Restriction Is Not the Same as a Violation
Google publisher policy treats credit-related products and services—credit cards and loans—as a distinct financial category. The practical effect is demand, not automatic disqualification: restricted pages may still carry AdSense code, but Google states they are likely to receive less advertising because fewer ad sources can bid on labeled inventory, and some may receive no ads. That is a revenue-risk signal, not proof of a rule break. Keep two questions separate: Is the page eligible for ads, and does a specific claim create a violation? Conflation risks deleting useful content or leaving a risky promise untouched.
The Promise Test for Approval Claims
For approval copy, apply a three-part test. Is the promise concrete and specific—does it name an outcome such as approval, a waived credit check, or a payout? Is that outcome outside the publisher’s control, resting with a card issuer? Can the page itself deliver what was promised, such as a comparison list, rather than assert it?
A headline that guarantees approval or “no credit check” fails all three: concrete, issuer-controlled, and not deliverable by the publisher. The retrieved penalty material lists concrete, explicitly stated promises that cannot be fulfilled—including promising loans and a no-credit-check account opening—as egregious examples. Policy also prohibits misleading or deceptive content, including false statements about the content’s purpose. Vague speed language can fall into the lesser tier when a promise is made but left unclear; the safer edit is to remove the promise or describe only what the page provides. Examples are illustrative, not a closed list; verify the current text.
Two Violation Tiers and What They Cost
The retrieved penalty material labels two tiers. Normal violations are weighted at five per strike; one egregious violation equals one strike. Five normal violations therefore carry the same stated weight as one egregious violation, so fix the concrete issuer-controlled claim first.
| Violation tier | Credit card page pattern | Policy pattern | Stated strike weight |
|---|
| Normal (non-egregious) violation | Vague promise, or promised information never delivered | Vague but made promises; promised information not provided | 5 violations = 1 strike |
| Egregious violation | Concrete approval or no-credit-check promise outside publisher control | Concrete, explicit, impossible-to-fulfill promise, such as promising loans or no-credit-check account opening | 1 violation = 1 strike |
The boundary is whether the page makes a concrete promise about an issuer-controlled outcome it cannot fulfill. A vague promise, or an offered list never delivered, is a normal-tier pattern. The materials do not describe suspension duration or appeal outcomes.
Paid Traffic and Pre-Landers
If an affiliate or paid campaign sends traffic to the card page, the traffic source must be relevant to and accurately describe the destination. It must not promise products, services, or offers absent or hard to find on the landing page, and the landing page must look substantially the same as it does to organic visitors. Publishers are responsible for all traffic sources, including affiliates. A pre-lander headlining “guaranteed approval” while the destination only offers a comparison table is a destination-mismatch risk. Audit creative and destination together.
AdSense for Search Boxes on Card Pages
If the card page includes an AFS search box, queries must come from user-entered, unedited submissions. Do not pre-fill the box, and do not create links containing pre-filled search terms. Ads belong on search results pages. On mobile results pages, at most two AFS ad units may be placed, only one may be visible at a time, and top or bottom units may contain no more than three ads each. Check layout before launch, especially on offer roundups built from a search template.
Interest-Based Ads and Privacy Duties
For interest-based advertising, publishers must hold all rights needed to use audience data such as cookie lists; advertisers must add an interest-based ad notice; and all parties must follow applicable self-regulatory codes, such as the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Online Behavioral Advertising principles or the IAB Europe framework. The privacy policy must disclose data collection, sharing, and use from Google products—cookies, web beacons, IP addresses, and other identifiers—and may link prominently to Google’s partner-data page for the Google data-use disclosure. Do not set, modify, intercept, or delete cookies on Google domains. Do not pass personally identifiable information to Google or use Google services to identify users or merge PII with previously collected non-personal data without advance notice and explicit consent.
Under-13 Audiences
If card content sits beside family or kids’ sections, flag child-directed sites or sections to Google through Search Console or SDK tagging. Do not use interest-based advertising or remarketing to target users known to be under 13 or their past or current activity on child-directed content. A card page is not automatically child-directed, but site placement affects how it is tagged.
Pre-Publish Checklist
Run binary checks: remove concrete approval, no-credit-check, or payout promises outside publisher control; confirm every promised list or comparison appears on the page; compare affiliate pre-landers with the destination; disclose Google data use (Google’s partner-data link can satisfy it); keep PII out of ad requests and cookies off Google domains; leave AFS search boxes blank and place ads only on results pages within mobile caps; supply interest-based ad notice and audience-data rights; flag child-directed sections and avoid under-13 interest targeting. If a check fails, fix the claim or page, not just the ad code.
Where This Guidance Stops
Evidence base: Google publisher and AdSense/AFS policy documentation retrieved in translated form. Wording may differ in the current English help center, and Google may revise policies; verify the live text. Examples are non-exhaustive, illustrating categories, not a complete list. This is ad-eligibility review, not legal advice on US consumer-credit rules; it assesses no specific card, rate, or approval outcome and claims no first-hand enforcement or revenue experience.
研究の知恵