Facebook™ is cracking down on advertisers that violate their policies, and unfortunately, with their strict screening procedures they are also closing down ad accounts that either do the wrong thing without knowing or they are closing down ad accounts that are doing everything 100% by the rules.
I have been through these drama’s myself and have also worked with many clients to overcome the issues that come with having an ad account shut down for no reason.
Regrettably, the shut down of an ad account can happen at a time when your advertising increases and can quite often occur during a launch or major promotional period. To say that it can be very stressful is an understatement.
Here are some common reasons why Ad Accounts are being suspended or deactivated and how you can avoid this happening to you.
Repeated violations of Facebook™ Ad policies
Keep up to date with all advertising policies. Review them regularly to ensure you are up to date with all the latest changes. You can view them here.
You could be violating a policy without knowing. If you are in doubt of an ad being borderline don’t run the risk. Don’t upload it. Stay on the side of caution because the consequences of testing an ad could be that your account gets suspended.
If you do get an ad disapproved due to a policy violation and you genuinely believe that the ruling is incorrect then request another review. Facebook™ does get things wrong. However, if you know that it could potentially violate a policy then delete the ad and start again.
Don’t leave rejected ads on your account.
Repeated declined payments
Ensure that your primary form of payment for your advertising account always has sufficient funds to cover your ad spend when Facebook™ attempts to debit that account.
Know the spending limit on your account so you know when Facebook™ will be debiting your account for ad spend already made on your account.
Too many declined payments will cause your account to be flagged by Facebook™ and your account could and will be deactivated.
Adding a second payment method is also a good back-up so if your primary form of payment fails there is another option for Facebook™ to debit the amount owing to avoid any issues.
Poor Quality Landing Page
Facebook™ screens all landing pages to websites or downloads to ensure they also comply with their Ad policies.
You need to ensure that the landing page:
- Doesn’t have any pop-ups
- Doesn’t have auto-play video’s
- Doesn’t have a large amount of advertising
- Doesn’t contain misleading content
- Contains content that is relevant to the ad
- Includes a privacy policy link
If your domain or landing page is flagged by Facebook™, your ads will be automatically disapproved when you upload them linking to that domain or page. You will need to update it to comply with Facebook’s policies and then run it through Facebook’s Link Debugging Tool so that it clears Facebook’s cached version of your content. You can find that tool here.
Low Quality Facebook™ Page
Repeatedly violating community guidelines on your Facebook™ Page can result in a low page quality score which can put your ability to advertise at risk. Sharing misleading content like fake news or inciting antisocial behaviour can make your page look like a troublemaker within the Facebook community and result in your ad account being banned as well.
Community guidelines are different from ad policies and as an advertiser, you need to be aware of both. You can find the community guidelines here.
You can check the quality score of your Facebook™ page by selecting the “More” item from the dropdown menu on your page and then choose “Page Quality”.
Low Quality Ranking Scores for Ads
Your ads will be scored for their accuracy and relevance for the audience being targeted with your ads. Ads that do get approved but are considered low quality can also lead to an ad account being deactivated or ads taking longer to be approved.
The quality of your ads is affected by:
- Too much text over an image – text must take up less than 20% of your entire image.
- Ads that ask people for engagement on the ad are considered low quality
- Using copy that doesn’t show all the information for the purposes of clickbait is also considered low quality
- If many users also click on the “Hide ad” option on your ad, this will also affect your ad quality score.
You can check the quality ranking of your ads in your ads reporting.
Multiple admins in your Business Manager
Make sure your Facebook™ Page and Ad Account is connected to a Business Manager account. Have at least one other person your trust as an admin on all of these assets including your Business Manager in case you lose access for any reason.
Not only can your ad account get shut down but you personally can also be restricted from running ads and managing Business Accounts so if you rely on Facebook™ Advertising to grow your business you also need to ensure you are protected in case something does happen beyond your control.
Use one destination URL per ad account
I had an ad account disabled about 12 months ago and just couldn’t understand why. Facebook™ doesn’t offer any explanations. It was only recently that I read about this being a problem and can only assume this was the reason why my ad account was disabled.
Facebook intends ad accounts to be used to promote just 1 business and in their eyes that means one main website domain. If you have multiple websites, a precaution is to create a separate ad account for each website.
Keep your permissions limited
Don’t add all team members or sub-contractors as admins on your Facebook™ page if they only need to publish posts or reply to comments. Just give them lower level access/permissions to avoid any issues. If they violate any policies it can affect all pages they have admin access to.
Whenever someone stops working for your business, ensure you remove their access from your page, Business Manager and ad account.
Verify your business
Facebook™ doesn’t seem to trust new advertisers. One way to appear more trustworthy is by completing all details accurately and submitting your ID to verify you are a real person and a reputable business.
When it comes down to it, there is no foolproof solution to avoiding an ad account being shut down but if you follow the rules Facebook™ will reverse the decision after your account is reviewed.
I would love to hear your thoughts...