Dangerous Products
or Services Checklist

This includes fireworks, blasting materials, detonators, or any product whose primary purpose is to explode. Even if the product is legally sold in your country, advertising it on Google Ads is prohibited globally.

Instructions, guides, tutorials, or "educational" content about making explosives are banned — even if framed as historical, scientific, or hobbyist. This applies to blog posts, product descriptions, and any downloadable content on your landing page.

Terms like "high-explosive," "detonating," "blast-grade," or even casual language in ad copy that associates a product with explosive force can trigger a flag — even for products not designed to explode. Review every word in your ads and product pages.

This ban covers all guns regardless of purpose — sport shooting, self-defence, or hunting. Even if you are a licensed, legitimate firearms retailer, you cannot advertise functional guns on Google Ads. There is no exception or waiver for this.

Banned gun parts include: barrels, slides, receivers, bolts, triggers, magazines, suppressors, silencers, scopes, and conversion kits. Whether finished or unfinished, if the part makes a gun work better or enables it to function, it cannot be advertised.

Assembly guides, modification tutorials, and "how-to" videos for guns are prohibited — even if linked from a product page for a legal safety accessory. Remove these from your website entirely if they exist, not just from your ad destination URL.

If you sell both safety accessories (allowed) and functional parts (banned), split your advertising. Only create ads for the safety accessories — gun safes, locks, cases. Remove all ads that could be interpreted as promoting functional parts even indirectly.

Tactical knives, fighting knives, and combat blades are banned even if they are marketed for "outdoor survival." The test is the modern-day intended use. If the product description, imagery, or marketing language positions the knife as a weapon, remove the ad.

Switchblades, spring-assisted knives, disguised blades (e.g., knives hidden in everyday objects like pens or combs), and gravity knives all fall under this ban. Even if legal in your region, these designs are prohibited in ads.

The "other weapons" category is broad. If a product's primary use is to cause harm to a person in a confrontation — regardless of the sport or cultural context — it falls here. Review your full product catalogue against this standard.

Blog posts, guides, or tutorials about weapon modification or acquisition — even if written as "educational" content — are covered by this policy. If your landing page links to such content, it will fail Google's review even if your ad itself is clean.

This covers illegal drugs, psychoactive substances, herbal highs, legal highs, synthetic cannabinoids (spice), and any substance marketed for recreational use or euphoric effect. Even if legal in your country or state, advertising them on Google is banned everywhere.

Drug paraphernalia — bongs, pipes, rolling papers marketed for drug use, vaporisers positioned as drug delivery devices, and similar items — are banned. The key is how they are marketed. "Tobacco pipe" may be acceptable; "smoking accessories" with drug-related imagery is not.

As of September 2025, Google added pill presses and tablet-making equipment to this policy. This includes: tableting machines, encapsulating machines, dies, moulds, stamps, and punches used to create or imprint pills. Even if your use is legitimate (e.g., supplements), these cannot be advertised.

Blog posts, forum threads, FAQs, or product descriptions that describe how to use or make recreational drugs will cause your landing page to fail review — even if your ad itself doesn't mention drugs. Audit your entire site, not just the pages your ads link to.

Legitimate products like herbal teas, supplements, or smoking accessories can get flagged if the description uses drug-adjacent language. Words like "euphoric," "psychoactive," "mind-altering," "get lifted," or "elevated experience" in product copy are high-risk regardless of the product.

Sodium nitrite above 10% concentration has been associated with self-harm and is restricted by Google. If you sell industrial chemicals, food preservation ingredients, or any compound that contains sodium nitrite, check the concentration of what you are selling and advertising.

If you are unsure about the concentration of your product, check the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) or the product specification from your supplier. Do not guess. If you cannot confirm it is 10% or below, do not advertise it until you have documentation confirming the concentration.

If your product complies (10% or less), make the concentration clearly visible on your product page. This helps Google's reviewers immediately verify compliance rather than having to dig for the information. Transparency speeds up re-approval.

Google bans all tobacco advertising globally with no exceptions. This applies regardless of brand, nicotine level, or whether the product is marketed as a "premium" or "natural" tobacco product. No tobacco product can be advertised on Google Ads.

Rolling papers, cigarette tubes, tobacco filters, cigarette-rolling machines, and tobacco pipes (when marketed for tobacco use) are banned as they are components of tobacco consumption. Even if sold separately, their association with tobacco makes them non-advertisable.

This includes subscription services for tobacco products, tobacco delivery services, or any service whose purpose is to help people access or consume tobacco. The ban covers not just the product but the entire consumption ecosystem.

Electronic cigarettes and vaping products are banned because they are designed to simulate tobacco smoking — regardless of whether they contain nicotine or not. This includes: e-cigarette devices, vape pens, pod systems, e-liquids, and vape accessories sold alongside these products.

If a government body, safety authority, or the manufacturer has issued a recall or safety advisory for a product you are advertising, you must immediately pause or remove those ads. Google monitors these advisories and will flag you. This applies until the product has been cleared by the relevant authority.

Check your country's official recall database — for example, recalls.gov in the USA, the OPSS recall portal in the UK, or the ACCC product safety database in Australia. Search your product names and brand names. Document this search as part of your appeal evidence.

When you submit an appeal, Google's reviewers will visit your website and check your account. If the violations are still there, the appeal will fail and future appeals become harder to get reviewed. Fix everything first. Then explain in your appeal what you fixed and how.

Your appeal should include: (1) which policy was violated, (2) which specific ads or pages were the problem, (3) exactly what you removed or changed, and (4) why your remaining products and ads comply with the policy. Be factual. Vague appeals like "we have reviewed and complied" almost always fail.

In your Google Ads account, go to Tools → Policy Manager to find and appeal flagged ads or account-level suspensions. Do not use third-party services claiming to submit appeals on your behalf — there is no back channel to Google's review team, and such services often make things worse.

Google reviews appeals within 3 to 7 business days. Submitting multiple identical appeals does not speed up the process — it flags your account as spamming the system and reduces the likelihood of a positive outcome. Wait, then only resubmit if you have new information or changes to report.