Unacceptable Business Practices: a 24-point website checklist for your appeal

Make sure that your website has updated contact information and a clear explanation of what your company does, like on an ‘About us’ page.

One of Google’s best practices for its Unacceptable Business Practices policy (UK English help page, checked 1 October 2026).

Google doesn’t publish a checklist for Unacceptable Business Practices. It does say that, to decide whether the policy has been broken, it may review information from multiple sources including your ad, website, accounts and third-party sources. So your website is evidence. This guide turns Google’s policy wording, UK law and plain good practice into 24 checks you can run yourself, each with a quick test and a fix.

It comes from a case we’re working on: a Spanish Google Ads agency that handles multiple accounts for multiple different clients, with 53 of the 75 accounts under its manager account suspended. It started with one client: a Spanish new-build property development’s sales website, advertised to buyers in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and the UK. How one client’s suspension spread to 53 accounts is in our case study; this guide is about the website.

Checked against Google’s help pages and UK legislation on 1 October 2026; Google changes its pages without notice. The case is anonymised and still open: the appeal hasn’t been filed yet. The screenshots are real, with identifying details hidden.

At a glance

• Google looks beyond the ad

  It says it may review your ad, website, accounts and third-party sources.

• No warning first

  Unacceptable Business Practices is on Google’s egregious list: accounts are suspended upon detection, without prior warning.

• 24 checks, eight questions

  Who runs the site, who you’re dealing with, contact, honest claims, templates, the brand owner, legal pages and languages.

• Fix first, then appeal

  Google’s first appeal tip is to put its best practices in place. In our case, about 10 appeals were denied while most of the site’s problems stayed.

• Not every site can be saved

  If a business misrepresents itself on purpose, no checklist changes that, and we’ll tell you so.

On this page17 sections

What does Google check on your website?

Scamming people by hiding or misrepresenting information about your business, products or services isn’t allowed. Of the four things the policy says you can’t do, two matter most for a website:

• make it seem like you’re affiliated with another brand, organisation or government entity when you’re not;
• offer products or services that you don’t have or can’t deliver, including not having the right licences or qualifications.

One of Google’s examples could have been written about our case: tricking people into believing that you’re the official website for a new housing development so you can earn commission. (Google’s US page says “real estate development”.)

Google doesn’t say how its reviewers check a website. Its best practices, quoted in the checks below, are the nearest thing to a list: describe your business, use your own branding and be clear about partnerships. Its Misrepresentation policies add honest prices, honest claims and an accurate business name.

The case behind this checklist

On 25 July 2026, Google suspended the client’s account for Unacceptable Business Practices; its own email gave the reason. Two days later a second account was opened for the same advertiser, website and payer. It ran for five days and was suspended too. Our case study tells how it spread from there.

About 10 appeals were denied across the two accounts while most of the problems below stayed in place; the legal pages were only updated on 22 and 23 September. When we checked on 1 October, we found:

• no company named as the operator on any of its five homepages;
• eight demo flats from the website’s theme, including a “158 Sq Ft” penthouse with “Central Park and city views”;
• 11 demo blog posts, including WordPress’s “Hello world” sample;
• a “from” price with no word on VAT;
• renders of a building not yet built, with no “non-contractual” note;
• a broken “About us” link on the German landing page;
• off the site: no link from the developer group’s own website, which linked its other developments’ sales websites; a domain registered to the agency; and a brand owned by the developer company, not by the advertiser or the agency.

In our review, the development and the companies behind it are real, but a reviewer or a buyer could read each gap as a sign the site isn’t what it says it is.

Who runs this site?

1. Does every page say which company runs the site?

• Why it matters. Google’s best practice asks for updated contact information and a clear explanation of what your company does. UK law is specific: “Every company shall disclose its registered name on its websites” (Trading Disclosures Regulations 2015, reg 24), plus its registered number, the part of the UK it’s registered in and its registered office address (reg 25). Spain’s LSSI, article 10 asks for much the same, plus email and tax number.
• In our case. None of the five homepages said which company ran the site. The first screen showed logos, a tagline, one button and the cookie banner; the only company names were small role labels near the bottom.
• Test it. Open your ad’s final URL in a private window. Before scrolling, could a stranger tell which company this is? Then check the footer for the registered name, number and office.
• Fix it. Add one operator line to every page’s footer, in every language: registered name, company number, registered office, phone and email. On the case, we also recommended one on each homepage’s first screen.

