. Should I immediately submit an exemption request? (Does this speed up the review process?) Or should I only submit an exemption request when (if) the ad is disapproved?

2. Will the exemption be applied to all future ads?

For example, an ad may be submitted to review because of the word 'false'. Does the exemption refer to this specific ad, or to all future ads containing 'false'?

3. If the response to (2) is negative, is it any way to avoid future policy violations, for a single word? In my example, could we be pre-approved for the word 'false' ?

4. Can I pre-verify the keywords and ads for policy violations, using https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/guides/soap#validateOnly ?

Thank you

[Anash P. Oommen (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Vlad,

1. No, all ads submitted through any service (MutateJobService, AdGroupAdService) undergoes review. A good share of the ads are reviewed automatically, some requires a manual review and can take time.

2. The exemption applies to one ad at a time (i.e. if you have two ads that violate a policy, then both needs their own exemption requests).

3. If you have an account manager at Google, you could reach out to that person and see if there's a provision for such a pre-approval. There isn't any from the AdWords API side.

4. validateOnly is restricted to verifying editorial policy violations. It cannot catch more complex ones like trademark violation, for instance.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have more questions.

Cheers,
Anash P. Oommen,

AdWords Scripts Team

[Vlad Zloteanu]

Hello Anash,

Thank you for your answer, it is very helpful.

I would like to confirm with you: what is the exact use case of an exemption request? (through API)

Should we send an exemption request immediately after an ad is marked as 'pending review'? 

Or should we wait the decision, then send an exemption request, if the decision is negative?

Best,

Vlad

[Jeremy Aube]

Typically the workflow is that if there is an immediate policy violation, you will get an error for that ad with the policy violation, at which point you can submit an exemption request. Most libraries should have some sort of example code to show you how to do this.

For an ad marked "pending review", that generally means a manual review needs to be done on Google's end, so an exemption request won't do you any good there, either before or after the review.

[Vlad Zloteanu]

Hello,

Thank you all for your responses.

After sending an exemption request, is there a mean to know if the exemption request was approved or not?

Use case: a keyword is disallowed by google, we send an exemption request, using the API. The keyword is still banned. 

How can we know if the keyword is still banned, after an exemption request, because:

- the exemption request was not yet reviewed by Google

- the exemption request was reviewed and refused

Best,

Vlad

[Anash P. Oommen (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Vlad,

You will be able to retrieve the keyword to see if it was approved or not. Is that what you are looking for?

Cheers,
Anash

[Vlad Zloteanu]

Hi Anash,

I have no direct way to retrieve the keyword, MutateJobService does not return any reference, only the error message. I can only poll the keywords list and search there, unless I'm missing something.

A. For my (first) problem, let me give you a common scenario:
1. Keyword 'false ceiling' is rejected
2. I send an exemption request, using the API
3. One day later, I get list of keywords, using Adwords API, and the keyword still does not appear in the keywords list

How can I know that the keyword does not appear:
i. Because my exemption request was reviewed and denied, or
ii. Because my exemption request was not yet reviewed

This is important because I would like to know when should I stop polling the keywords list in the API (after 1 day, after 2?), to detect if any new one has appeared.



B. Lately, I also hit another issue, that is somewhat analogue:

Using MutateJobService, I’m sending an Ad that violates AdWords rules.
I’m getting an error response like:
{'isExemptable': 'true', 'externalPolicyDescription': 'This ad or keyword requires review before it can run.', 'errorString': 'PolicyViolationError.POLICY_ERROR', 'fieldPath': 'operations[0].operand.ad.headline', 'trigger': '', 'externalPolicyName': 'Google AdWords', 'violatingParts': [{'index': '6', 'length': '4'}], 'key': {'policyName': 'counterfeit_designer_goods', 'violatingText': 'faux'}, 'ApiError_Type': 'PolicyViolationError', 'externalPolicyUrl': ''} 

Should I:
i. immediately send an exemption response
ii. wait some time to see if ad is accepted
     ii.a. can you confirm that the only way of knowing that the ad is accepted / rejected is to poll the ads list, in Adwords API, and see if the ad appeared there?
     ii. b. if this is the case, when (after what period of time) should I stop polling, and consider that the ad is rejected?



