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Advertiser verification

To give people everywhere more transparency, choice, and control, we’re verifying every advertiser that uses Google Ads. Learn more about why we’re doing this

The benefits of verifying

  1. Build trust – Show your audience that you’re an authentic voice for your brand
  2. Empower your audience – Help them make better choices about the content, products, and services they use
  3. Limit fraud – Make it harder for fraudsters to impersonate the brands you represent
  4. Get more out of Google Ads – Encounter fewer limits and access more features available to verified accounts

Your Status
To keep running ads, start advertiser verifications by

What you’ll need for verification

You need to verify your identity to continue serving ads.

A document for the organization

  • A letter or notice issued or stamped by the IRS, such as CP 575 that confirms your Employer Identification Number (EIN)
  • A copy of the organization’s Form 8871, 8872, or 990 from the IRS website
  • A state-issued certificate of business registration or incorporation
  • Your organization’s most recent SEC filing, including Form 10-K, 10-Q, or 8-K
  • A business credit report from Experian, Equifax, TransUnion, or Dun & Bradstreet

An ID to verify it’s really you

  • Driver License
  • Passport
  • State ID
  • Green Card

Learn more about verification

The information you submit will be used to verify your identity. Google may also use this information to protect against fraud and abuse and to improve our verification services for Google products. This verification process is important to help enforce the integrity of Google’s services to you and others and help ensure compliance with relevant terms of service. Your verified information will be stored securely in your payments profile, and documents you submit will be deleted after the verification process is successfully completed. The information you submit will be used in accordance with the Google Privacy Policy.

The Process

Tell us about your business

Is your organization an advertising agency?

Yes

Select if you mostly manage Ads for clients, even if you also self-advertise.
Note: you may need to submit your client’s proof of organization documents as part of verification, as well as your agency’s

No

Select if you:

  • Only advertise your own brand and/or sub-brands
  • Advertise other brands, and are paid on a per-conversion basis (that is, you’re an affiliate)

Who do you want to verify today?

  1. A client
  2. My agency

By clicking Save & continue, you’re agreeing that Google will make information about the advertiser you’re verifying and its ad campaigns
publicly available as described in our advertiser verification policy, including:

  • Ad creatives
  • Dates and locations ads served
  • Ads removed or accounts suspended for legal or policy reasons
  • Business contact information
  • Advertiser name change history

Google Ads Verification Unveiled

About verification

Google provides translated versions of our Help Center as a convenience, though they are not meant to change the content of our policies. The English version is the official language we use to enforce our policies. To view this article in a different language, use the language dropdown at the bottom of the page.

To provide a safe and trustworthy ad ecosystem for users, Google will require advertisers to complete one or more verification programs. Below are some examples of the verification programs we may ask you to complete. A more detailed list can be found here.

Advertisers must also comply with Google Ads policies. Learn about what happens if you violate our policies.

Advertiser verification program

Display & Video 360 users should visit the Display & Video 360 help center for details about the advertiser verification program for Display & Video 360.

Advertiser verification program is Google’s unified verification program that consolidates identity and business operations verification in a single flow. The program comprises a series of steps that advertisers will be required to follow and complete. Under this program, advertisers will be asked to provide basic information about their business and identity. Advertisers will have 30 days to initiate the verification and another 30 days to complete it.

Advertisers will be notified via an email and an in-account notification when they have been selected for the Advertiser verification program. Below are the details of the Advertiser verification program.

About your business

In the first step of the Advertiser verification program, Google will ask advertisers a few basic questions related to their Google Ads account and business under the ‘About your business’ section. These questions will help us get a better understanding of your business. Here are examples of questions that you may be required to answer:

  • Whether your business is an advertising agency
  • Who pays for your ads
  • Whether you advertise your own products/services or some else’s
  • Your industry (or industries)

The person who is responsible for completing this section should be a Google Ads account admin familiar with your business operations and advertising practices for your Google Ads account. You will be given 30 days to submit your answers or your account(s) will be paused after the 30th day. Learn more about account pausing.

Responses from the completion of the About your business questions will determine the verification requirements and direct advertisers to the next steps of additional verification, which may include verifying your identity, your business operations, or both.

Verify your identity

Upon completion of the ‘About your business’ questions, you may be asked to verify your legal name via the advertiser identity verification or business operations verification process. Depending upon the setup of your Google Ads account, this verification may be requested for your organization and/or your client’s organization (if you work for an agency). Google will verify your identity and generate a disclosure on any ads you run, displaying your name and location. Find out more about transparency and ad disclosures here.