2. Is it the same name Google verified, everywhere?

• Why it matters. Google’s Misrepresentation policy doesn’t allow, in the ad or user interactions, a business name that does not clearly represent the advertised business. Its verification help lists a name that doesn’t exactly match the full legal name on the registration document as a common reason for rejection.
• In our case. The company appeared in four forms: a short form, a lower-case copyright line, a brand and the full registered name. Only the legal pages gave the full name and tax number.
• Test it. Find the name you’re verified under (Admin, then Policy, then Account). Search your site for it, then for every other version.
• Fix it. Use the registered name, exactly as verified, wherever the site says who runs it. If you trade under a brand, say whose it is.

3. Is there an About page that says what you do?

• Why it matters. Google’s best practice names it: a clear explanation of what your company does, “like on an ‘About us’ page”.
• In our case. About pages existed in all five languages, but only from 22 September, and the German footer link to one was broken (check 22).
• Test it. Click About from each landing page. Does it name the company, say what it does and link to the legal details?
• Fix it. Write one plain paragraph on who you are and what you do, and reuse it in the legal notice and your appeal.

4. Does your search data name the real company?

• Why it matters. Good practice: your structured data tells search engines, and anyone who looks, who publishes the site.
• In our case. The site’s structured data named the development’s brand as the organisation: a name the legal notice itself said wasn’t a legal entity.
• Test it. View your homepage’s source and search for “Organization”. Which name is there?
• Fix it. In your SEO plugin, set the organisation to your registered name, with your logo and a link to your main website.

Who am I dealing with?

5. Does the site explain every company it names?

• Why it matters. Google’s Misrepresentation policy doesn’t allow omitting material information about your identity, affiliations or qualifications. Its verification help says the relationships it needs explained include any third parties mentioned on your website, naming marketing agencies, the end service provider and the domain owner.
• In our case. Three companies appeared, as developer, project manager and sales agent, but only as small labels. The developer group’s own website called the project manager a property developer, and the sales company called itself the group’s sales department.
• Test it. List every company named anywhere: footer, legal notice, privacy policy, brochure. Could a visitor tell what each one does here?
• Fix it. Write one sentence explaining how the companies fit together, with their registered names, and use it wherever they’re named. For property, see the “official website” rule.

6. Can a buyer tell who they would pay?

• Why it matters. Google’s verification help says verification can fail when Google can’t understand who is providing the products or services to the end customers. On the website, it’s good practice: a buyer should know which company takes their deposit.
• In our case. No page, in any language, mentioned a reservation, deposit, payment or contract.
• Test it. Search your site for “deposit”, “payment”, “contract” and “invoice” in each language.
• Fix it. Say which company sells, which signs the contract and which takes the payment.

Can I contact them?

7. Is there a phone number and an email that someone answers?

• Why it matters. Google asks for updated contact information. UK law asks for details, including an email address, that let people “contact him rapidly and communicate with him in a direct and effective manner” (E-Commerce Regulations 2002, reg 6); Spain’s LSSI, article 10 is similar.
• In our case. The homepages offered forms only, and the only email in the legal notice was an unsubscribe address.
• Test it. Without using a form, find a phone number and a general email, then try both.
• Fix it. Show both on the contact page and in the footer. Keep the opt-out address for opt-outs.

8. Does every button do what it says?

• Why it matters. Good practice: a button that does something else feels like bait.
• In our case. “Download brochure” opened the enquiry form; the brochure sat on the server, unlinked.
• Test it. Click every button on every landing page, in every language.
• Fix it. Link the file, or relabel the button to say what it does: “Request the brochure”.

Are the products real and the claims honest?

9. Is everything on the site actually for sale?

• Why it matters. This is the policy itself: you can’t offer products or services that you don’t have or can’t deliver.
• In our case. Eight template flats from the theme were live under the advertiser’s branding, among them a “one bedroom” penthouse of “158 Sq Ft” with “Central Park and city views”. The real development was two- and three-bedroom homes in Spain.
• Test it. Open every product, listing and archive page, including anything in your sitemap. Could you sell each one tomorrow?
• Fix it. Delete anything that isn’t real (don’t just unlink it) so it returns 404 or 410, and remove it from the sitemap; our demo content guide shows how.

