💡 What Is the Prohibited Categories for Personalized Ads Policy?
Google allows advertisers to personalise ads — showing different ads to different people based on their interests, browsing history, or demographics. However, certain sensitive categories of information can NEVER be used to target people with personalised ads. This is because using someone's health condition, financial struggles, sexual orientation, religion, or political beliefs to target them with ads is considered an invasion of privacy and potentially harmful. This checklist tells you exactly which categories are off-limits and how to audit and fix your campaigns to be fully compliant.
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Understand what "personalised advertising" means in Google's context
Personalised advertising means showing someone an ad based on something Google knows or infers about them personally — their past web browsing, their Google search history, their YouTube watch history, their location patterns, or data you have uploaded about them (like an email list). Non-personalised ads are shown based on the context of the page only — not on who the person is. This policy restricts what you are allowed to know or infer about a person when targeting them.
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Identify which of your campaigns use audience-based targeting (not just keyword or contextual targeting)
Go through every active campaign in your Google Ads account. Any campaign that uses Audiences, Customer Match lists, Remarketing, Similar Segments, Demographic targeting, or In-Market audiences is using personalised targeting and must comply with this policy. Make a list of all such campaigns before proceeding to the next sections.
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Understand that the restriction applies to TARGETING — not just to ad content
Many advertisers think this policy only applies to what they write in their ad. It also applies to who you target. Even if your ad says nothing about health conditions, if you are targeting people because Google has inferred they have a particular health condition — that is the violation. The ad content and the targeting method must both be compliant.
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Know the difference between "observation" and "targeting" audience settings — and when each is allowed
In Google Ads you can add an audience in two modes: "Observation" (just monitors performance without restricting who sees the ad) or "Targeting" (only shows the ad to that audience). Using a prohibited sensitive category audience in "Targeting" mode is a direct violation. Using it in "Observation" mode may still be flagged if the inference itself involves a prohibited category. When in doubt, remove the audience segment entirely.
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Review Google's official Personalized Advertising policy page to understand the full list of restricted categories
Visit: support.google.com → search "Personalised advertising policies" → read the full list of prohibited categories. The list can be updated by Google — always check the official source before finalising your campaign setup. The sections below cover the major categories, but Google may add or refine categories over time.
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Remove any audience segments that target people based on inferred health conditions
You cannot target people because Google has inferred they may have diabetes, cancer, heart disease, mental health conditions, fertility issues, or any other medical condition. Check every audience segment in your campaigns and remove any that relate to specific health conditions. Examples of prohibited segments: "people interested in diabetes management," "chronic pain sufferers," or custom audiences built from visitors to health condition pages.
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Do not use Customer Match lists built from health-related data about your customers
If you have a list of customers who purchased a specific medication, attended a health clinic, or signed up for a disease management programme — uploading that list to Google as a Customer Match audience for personalised advertising is prohibited. The list implies health information about the individuals on it, which cannot be used for targeting.
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Do not use remarketing lists built from pages that reveal health conditions
If your website has pages specifically about a health condition (e.g. a diabetes treatment page, a cancer screening page, a mental health support page), you cannot build a remarketing list from visitors to those specific pages and then target those people with personalised ads. Visiting a health condition page is considered health-sensitive data. Use site-wide remarketing instead, or exclude health-condition page visitors from your lists.
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Check that in-market and affinity audience segments related to health are not used for personalisation
Some of Google's built-in in-market or affinity audience segments touch on health topics. Segments related to specific medical conditions, prescription medications, or health treatments should be removed from personalised campaigns. General "Health & Fitness" audiences (gym, sports, general wellness) are usually acceptable — but segments that imply a medical condition are not.
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If you must advertise health products, use contextual targeting instead of audience targeting
You are allowed to show ads for health products on health-related websites (contextual targeting) — you just cannot target individual people because of their inferred health conditions. Switch health product campaigns to keyword targeting and placement targeting on relevant health websites rather than using audience segments. This achieves similar reach without violating the personalised ads policy.
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Remove audience segments that target people based on inferred financial hardship
Targeting people because Google has inferred they are in financial difficulty — such as people searching for debt consolidation, payday loans, or bankruptcy advice — is prohibited for personalised ads. Remove any audience segments, custom intent audiences, or remarketing lists that target financially distressed individuals as their primary characteristic.
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Do not build Customer Match lists from data that identifies customers by their debt level or credit problems
Uploading a list of people who are behind on payments, have poor credit scores, or have taken out high-interest loans — and then using that list to target them with personalised ads — is a direct violation. Customer Match lists must not be derived from data that characterises people by their financial difficulties.
