Google Ads Advertiser Verification: Documents and Fixes.

Google Ads advertiser verification is the program Google uses to confirm who is behind an ad account and how that business operates, and if you get the notice you have a fixed deadline to answer the questions and pass the document checks or the account is paused and can run no ads. Most failures come from four things: a legal name that does not match the payments profile, the wrong document type for the account type, an expired or poorly captured ID, or an agency that answered the agency and who pays questions wrong.

What advertiser verification is and who gets asked.

Verification is a set of tasks that proves your identity and, for some accounts, your business operations. Once you pass, your verified name and location appear in ad disclosures and the Ads Transparency Center. False information counts as a Circumventing systems violation and can lead to suspension. Google says all advertisers will eventually need to verify, and lists these triggers:

• Account signals: flagged as potentially suspicious based on ad behavior or content.
• Category: ads in areas such as financial services, or ads on brand related queries.
• Feature use: the account uses features Google says are often misused.
• Suspension appeals: a suspended account must complete verification before it can appeal.
• Account changes: a new payments profile, billing address, business details, legal name or merger.

The deadline and what happens if you miss it.

At the time of writing, the verification page is called Account and lives under Admin, then the Policy drop down, then Account. Older help pages call it the Advertiser verification page, under the Billing icon. Your required steps appear under Your status, and the deadline is shown on that page. Only a Google Ads account admin can complete the tasks.

Google's account pausing page describes a 30 day notice period to submit what is requested and 30 days to complete verification. The exact date for your account is the one on the Account page, and Google's timelines page says the deadline cannot be extended. If you miss it, Google's wording is that your account will be paused if you don't get verified by the deadline, and paused accounts can't run any ads. You keep access to the account and its reports.

The damage can spread. Google says related accounts (same payment method, linked Merchant Center, new accounts you create) may also be paused. Opening a fresh account to dodge the task does not work. If spend dropped for another reason, our guide to Google Ads not spending budget covers the other causes in order.

The steps and the questionnaire.

The task list depends on whether the payments profile is an Individual or an Organization, how billing is set up and what you advertise. These are the tasks Google currently documents:

• Answer a few questions about your organization: organization type, whether you are an agency, and who pays for the ads.
• Answer a few questions about your business operations: your organization, products or services, ads, and relationships with other organizations. Google says most advertisers will not see this one.
• Billing tasks: payment history questions, or confirming the payment method with a small charge (up to $1.95 USD) and entering the last 6 digits of its code.
• Identity tasks for individuals: a photo ID, a phone code, US SSN confirmation, or a video selfie.
• Organization tasks: an optional D-U-N-S number, organization documents, and confirming your affiliation with a 6 digit code by SMS or organization email.
• Industry tasks: questions about your domain's relationship to regulated categories such as healthcare, financial services or gambling.

The business operations questionnaire asks you to describe the full value chain: marketing agencies, service providers, domain owners and anyone else who logs into the account. Google fails it when it cannot tell who actually provides the service to customers, or when a relationship is listed with no proof. Proof can be a contract, a letter on company letterhead, or an invoice or email from the other company.

Documents Google accepts.

Organizations may need two document types: a registration document and a government photo ID from an authorized representative, meaning an admin of the Google Ads account or the payments profile. For the US, Google's current list includes:

• IRS issued or IRS stamped documents that state the organization name, such as CP575 or 147C.
• IRS forms such as 8871 or 990, only if a copy is on the IRS website.
• A state certificate of business incorporation naming the organization.
• The most recent SEC filing (10-K, 10-Q or 8-K).
• A business credit report from Experian, Equifax or TransUnion naming the organization.
• Representative photo ID: passport, state ID, driving license or permanent resident card. Google says the ID can be issued in any country.

Individuals submit a US government photo ID, and sometimes a proof of address such as a utility bill or bank statement dated within the last 60 days, or a lease or mortgage agreement. Digital IDs are not accepted. The ID must be unexpired, in color, clear and well lit, captured with the device's own camera, with front and back uploaded separately when requested. Photocopies and screenshots may be rejected, and documents go in through the Ads interface only.

Agencies verifying for a client.

This is where we see the most avoidable trouble. Google is explicit: if you manage ads for a client, answer Yes to Is your organization an agency?, otherwise the account may be paused or suspended. The agency then completes its own info (D-U-N-S, documents, phone or SSN confirmation) and a second task for the client.

For the client task, the agency can send the link to the client or complete it by choosing a payments profile. An agency can only select profiles it administers, and if that profile is not verified the client has to verify separately. The who pays answer decides the funded by line in ad disclosures. By default the payments profile name is used, and for verified agency accounts the client's payments profile is used. Answer it to match how money actually moves, not how you wish it moved. If you run Local Services Ads too, that screening is a separate process, covered in our guide to Local Services Ads verification pending.

Common failure reasons and fixes.

Google names unverifiable documents, name mismatches, unsupported document types, expired documents and missing information. What we check first:

• Name mismatch: the payments profile says one thing and the IRS letter says another, down to LLC versus L.L.C. or a missing Inc.
• DBA used alone: a trade name only passes if it appears on the same registration document as the legal name.
• Wrong document type: an Organization profile submitting only a personal ID, or a document not on the list for your country.
• Bad ID capture: expired, black and white, blurry, a screenshot, or only one side uploaded.
• Address or website mismatch with the documents or account.
• Undisclosed relationships: a vendor or brand on the site with no explanation of the connection.

How we work a verification notice.

Some tasks carry attempt limits. At the time of writing, Google lists 5 failed phone attempts before a photo ID is required, 3 failed SSN attempts before a photo ID is required, 3 unsuccessful D-U-N-S attempts before you must submit documents, and 5 video selfie mismatches before you must contact support. Failing every SSN attempt during a suspension appeal ends the appeal. Read the failure reason, fix that one thing, then resubmit.

For a suspended account, verification comes first, and the suspension stays until the appeal is granted. Do not open new accounts after a failure. Google says those may be paused too.

Where the verified name shows.

Your verified advertiser name and location appear in ad disclosures, in My Ad Center and in the Ads Transparency Center. On search ads, people reach that information through the three dot icon on desktop or the info icon on mobile. If the verified name differs from the payments profile name, the disclosure also shows who funded the ads. Customers see this, so verify under the name on your trucks and invoices. If you would rather hand the account work to a team that does this every week, see our Google Ads for contractors service.