10. Do prices say whether tax is included?

• Why it matters. UK law says prices “shall be indicated clearly and unambiguously and, in particular, shall indicate whether they are inclusive of tax and delivery costs” (E-Commerce Regulations 2002, reg 6(2)); Spain’s LSSI, article 10.1(f) says the same. Google’s Misrepresentation policy doesn’t allow failing to clearly and conspicuously disclose the payment model or full expense a user will bear.
• In our case. A “from” price in all five languages, with no word on VAT, though the developer group’s own price calculator added VAT separately. The English page also used Spanish number formatting.
• Test it. Find every price on your landing pages. Does each one say whether VAT is included?
• Fix it. Add “+ VAT” or “including VAT” next to every price, with a one-line footnote, in your readers’ number format.

11. Are your images honest?

• Why it matters. Google doesn’t allow ads or destinations that deceive users by excluding relevant product information, and its best practice is to use your own name, logo, images and colours.
• In our case. Every image showed a finished building, though building work had only just started, and no page said they were renders; the group’s own brochure did.
• Test it. For each image: is it yours or licensed? A photo or an illustration? Does the page say which?
• Fix it. Label renders, for example “Computer-generated image, for illustration only; not contractual”, under the main image and the gallery.

12. Do your numbers match your own published figures?

• Why it matters. Google’s Misrepresentation policy doesn’t allow making inaccurate claims.
• In our case. A statistics block counted developments, homes and money invested. The company’s own brochure, on the same server, gave different figures, and none had a source.
• Test it. List every number on the site (years trading, customers, projects, ratings) and find where each one comes from.
• Fix it. Remove any figure you can’t source, and give the source and date for the rest.

13. Does every translation say the same thing?

• Why it matters. The inaccurate claims rule applies in every language, and a translation can change a claim without anyone noticing.
• In our case. The German and Dutch pages headed the indoor golf simulator with their word for “golf course”.
• Test it. Have a native speaker compare each translation with the original: features, sizes, prices, dates.
• Fix it. Correct each language, then check the page again.

Is anything copied or templated?

14. Is there any theme demo content left?

• Why it matters. You can’t make it seem like you’re affiliated with another brand when you’re not, and Google’s verification help says if a third party is mentioned on your website without a formal business relationship, you must document the connection or remove the mention. Its destination requirements also disapprove content replicated from another source without adding value.
• In our case. 11 demo blog posts were live, including WordPress’s “Hello world” sample; one named real North American companies and carried a made-up quote.
• Test it. Search Google for site: plus your domain and read every result. Then search your site for “lorem ipsum”, “Hello world” and your theme’s name.
• Fix it. Delete it rather than hiding it, and check the addresses return 404 or 410 (see our theme demo content guide).

15. Does your sitemap list only real pages?

• Why it matters. Good practice: your sitemap should list only pages you’d be happy for a reviewer to read.
• In our case. Of the 75 addresses in the site’s sitemaps, 50 were demo or template pages.
• Test it. Read every address in your sitemap. WordPress serves one at /wp-sitemap.xml; SEO plugins add their own (the case site’s was /sitemap_index.xml).
• Fix it. Take unused content types out of the sitemap and resubmit it in Search Console. Our demo content guide has the steps.

16. Is your error page your own?

• Why it matters. Good practice: a theme’s sample error page is one more sign the site was never finished.
• In our case. Every missing page showed the theme’s demo error message, in English with typos, in every language.
• Test it. Visit your domain plus /this-page-does-not-exist in each language.
• Fix it. Write your own error page in each language, linking to your homepage and contact page.

Does the brand owner vouch for the site?

These three checks happen off your site: if the brand belongs to someone else, a reviewer can look for that company’s side of the story.

17. Does the brand owner link to your site?

• Why it matters. Google’s best practice: if you’re an official or authorised partner of another brand, ask them to mention you on their website as well as making it clear on your own. For phishing cases, its appeal tips name a link to the brand’s website where your business is listed as a partner as proof.
• In our case. The developer group’s own website linked the sales websites of its other developments, but not this one.
• Test it. Search the brand owner’s website (manufacturer, franchisor or developer) for your domain. Does it say yours is the official or authorised site?
• Fix it. Ask for one line and a link, such as “Official website of the development: yourdomain”. See the “official website” rule and ownership and brand association.