This verification must be completed by an authorized representative, who is an admin of the Google Ads account and/or the payments profile paying for the ads. You will be given 30 days to successfully complete this verification and all other requested verifications (if applicable) once you start this process. Failure to complete or meet the verification requirements in the specified time period will result in an account pause. Note that the pause will only be applied by the end of the 30th day if advertisers have not completed or met the requirements. Learn more about account pausing.

Further instructions on how to complete Identity verification can be found here.

Verify your business operations

Based on your responses in the About your business questions, we may ask you to verify details about your business operations (if applicable) along with supporting documentation, such as your business model, business registration information, types of services you offer, business practices, and relationships with advertised brands, products or third parties, if applicable.

You will be given 30 days to successfully complete business operations verification and all other requested verifications (if applicable) once you start this process. Failure to complete or meet the verification requirements in the specified time period will result in an account pause. Note that the pause will only be applied by the end of the 30th day if advertisers have not completed or met the requirements. Learn more about account pausing.

Learn more about business operations verification here.

Selection criteria for Advertiser verification program

Advertisers may be selected to complete Google’s Advertiser verification program based on the following example criteria:

  • Advertisers may be selected to complete verification if, for example, the advertising behavior or your ad content is deemed as potentially misleading. We want to ensure that users understand who is providing the advertised products or services on Google ads.
  • As a part of a phased rollout of Google’s transparency efforts, under which all advertisers will eventually be required to complete Google’s Advertiser verification program that encompasses completion of the steps above. Currently, Google supports identity verification for advertisers registered in these regions.
  • As an additional layer of protection for our users, Google may request that advertisers complete the Advertiser verification program if, for example, they are advertising on brand-related queries or user queries in business verticals or industries susceptible to abuse, fraud, and scams (such as travel, customer or technical support services and financial services). Where an advertiser is asked to complete additional verification, advertisers’ campaign performance may be impacted when advertising on certain Google restricted queries. Successful completion of the requested verifications will help improve campaign performance (as applicable).

Immediate account pausing for Advertiser verification program

In certain circumstances, we may pause your Google Ads accounts immediately when the Advertiser verification program is initiated. This means that your ads will not be able to serve until you are able to complete the program successfully.

We will pause your account immediately for the following reasons:

In determining whether an advertiser’s account should be paused during the verification process, we may review information from multiple sources, including but not limited to: regulatory warnings, rulings about an advertiser’s business practices or complaints from users, businesses, and other entities about impersonation or scams.

Once the verification process is completed successfully, the advertiser’s account(s) will be unpaused and any ads that are compliant with Google Ads policies will be able to serve. However, accounts that do not meet the requirements of this verification program will remain paused.

How Google uses your information

Google will use the information you provide to:

  1. Verify your identity and/or your business operations
  2. Show a disclosure including your name, or the name of the business you represent, and location, linked from any ads you run.

Find out more about Advertiser transparency and disclosures.

As Google expands its transparency efforts, we will make information about your Google Ads accounts and ad campaigns publicly available including:

  • Advertiser name change history
  • Ad creatives
  • Dates and locations ads served
  • Ads removed or accounts suspended for legal or policy reasons
  • Business contact information

Personal contact information, phone numbers, or email addresses will not be published.

How disclosures appear in different ad formats

Keep in mind

  • If you intend to run election ads, in certain countries you must also complete election ads verification.
  • If we find that you violate our Google Ads policy, or you’ve provided false information during the verification program, your verification will be revoked, and your account may be suspended.
  • Google reserves the right to verify your identity or business operations again. You’ll receive a notification when this verification is required. For example, you may be asked to re-verify your identity or business operations if there are significant changes in your Google Ads account.
  • Google may update these verification requirements at any time.

Restricted content

To protect our users, we allow only legitimate advertisers to promote content associated with certain regulated industries, such as Gambling and games, Healthcare and medicines, and Financial products or services. If you would like to advertise this content on our platform, you may be required to complete the verification program to prove you meet local licensing requirements. You may also have to complete additional identity checks.

We continually review our ad policies in light of industry changes and abuse trends, and may introduce new verification requirements for certain content.

Ad formats and features

To ensure quality ads, we may require advertisers to complete additional verification to access advanced ad formats and features of Google Ads, such as HTML5 ads and Local Services ads. We review all our ad formats for policy violations and abuse, and may introduce new verification requirements to access certain ad formats.

Advertiser responsibility

As stated in the Google Ads Terms & Conditions, advertisers are solely responsible for their use of Google Ads. Submitting false information as part of our verification programs will be considered in violation of our Circumventing Systems policy. Google uses its best efforts to review and validate the information provided by advertisers as part of these verification programs, but in doing so does not guarantee or assume responsibility for advertiser content or activity.

Need help?

If you have questions about our policies, let us know: Contact Google Ads Support