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Avoid targeting people who visited pages specifically about debt relief, bankruptcy, or financial crisis
Building a remarketing audience from visitors to your "debt relief" page or "bankruptcy options" page and then targeting them with personalised follow-up ads is prohibited. These page visitors are identifiable as people in financial hardship — that is a prohibited personalisation basis. Use broader site-wide remarketing that does not isolate financially vulnerable visitors.
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Do not use income-level targeting in a way that targets very low income as a proxy for financial distress
Google offers household income targeting (top 10%, 11-20%, etc.). Using income targeting to specifically isolate the lowest income brackets to target financially vulnerable people with predatory financial products is not permitted. Income targeting is allowed for general relevance — not to exploit economic hardship.
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Replace financial-hardship audience targeting with general financial service keyword targeting
Instead of targeting people because of their financial difficulties, target the keywords that financially aware customers search for — such as "debt consolidation options" or "how to manage credit card debt" — and show ads to anyone searching those terms contextually. This is allowed because it is based on search intent, not on a stored personal profile of financial hardship.
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Remove any audience segments that target people based on sexual orientation or gender identity
Using audience signals that infer a person is LGBTQ+ (or any other sexual orientation or gender identity category) to personalise ad targeting is completely prohibited. Check all your audience segments and remove any that are based on sexual orientation, relationship type, or gender identity.
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Do not build remarketing lists from pages related to sexual orientation, dating preferences, or gender identity
If your website has content related to LGBTQ+ topics, dating for specific orientations, or gender identity resources — you cannot build remarketing audiences from those page visitors for personalised ad targeting. Visiting such a page is considered sensitive personal data about orientation and identity.
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Do not infer or target sexual behaviour through browsing patterns related to adult content categories
Building custom audiences based on browsing behaviour that implies specific sexual interests or activities — even indirectly through content category signals — is not permitted. Custom intent audiences built around adult content themes or sexual behaviour patterns cannot be used for personalised ad targeting.
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If your business serves LGBTQ+ audiences, use contextual and keyword targeting rather than identity-based audience targeting
You are allowed to advertise on LGBTQ+-relevant websites and in relevant content. Use placement targeting on LGBTQ+ publications, keyword targeting around relevant terms, and topic targeting — rather than personalised audience segments that identify individuals by their sexual orientation. Contextual relevance is acceptable; identity-based personalisation is not.
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Remove audience segments that target people based on their inferred religion or religious affiliation
Targeting people because Google has inferred they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, or any other religious identity is prohibited for personalised advertising. Check your audience segments and remove any that identify people by their religion or faith tradition.
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Do not use Customer Match lists built from data that identifies people by their religious community membership
Uploading a list of members from a mosque, church, synagogue, temple, or other religious organisation to use as a personalised ad targeting list is prohibited. Religious community membership is sensitive personal data that cannot be used to personalise Google Ads targeting.
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Do not build remarketing audiences from visitors to pages specifically about religious practice or faith identity
Pages about specific religious rituals, prayer resources, religious conversion, or faith-based counselling reveal a visitor's likely religious identity. Remarketing lists built from these page visitors cannot be used for personalised targeting. Use general site-wide remarketing instead.
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If advertising religious products or services, use keyword and contextual targeting instead of identity-based personalisation
Targeting keywords like "halal food delivery," "Christian books," or "Jewish holiday gifts" is allowed because it is based on search intent — not on profiling someone's religious identity. Placement targeting on religious content websites is also acceptable. What is not acceptable is targeting someone because Google has labelled them as belonging to a specific faith group.
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Remove audience segments that target people based on inferred race or ethnicity
Targeting someone because Google has inferred they are of a particular racial or ethnic background — based on their browsing behaviour, name patterns, or content engagement — is prohibited. Audit every audience segment and remove any that use race or ethnicity as a targeting signal.
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Do not use Customer Match lists that were segmented by race or ethnic group
If your CRM data includes racial or ethnic categorisation of your customers — even if collected voluntarily for diversity purposes — you cannot use that segmentation to create Customer Match targeting lists for Google Ads personalisation. Remove racial/ethnic segmentation before uploading any Customer Match list.
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Be cautious when using language targeting — it must not function as a proxy for ethnic or racial targeting
Targeting ads in a specific language is allowed. However, using language targeting in combination with other signals specifically to reach a particular ethnic group — for example, targeting Spanish-language users in a way that is clearly aimed at their ethnic identity rather than their language preference — can be considered ethnic targeting and may violate this policy.