18. Is the domain registered to the business that runs the site?

• Why it matters. Google doesn’t say it reads domain records. It does say it may use third-party sources, and its verification help lists the domain owner, if different among the relationships to explain.
• In our case. The domain was registered to the agency, while the legal notice said the advertiser owned the site.
• Test it. Look your domain up in ICANN’s lookup (for .uk, Nominet’s). Who is the registrant organisation?
• Fix it. Change the registrant to the business, or get a signed letter from the business explaining who holds the domain for it. Our website ownership guide covers both.

19. Do you own the brand you trade under, or have written permission?

• Why it matters. Google’s best practices: use your own name, logo, images and colours, and avoid using another brand’s identity in a misleading way. Its appeal tips list contracts, written agreements and public statements from the brand as proof of a partnership. If the site is a group company’s own microsite, see how to give a separate website its own identity.
• In our case. The development’s brand was a registered trademark owned by the developer company, not by the advertiser or the agency.
• Test it. Search the brand on the UK trade mark register and the register in each country you advertise in. Who owns it?
• Fix it. Get the owner’s written permission covering the website, the domain and the ads. Our brand association guide covers the wording.

Is the legal and privacy side complete?

20. Do your forms link to a privacy policy the visitor can read?

• Why it matters. Under UK GDPR, Article 12, privacy information must be given “in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible form, using clear and plain language”.
• In our case. The English, German, Dutch and Polish forms all linked to the Spanish privacy policy, though translations existed.
• Test it. On each language version, click the privacy link by every form, pop-ups included.
• Fix it. Link each form to the policy in its own language, naming the data controller by its registered name.

21. Does your cookie policy list the cookies you actually use?

• Why it matters. In the UK, cookies need consent after the user “is provided with clear and comprehensive information about the purpose of the storage or access”, unless an exemption such as strict necessity applies (PECR, Schedule A1). Spain’s LSSI, article 22.2 also requires clear and complete information.
• In our case. The Spanish cookie policy stopped mid-sentence and listed no cookies, though the site used Google Ads, Google Analytics and Meta tags. One thing passed: the tags waited for consent.
• Test it. List your tags (in Google Tag Manager or the page source). Is each one named in your cookie policy, with its purpose and duration?
• Fix it. Add a table of cookie, provider, purpose and duration, in every language, and link the banner to the right one.

Do the ad landing pages work in every language?

22. Does every footer link work, in every language?

• Why it matters. Good practice, and it decides whether visitors can reach the About page Google’s best practice asks for.
• In our case. On the German landing page, the footer’s “About us” link led to an error page. The About page was where the site said which company was responsible for it.
• Test it. Click every footer and menu link on each language version, on a phone and a computer.
• Fix it. Fix the link, then click through every language again after each edit.

23. Is every landing page fully in its own language?

• Why it matters. Good practice: a Polish reader shouldn’t meet English halfway down the page.
• In our case. English text, including a map notice, appeared on the Polish landing page, and the cookie banner’s descriptions were in English on the Spanish one.
• Test it. Read each page top to bottom, including the cookie banner, map placeholders and form messages.
• Fix it. Translate everything, including text your plugins add.

24. Does the landing page work for Google, and on a phone?

• Why it matters. This one is from Google’s destination requirements, not Unacceptable Business Practices: they disapprove destinations that return an HTTP error code for Google AdsBot web crawlers, or aren’t accessible in the targeted location.
• In our case. On a phone, the cookie banner covered the lower half of the first screen, with no company named above it.
• Test it. Open each final URL on your phone. Our “Destination not working” guide covers what Google’s crawler sees.
• Fix it. Fix any errors, and make sure nothing on the first screen hides who you are.

The checklist on one page

Copy it into a spreadsheet and tick each line in every language your ads use.

Run the whole check in one sitting

Do it before you change anything and again after the fixes, in every language your ads use.

1. Save what’s live today.

   Screenshot every page your ads point to, dated: you may need to describe what was live when the account was suspended (our policy guide explains).

2. List every final URL.

   One per language. Suspended accounts are read-only, but you can still navigate to any page and download reports.

3. Read the first screen as a stranger.

   Private window, phone and computer. Checks 1 and 24.

4. Click every footer link.

   Checks 1 to 3, 5 to 7 and 22.

5. Read every claim, in every language.

   Prices, images, numbers, features. Checks 9 to 13 and 23.

