Google Ads sets a six-month deadline for appealing policy decisions

Google has tightened the rules for appealing violations in Google Ads. Per Search Engine Roundtable, starting July 21, 2026 you can appeal a policy decision directly from your Google Ads account only within six months of that decision.

The company updated its appeals help and documentation. Google's wording is clear: starting July 21, 2026, the option to appeal a policy decision directly from your Google Ads account will not be available for policy decisions made more than six months prior.

What this changes in practice:

• a hard statute of limitations appears — old bans and ad disapprovals get «frozen»;
• decisions older than six months can no longer be challenged with an in-account button;
• you must react to blocks right away instead of putting them off;
• the rule covers policy decisions — disapproved ads, limitations and suspensions.

Previously advertisers could revisit a disputed decision long after the fact; now the window to defend your position is capped at six months. It fits Google's broader push to automate moderation and cut manual reviews.

Six months sounds like a comfortable cushion, but accounts with a violation history and agencies juggling many clients at once are the ones most likely to miss it — too many decisions to track by hand, one by one. A late appeal simply stays unreviewed.

Related reading: Contextual Advertising Audit