Google doesn't allow participation in the Google Actions Centre for partners whose site content or behaviour is deceptive, misleading, unsafe, unlawful or abusive to users or our network. The following are examples of the kinds of content and behaviour that are prohibited by the platform and could lead to account suspension or termination.
On this page
- Abuse of the network
- Misrepresentation
- Suspension from Google Actions Centre
- Ask Google to reconsider a decision to suspend
Abuse of the network
The following are not allowed:
- Malicious content, specifically content that may harm or grant unauthorised access to a computer, device or network
- Attempts to bypass data quality and/or policy review processes, including price and fee accuracy scoring
- Consistently incorrect landing page redirects
Irresponsible data collection and use
Actions Centre partners should not misuse user information, nor collect it for unclear purposes or without appropriate security measures.
Examples of irresponsible data collection and use:
- Getting the following data over non-secure SSL (https://) server connections:
- Username or email in combination with passwords
- Credit and debit card numbers
- Bank and investment account numbers
- Transaction account numbers
- Bank transfer numbers
- National identity, pension, social security, tax ID, healthcare or driver licence number
- Re-selling users' contact information, sharing user information with third parties without their consent or using images or other personal information of users in promotional materials without their consent
- Unnecessary data collection
- Using user information deceptively or without specific consent
- Sending users spam (i.e. unsolicited marketing or promotional material without their consent)
Misrepresentation
The following are not allowed:
- Prompting users to initiate a purchase, booking, download, subscription or other commitment without first providing all relevant information and getting the user’s explicit consent on all relevant information, including total cost, relevant terms, duration of a subscription or other ongoing service, cancellation policy or other information required by applicable law. Users must actively choose to subscribe, download or take any other ongoing action.
- Representing yourself, your company or your offers in a way that is not accurate, realistic and truthful
- Frequently providing incorrect pricing, order estimates or fees
- Repeatedly having unavailable destination URLs (landing pages)
- Users are frequently unable to complete checkout or complete booking
- Displaying items, offers, tickets or booking times that cannot be reliably purchased, booked or redeemed on the landing page.
- Prices, taxes and fees charged for Google users should not be computed differently than they are for non-Google users
Partner display names must be free from clickbait, emojis or other terms that misrepresent your business to users.
Suspension from Google Actions Centre
Google may, at its sole discretion, decide to suspend a partner’s content (partially or completely, including affiliate brands) from Google Actions Centre for any of the following reasons:
- Failure to comply with Google’s policies by engaging in prohibited practices as outlined above
- Evidence of a poor, deceptive, abusive or harmful experience based on user feedback (via either Google’s own channels or public ones) or otherwise
- Provision of content that does not comply with applicable law or regulation
- Unresponsiveness to outreach from the Google support team
- Other conduct or data issues that frustrate the purposes of Google Actions Centre or its ability to operate in a reasonable manner
We use a combination of automated and human evaluation to detect this type of behaviour, and all potential violations are reviewed by our policy team. If our policy team finds an account is in violation of our policies, they'll contact account owners directly with more details. Initial violations can result in account suspension of up to 7 days if issues aren't resolved during a specified warning period. Subsequent violations will incur longer suspensions (up to permanent suspension for repeat offenders). Egregious violations can result in immediate account suspension.
Ask Google to reconsider a decision to suspend
If you disagree with a suspension decision and want us to reconsider our position, you may submit an appeal within 30 days from the date of suspension. An appeal form is provided within the suspension notification email. Note that after the end of this 30-day period, you will no longer be allowed to ask us to reconsider our decision.
Only one appeal can be submitted per suspension decision. Refrain from the repeated submission of unfounded appeals. Before submitting an appeal, ensure that you understand Google policies. At the time of submitting an appeal, be sure to include clear and convincing evidence as to why Google should reconsider our decision. Failure to do so might prevent you from being allowed to submit an appeal in the future.
After an appeal is submitted, your request will be promptly reviewed, and Google will get back to you with a decision. If your appeal is unsuccessful, you will be required to resolve any policy violations to be in compliance with Google's policies and have the suspension lifted.
