Google Ads for affiliate offers, minus the bridge page.
You can run affiliate offers on Google Ads. None of the Google policy pages we read on 4 November 2026 bans affiliates. What they rule out is an affiliate breaking its programme's rules, and a page whose only job is to pass the click on, which Google calls a bridge page.
- Straight to the offerdomains must match
- Your own page firstoriginal content
- A page that only links outdisapproved
What Google checks on each setup.
The policy names are Google's, so you can search them in its help centre. The last column is what Google says follows a violation.
| Setup | What Google checks | Policy | After a violation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Direct link to the merchant | The domain in your display URL matches the final URL, and the final URL doesn't redirect to another domain. Since early July 2026 Google can allow a redirect to another domain in certain cases, with prior approval, and its example is a manufacturer sending shoppers to its retailers. | Destination mismatch | Disapproval first, then 7 days' notice or more before a suspension. |
| A tracker between ad and page | The tracking template leads to the same content as the final URL, and the click tracker is on Google's certified list. | Destination mismatch | "Using uncertified trackers can lead to disapproval." |
| Your own review or comparison page | "useful, unique, and original content". Nothing mirrored, framed, scraped or built from a template that repeats someone else's page. | Insufficient original content | The same, a disapproval and at least 7 days' notice. |
| A page that only links out | Google's own example is "Bridge pages, doorways, gateways, or other intermediate pages that are only used to link to other sites". | Insufficient original content | The same. |
| A page built to show ads | Traffic sent "to destinations with more ads than original content". | Insufficient original content | The same. |
| Bidding where your programme says no | "Affiliates that advertise on Google Ads against the applicable affiliate program rules", and more than one ad for the same business in one ad location. | Unfair advantage | Disapproval, and again 7 days' notice or more. |
| A page that passes for the brand | Making it "seem like you’re supported by another brand", or impersonating one to hide who you are. | Misrepresentation, Unacceptable business practices | Suspension "upon detection and without prior warning". |
Direct link to the merchant
- What Google checks
- The domain in your display URL matches the final URL, and the final URL doesn't redirect to another domain. Since early July 2026 Google can allow a redirect to another domain in certain cases, with prior approval, and its example is a manufacturer sending shoppers to its retailers.
- Policy
- Destination mismatch
- After a violation
- Disapproval first, then 7 days' notice or more before a suspension.
A tracker between ad and page
- What Google checks
- The tracking template leads to the same content as the final URL, and the click tracker is on Google's certified list.
- Policy
- Destination mismatch
- After a violation
- "Using uncertified trackers can lead to disapproval."
Your own review or comparison page
- What Google checks
- "useful, unique, and original content". Nothing mirrored, framed, scraped or built from a template that repeats someone else's page.
- Policy
- Insufficient original content
- After a violation
- The same, a disapproval and at least 7 days' notice.
A page that only links out
- What Google checks
- Google's own example is "Bridge pages, doorways, gateways, or other intermediate pages that are only used to link to other sites".
- Policy
- Insufficient original content
- After a violation
- The same.
A page built to show ads
- What Google checks
- Traffic sent "to destinations with more ads than original content".
- Policy
- Insufficient original content
- After a violation
- The same.
Bidding where your programme says no
- What Google checks
- "Affiliates that advertise on Google Ads against the applicable affiliate program rules", and more than one ad for the same business in one ad location.
- Policy
- Unfair advantage
- After a violation
- Disapproval, and again 7 days' notice or more.
A page that passes for the brand
- What Google checks
- Making it "seem like you’re supported by another brand", or impersonating one to hide who you are.
- Policy
- Misrepresentation, Unacceptable business practices
- After a violation
- Suspension "upon detection and without prior warning".
In the back rows of a packed session at Affiliate World Budapest. Our team was there, July 2026.
7
A bridge page gets seven days' warning. A page posing as the brand gets none.
Read the pages side by side and the mistakes fall into two groups. Bridge pages, copied pages and bidding against your programme start as disapprovals, and Google warns at least 7 days before it suspends anything. Making it look as if the brand stands behind your ad is the other group. Google calls that egregious, suspends on detection and says you won't advertise with Google Ads again.
"This suspension occurs upon detection and without prior warning." Google, Misrepresentation policy, read 4 November 2026.
Read by account, down to the day.
- acct_us_14$15.2k
- acct_uk_03$11.3k
- acct_de_11$8.6k
- acct_nl_02$5.6k
- acct_eu_07$2.1k
- acct_us_14$12,000
- acct_uk_03$9,240
The tracker has to be on Google's list.
Google certifies click trackers and publishes the ones it accepts. On 4 November 2026 the list included Voluum, Everflow, TUNE and Impact Radius. A tracker nested inside another one has to be certified too, and a tracking parameter you leave in the final URL goes after {ignore}. If yours isn't on the list, ask its support before the campaign goes in.
The tracker tells you what the offer paid. The panel shows what each Google account spent, down to the single account.
Where does Google write affiliates into the rule?
- Gambling.Affiliate and comparison sites can be certified, only in countries where Google lists that content, and only if they link to licensed operators in the market you target.
- Social casino.Affiliates and aggregators are out.
- Finance in 24 EEA markets.If you promote a licensed firm's products with its approval, you can't apply for verification yourself. The firm applies for you.
- Crypto.Sites that compare issuers or review brokers are refused.
Review pages, suspensions and the rate.
Can a review page link to more than one merchant?
Google sets no number. What it disapproves is a page whose only purpose is to send people elsewhere, or content copied without adding anything. A comparison that does the comparing itself is a different page, in our reading, and a Google reviewer still decides.
Does an agency account change Google's review?
No. The destination and misrepresentation rules apply whoever holds the account. With us you get the account, a person who answers, and a read of the funnel before you deposit.
What if Google suspends the account?
If the reason sits in the egregious group above, read Google's notice before you open anything new. For anything else, you hear it from a person, with what the platform told us. We read why it happened, fix what can be fixed and resubmit with you.
What does Google cost through you?
We don't publish a Google rate. Your rate depends on vertical and volume. One message in chat gets you the number.
Send the funnel, from ad to offer.
Final URL, tracking template and the page in between, if there is one. You hear which of Google's lines we'd worry about.
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