Google Ads Appeals Now Capped at 6 Months

By Corey Frankosky · Last Updated August 6, 2026

As of July 21, 2026, Google Ads appeals are capped at 6 months. If a policy decision is more than 6 months old, you can no longer appeal it from inside your account using the self-service Appeal button in Policy Manager. Google confirmed the change in its own help documentation, and it covers ad disapprovals, asset restrictions, and account suspensions. The important part that keeps getting lost is that you do not lose the right to appeal. You just have to contact Google Ads support instead of clicking a button.

What Google Actually Changed on July 21

Google updated its help documentation on fixing disapproved ads and appealing policy decisions. Starting July 21, 2026, the option to appeal a policy decision directly from your Google Ads account is not available for decisions made more than 6 months prior, and for those older issues Google directs you to contact Ads support.

There are two takeaways here, and the second one matters as much as the first.

• The self-service window is now 6 months. After that point, the Appeal button in Policy Manager is no longer there for that specific decision.
• Support is still a path. Google explicitly points you to Ads support for older decisions. An old enforcement action is not automatically permanent just because six months went by.

My read on why Google did this is that it clears out a backlog of stale cases and pushes advertisers to deal with problems while the evidence is still fresh. Six months is a long time to leave a disapproval sitting. It does mean account monitoring matters more than it used to, especially if you manage a portfolio and nobody is watching every account weekly. Worth noting alongside this: Google has said 99% of appeals now resolve within 24 hours, so filing early is usually quick. The pain is not the appeal itself. It is discovering a nine-month-old suspension and realizing the fast path is closed.

Which Google Ads Appeals Fall Under the 6-Month Limit

Start with the type of enforcement, then look at where Google logged it inside your account.

Ad and asset disapprovals are usually reviewed in Policy Manager. These include disapproved ads, restricted assets, and limited ad serving. A disapproved ad stops delivery. Limited ad serving is different, because it keeps the ad from reaching its full audience instead of shutting it off completely. If you are dealing with that one specifically, I wrote a full breakdown on limited ad serving for unqualified advertisers. Once an ad or asset-level issue passes the 6-month mark, the in-account appeal option disappears and you are routed to support.

Account-level enforcement carries the most risk. A suspension stops all ad serving, so you want to act well inside that 6-month window. Suspensions can happen because of serious policy violations, including circumvention. Billing is a slightly different track. Google's 6-month language is written around policy decisions, so treat billing disputes and payment verification failures as their own process rather than assuming the same clock applies. Payment verification in particular runs on a much shorter timeline, often around 30 days for billing-related suspensions.

When the 6-Month Appeal Window Starts

If you get the start date wrong, you can lose your self-service appeal before Google ever looks at the case. The 6-month clock starts when Google made the enforcement decision or sent the notice, not when someone on your team spotted it. Ad disapprovals usually take effect overnight after the system processes the enforcement. Account suspensions take effect right away.

After you identify the issue type, confirm the first timestamp before the appeal window runs out. Go to Tools > Change History to view a timestamped log of status changes, and use it to find the first enforcement timestamp. Then check any enforcement emails Google sent, since those often include the official decision time. In Policy Manager, look for the first Disapproved or Limited status entry, because that is the date that sets your deadline. Add Google's timestamp to your internal compliance notes so no one has to guess later.

How to Avoid Missing the 6-Month Deadline

Once you know the deadline, the next step is simple. Document everything. If you are part of a small team or agency juggling multiple accounts, you do not need a perfect setup. You need one shared system that people will actually use. Review every open enforcement issue, then log each one in a shared tracker with the issue date, current status, and appeal deadline.

Before you submit an appeal, collect the records tied to that issue and save them in a shared folder. This matters even more if you end up going through support, since you will need to reconstruct the case yourself rather than clicking a button.

To keep cases from slipping through the cracks, review Policy Manager, Change History, and billing records on a weekly or monthly schedule. Use closed date ranges when you check data, since same-day reporting can lag by several hours. One more habit worth building is to appeal selectively. Filing a pile of appeals you do not win is not a neutral act, since a high appeal-to-approval ratio can draw extra scrutiny to the account. Fix the underlying issue first, then appeal with proof.

Inherited Accounts Carry Extra Risk

The deadline is tied to the original enforcement decision date, not to who manages the account now, so taking over an account does not reset the clock. Old problems can sit in an account for 180 or more days, which means a disapproval or suspension you inherited may already be outside the self-service window on day one.

If you are taking over an account, check Change History and Policy Manager immediately. Anything inside six months can still be appealed in-account. Anything older goes through support, so pull your documents together first. If you would rather have someone handle this audit and cleanup for you, that is exactly the kind of work we do inside Google Ads management services, and you can also reach out through our contact page.