Business Operations Verification - Google Ads

[bysky]

Hello everyone,
I’m having a terrible experience with the Google Ads “Business Operations Verification” process, with multiple form submissions being rejected, even though from my point of view there’s nothing wrong with the documents I’m providing.


Without questioning the validation process itself, I believe there is a serious bug (which I’ve already reported, but it has never been resolved) that makes me lose all confidence in submitting a new request. The issue is with the form, which can be found here:


https://support.google.com/adspolicy/contact/UAV_Harmonized_BOV_Form


It doesn’t allow you to upload more than one document at a time in any of the fields that ask for multiple files. Anyone can easily test this — for example, in question 28. Try uploading a file, and you’ll see that the button gets disabled immediately, making it impossible to select a second document.


The only support person I managed to speak with suggested that I combine everything into a single PDF, but at the same time mentioned that the documents must be photos, not scans or online versions. That’s at the very least a bit contradictory, and unfortunately, there’s no one who can provide expert feedback on this matter. The requests keep getting rejected with a generic reason saying that documents are missing, but I never get to know exactly what’s missing or what’s wrong — because it’s impossible to speak directly with anyone from that department.

My Ads account is 8 years old, I spend a considerable amount every month, and I don’t know what else to do to avoid getting it suspended.

Has anyone else gone through this and can offer some help?
Thanks!

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Hi @bysky, I think that the support person simply mis-spoke regarding the type of documents, they prefer high quality scans not photos. As you saw from my similar post from around a year ago, the suggestion to combine all your information into a single document (PDF) is what worked for us back then and continues to be a process we use when having to verify or reverify an Ads Account. When at all possible, scan the original and if it is a color document, scan it in color. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[bysky]

Hi Jeff, thank you.
May I ask if at the time you sent the documents you included any kind of cover letter or provided some explanation about them? If so, did you do that within the PDF file itself, or in the final remarks/comments? Thanks!

 

[JeffClevelandTN]

Hi Jeff, thank you.
May I ask if at the time you sent the documents you included any kind of cover letter or provided some explanation about them? If so, did you do that within the PDF file itself, or in the final remarks/comments? Thanks!

Sorry for the delay in replying. I think part of the challenge will be that Google has different document requirements in the USA versus Portugal, which I'm not familiar with. Has there been any correspondence from Google where they have specified or recommended the additional documentation that might be helpful? They should have provided you a specific reason why validation failed, or why your Ad Account was suspended to begin with.

I did some very quick research and there is a lot of additional steps required for verification/validation in the gambling sector. The requirements are very strict.

For example, you need to have a Google Gambling Advertising Certification. Unlike ordinary advertiser verification, the gambling certificate is per country and per domain, so you repeat the process for every new market or URL. However, there are a number of other requirements before you even open Google Ads Account. If those steps weren't initially followed when you originally created the account, you have a lot of work ahead of you.

If this were a non-gambling Ad Account, I could probably provide more assistance, but this is a very niche process. However, I'm happy to help where I can.

 

[bysky]

Hi Jeff, thank you.

Yes, there are several steps required in order to run gambling ads, and we’ve complied with all of them. We submitted the request for gambling certification and it was approved without any issues, and everything has been running smoothly since 2017.

We understand it’s an area with a lot of spam, but that’s definitely not our case. What may have happened is that they’re now requiring Business Operations Verification from all accounts running gambling ads, and companies that operate within the regulations end up getting caught in technical issues.

All of our ads are restricted — they can only be shown to a specific audience, there are certain features we can’t use, we must have geo-targeting, age verification, and a number of other things, but it has always been this way and has always been accepted by them.

It’s honestly very frustrating, because we spend a considerable amount, in the 6-figure range per year on ads, and yet we don’t even have an account manager, or someone who can simply explain how to correctly fill out a form.

Thank you so much for your help, I’ll share any updates here later.