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Do not use national origin or immigration status as a personalised targeting signal
Targeting people because they are immigrants, refugees, or from a specific country of origin is prohibited under this policy. While geographic targeting (targeting people currently located in a specific country) is allowed, targeting based on a person's national origin or immigration background is not.
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If advertising culturally relevant products, use language, geography, and keyword targeting rather than ethnicity signals
You can reach culturally relevant audiences through language targeting (ads in a specific language), geographic targeting (specific countries or regions), and keyword targeting (search terms relevant to cultural practices or occasions). These approaches are based on intent and preference — not on profiling someone's ethnic identity.
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Remove audience segments that target people based on their inferred political views or party affiliation
Targeting someone because Google has inferred they lean conservative, liberal, socialist, libertarian, or any other political direction is prohibited for personalised ads. This applies to all political affiliations, parties, and ideologies — remove any such segments from your campaigns.
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Do not use Customer Match lists built from political party membership, donor lists, or voter registration data
Uploading a list of political party members, campaign donors, or registered voters of a specific party as a Customer Match audience for personalised targeting is a direct violation. Political affiliation is an explicitly prohibited personalisation basis under Google's policy.
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Note: Google restricts political advertising overall — check whether your ads require election advertising verification
Beyond the personalised ads policy, Google has separate strict rules about political and election advertising that require advertisers to verify their identity and comply with local election laws. If you are advertising on behalf of a political campaign, party, or candidate — you must complete Google's election advertising authorisation process before running any ads. Visit support.google.com and search "election advertising" for the verification process.
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Do not build remarketing lists from visitors to politically partisan content pages
If your website includes content that is associated with a specific political position or party — building remarketing lists from those page visitors for personalised targeting reveals their likely political views, which is prohibited. Use only general site-wide remarketing that does not isolate politically engaged visitors.
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Do not use political interest categories from Google's audience library for personalised ad targeting
Google's audience library may include interest categories related to political topics. Using these categories in personalised targeting mode (not just observation) violates this policy. If you add any political-topic audience for observation purposes only, ensure your bid adjustments and ad customisers do not effectively personalise the experience based on that audience signal.
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If advertising policy-related products (e.g. books about politics), use keyword and topic targeting instead
You can advertise political books, news subscriptions, or civic engagement tools — you just cannot target specific individuals based on their inferred political affiliation. Use keyword targeting for search terms like "political biography books" or topic targeting on news and current affairs websites instead.
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Conduct a full audit of every audience segment across all campaigns and ad groups
Do not just check the campaign or ad that was disapproved. Go into every campaign → every ad group → Audiences tab, and review every applied audience segment. Remove any that fall into the prohibited categories covered in Sections 2–7 of this checklist. A single remaining prohibited audience in any ad group can prevent approval of the whole account.
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Audit your Customer Match lists — review the source data for every uploaded list
In Google Ads → Tools & Settings → Audience Manager → Customer Match lists, review each uploaded list and confirm that the source data does not include information derived from prohibited categories (health, financial hardship, religion, race, political affiliation, sexual orientation). Delete and re-upload any lists that may have been derived from prohibited data.
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Review all remarketing lists in your Audience Manager and delete any built from sensitive category pages
In Google Ads → Tools & Settings → Audience Manager → Your Data Segments, check every website visitor audience list and confirm it was not built from a URL that reveals sensitive category information (health condition pages, financial hardship pages, religious content pages, etc.). Remove and recreate any non-compliant lists.
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Replace prohibited personalised targeting with compliant contextual and keyword alternatives
For every prohibited audience segment you remove, identify a compliant alternative. Use keyword targeting, topic targeting, placement targeting, and geographic/language targeting to reach your intended audience without relying on sensitive personal characteristics. Document your replacement targeting approach before submitting your appeal — this demonstrates good faith to Google's reviewers.
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Write a detailed, specific appeal explaining every audience change you made
In Google Ads → find the disapproved ad or policy notice → click "Appeal" or "Request Review" → in your message, list every specific change: which audience segments you removed, which Customer Match lists you deleted or rebuilt, which remarketing list rules you updated, and what compliant targeting you replaced them with. Be specific — vague appeals are rejected in this category.
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If rejected after all fixes, work with a Google Ads personalised ads policy specialist
Prohibited Categories for Personalised Ads violations are complex because the issue is often not visible in the ad itself — it is hidden in audience segment configurations. If you have removed all prohibited targeting and are still being flagged, a specialist who is experienced with audience management and personalised ads policy can identify less obvious compliance issues that are easy to miss without hands-on campaign audit experience.
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