6. Press every button and privacy link.

   Checks 8, 20 and 21.

7. Read your sitemap and your search results.

   Checks 9 and 14 to 16.

8. Check the company register.

   Compare Companies House (or your country’s register) with your footer and verification. Checks 1, 2, 4 and 5.

9. Leave your own site.

   Brand owner’s website, domain record, trade mark register. Checks 17 to 19.

10. Fix, then run it all again.

    Screenshot each failure before and after.

When the site passes

1. Save the “after” screenshots.

   The same pages, dated, plus each old demo address returning 404 or 410.

2. Check every related account’s website.

   Google says: before appealing, ensure that all linked (or previously linked) and all related accounts comply with its policies. For an agency, that can mean every client’s site.

3. Gather the proof that lives off your site.

   A letter from the brand owner, the domain record, permission to use the brand, your company registration. Our guides to ownership, relationships and brand association and appeal documents cover what to send, and what not to.

4. Get the fixed pages re-indexed.

   A practice of ours, not a step Google documents: we get fixed pages re-indexed before the appeal goes in. Our guide to the suspension notice explains why.

Can every site be fixed?

No. This checklist helps a real business whose website doesn’t show it, not one that misrepresents itself on purpose.

In our experience, real Unacceptable Business Practices is a business actually misrepresenting itself: a product “advertised by Elon Musk”, or another public figure, when it isn’t (Google calls this public figure impersonation); or a health and wellness reseller advertising products for a margin while presenting itself as the brand, with an obvious connection between the branding, the name and the product. We’ve turned a case down because, in our director’s words, “they’re doing this on purpose”.

Our Unacceptable Business Practices service turns down accounts that are genuinely in violation, and accounts with a fatal flaw that makes them unredeemable, such as presenting another company’s business as your own, or advertising another company’s products with no agreement to show for it. If yours is one, we’ll tell you on the free call instead of taking your money.

Otherwise, Google says accounts are only reinstated in compelling circumstances, such as a mistake. A clean website guarantees nothing; only Google decides.

The appeal route

• Appeal from the suspended account. Select the Contact us link in the notification at the top of the account. Suspended accounts are in read-only mode, so the fixing happens on the website and the appeal describes it.
• One appeal at a time, once the site passes. Google’s first appeal tip for this policy is to implement the best practices. It says if you file too many appeals for the same account suspension, it may not process them, and you have at least six months from the date of account suspension to submit an appeal.
• Agencies: find the source account first. Start with our case study and the guides to related account suspensions, the identity reuse notice and Circumventing Systems.

Before you write it, read what the appeal form asks and why appeals get rejected.

Frequently asked questions

Does Google tell you what’s wrong with your website?

Not page by page. Google says the suspension email will identify all policies you were suspended for; it doesn’t say it names the page or the claim. It also says it may look at third-party sources, so check the whole site in every language, plus the brand owner’s website, your domain record and your registration.

Does my website need my registered company name and address?

Google’s best practice asks for updated contact information and a clear explanation of what your company does without listing fields. UK law lists them: a company’s websites must show its registered name and number, the part of the UK it’s registered in and its registered office (Trading Disclosures Regulations 2015, regs 24 and 25), and the E-Commerce Regulations 2002 add an email address.

We’re an authorised reseller or partner. What proof does Google want?

Google’s best practice is to ask them to mention you on their website as well as stating the relationship on your own. Its appeal tips list contracts, written agreements, a credible news article and public statements from the brand. Our guide to ownership, relationships and brand association covers the letter.

Should I fix the website before I appeal?

Yes. Google’s first appeal tip for this policy is to implement the best practices, and it may not process too many appeals for the same account suspension. In the case above, about 10 appeals were denied while most of the site’s problems stayed.

Does Google check who owns my domain?

Google doesn’t say it does. It says it may use third-party sources, and its verification help lists the domain owner, if different among the relationships to explain. We’d fix the record, or explain it in a signed letter, rather than hope nobody looks.

Can an agent or lead-generation site advertise a new property development?

Google’s published policy doesn’t say agents can’t. Its example is about pretending: tricking people into believing that you’re the official website for a new development so you can earn commission. Community forum replies have told property advertisers that only the developer can promote a development (one thread, another), calling it “an unpublished policy” and “all educated guesses”. If you’re the developer’s appointed agent, its website should say so (see property development websites).