C. Analogue with (B), for a keyword:

Using MutateJobService, I’m sending a keyword that violates AdWords rules.
I’m getting an error response like:
{'isExemptable': 'false', 'externalPolicyDescription': 'This ad or keyword requires review before it can run.', 'errorString': 'CriterionPolicyError.POLICY_ERROR’, 'fieldPath': 'operations[3].operand.criterion.text', 'trigger': 'faux', 'externalPolicyName': 'Google AdWords', 'violatingParts': [{'index': '6', 'length': '4'}], 'key': {'policyName': 'counterfeit_designer_goods', 'violatingText': 'faux'}, 'ApiError_Type': 'CriterionPolicyError', 'externalPolicyUrl': ''}

i. can you confirm that the only way of knowing that the keyword is accepted / rejected is to poll the keywords list, in Adwords API, and see if it appeared there?
ii if this is the case, when (after what period of time) should I stop polling, and consider that the keyword is definitely rejected?

 
Could you please assist with those 3 cases?

Thanks!

Vlad Z.

[Anash P. Oommen (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Vlad,

A) Are you doing the following? If yes, let me know, I'd investigate this further. (a) Send a mutate(), call fails. (b) Send another mutate, this time with exemption request. Call succeeds. (c) Do a get(), keyword from (b) is missing.

B and C): You should send the request back immediately, with a policy exemption request. But this will work only if isExemptable is set to true in the first failed request. 

You'd want to refer to https://github.com/googleads/googleads-php-lib/blob/master/examples/AdWords/v201402/ErrorHandling/HandlePolicyViolationError.php, it shows how policy error handling can be done. MutateJobService can be used in the same manner.

Cheers,

Anash

[Vlad Zloteanu]

Anash,


Thank you for your help. Looking through code examples, I think I have misunderstood the error handling workflow.
I need my system to be always informed of the changes in the approval status of my keywords/ads, and I want to send an exemption request each time it is possible (we never push stuff that actually violates policies - for example, ‘false ceiling’ is a real product, and does not refer to counterfeit goods :) )

Here’s my (new) understanding of the ideal workflow of adding a new keyword/ad:

a. send a mutate call, to add a keyword/add. if the mutate fails:

I) If error is exemptable:
b. resend call, with an attached exemption request; call should always return a reference to the Keyword/Ad; Keyword/Ad
c. from time to time, ask the list of Keywords/Ads, to see if Keyword/Ad is approved (changed approval state)

II) If error is not exemptable:
b. from time to time, ask the list of Keywords/Ads, to see if the Keyword/Ad appears in the list


I have some questions:

1. Is this the recommended workflow?

2. On I)b, will always AdWords return a reference to the Keyword/Ad?

3. On II)c, how much time should I poll, to be sure to get a response to my exemption request?

4. On II)b, can AdWords, later on, decide that the keyword/ad is OK, and add it to keywords/ads list?
If the answer is Yes: how much time should I poll the kws/ads list, to be sure not to miss it?


Thank you,
Vlad Z.

[Anash P. Oommen (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Vlad,

I think you have most part correct. Here's the complete flow

a. send a mutate call, to add a keyword/add. if the mutate fails:

 I) If error is exemptable:

     a. resend call, with an attached exemption request; call should always return a reference to the Keyword/Ad; Keyword/Ad
     b. from time to time, ask the list of Keywords/Ads, to see if Keyword/Ad is approved (changed approval state)

 II) If error is not exemptable:

     b. Drop the keyword, you cannot upload this keyword through AdWords API.

To answer the rest of the questions,

1. Yes, this is the recommended flow

2. Yes, you always get a keyword reference back.

3. These ads generally get reviewed manually, so may be a day or two. If it takes longer, you should call up AdWords support - https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/1385067?hl=en

4. Doesn't apply, since your keyword won't be uploaded by AdWords API even with an exemption request. Again, contact AdWords support and see if they could help you in such cases.

Cheers,
Anash P. Oommen,

AdWords API Advisor.