What you can and can't put in Google Ads text

Ads get disapproved for small things: a phone number in a description, “FREE” in capitals, two exclamation marks. Here’s what Google’s Editorial policy actually says, and what is perfectly fine.

Phone numbers: not in the ad text

Google doesn’t allow a phone number in a headline or description — for example “Call 1-800-123-4567”. That includes WhatsApp numbers: they’re phone numbers too.

Use a call asset instead. It shows a call button with your number, and you can schedule it for opening hours. Call-only ads are the other option.

The one exception: if your business name is a phone number (like 1-800-EXAMPLE), you can ask Google to review it.

Punctuation and symbols: banned only when used as a gimmick

Many advertisers strip out every hyphen and slash to be safe. You don’t need to. Google bans symbols that aren’t used for their real meaning:

• Repeated punctuation: “Sale!!” or “Why wait?!”
• Symbols instead of letters: “f1owers”, “fl@wers”
• Decoration: bullets, or asterisks around words like “*Free*”
• Gimmicky spacing or dots: “F R E E”, “F.L.O.W.E.R.S.”
• Emoji and other unsupported characters

Ordinary use is fine: “Open 24/7”, “Q&A with our experts”, “50+ happy clients”, “Sydney-based plumbers”, “Book today: free quotes”. An asterisk for a star rating (“5* hotel”) is allowed too.

Capitals

Capitalise words normally. “AMAZING DEALS” or “FREE” in capitals is treated as gimmicky. Acronyms like NDIS or HVAC are fine, and so is your brand name if that’s how it’s written.

Exclamation marks

Keep them out of headlines, and use at most one in a description.

Repetition and spacing

Don’t repeat a word or phrase for emphasis within one asset, or across assets in the same ad group. Leave one space after commas and full stops — none before them, and no extra spaces.

Check before you submit

Abstrora checks every headline, description, sitelink, callout and snippet against these rules before a change is sent to Google Ads, and tells you exactly what to fix. Google still reviews every ad — trademarks, destinations and restricted content are judged there — but the common editorial mistakes never reach it.