Again, “fast” is relative. Fast for an ad in a restricted category might mean two days instead of three, while in other categories or circumstances, it could mean less than an hour. Either way, here are the tips and best practices to get your Facebook ad approval as soon as possible:
If needed for your category, make sure your landing page includes your terms of service, a link to your privacy policy, and any other required information. Also, follow general landing page best practices like continuity between ad and landing page, and keeping the copy clear, honest, and free of anything potentially misleading. And of course make sure the page link is not broken!
Here are some of the forms for these categories:
How to prevent or fix a Facebook ad disapproval
Likewise with Ad Account restrictions, if a user is seen as having repeatedly broken policies, there’s a good likelihood that that user won’t be reinstated with advertising capabilities.
1. Keep an eye out for disapprovals
Alcohol, branded content, dating services, health and medicine, cryptocurrency, online gambling, politics and social issues, cosmetic procedures, finance and insurance, subscription services.
2. Read the policy carefully
These categories are eligible to be advertised but have special requirements and extra restrictions:
3. Play it safe
This is just the term we’re using to cover the policies that you would expect. This includes content that contains profanity or infringes on third parties (think trademarks and copyright); or that is discriminating, controversial, violent, disrespectful, unexpected, disruptive, irrelevant, poor quality, exploitative, inaccurate, misleading, or dishonest.
4. Check your ad copy quality…
Landing page experience is a factor in the Facebook ad approval process, and it’s not uncommon to see accidental popups, glitches, or unexpected movements and shifts on mobile. So make sure to test your landing pages on mobile.
5. …and quantity
In the manual review process, a person looks at the ad and assesses the content in terms of things like context, implications, and quality. From there, your ad can then either get published or rejected.
6. …and tone
You’ve followed all our Facebook advertising tips and even put some of our post iOS strategies in place. You want your ad up and running stat! Use these general rules of thumb to save time and increase the likelihood of your ad being approved as quickly as possible.
7. Target appropriately
Some that you may not be aware of include payday loans, paycheck advances, bail bonds as well as vaccine discouragement, multi-level marketing schemes or get rich quick opportunities.
8. Check your landing pages
When it comes to support, well, it’s even tougher to get support for individual user logins – likely because individual user logins aren’t directly tied to revenue, in the platform’s eyes.
9. Check mobile
If you’re in a restricted category (and even if you’re not), make sure you’re not targeting underage groups or other demographics or psychographics for whom your offering would be inappropriate.
Reasons your Facebook ad was not approved
If you’ve been using Facebook Ads for a while, you may be accustomed to frequent disapprovals—sometimes accurate, other times erroneous. If you’re new to Facebook Ads, it may be a lingering frustration, trying to understand what is approved and what isn’t.
Standard policy violations
So this is why one ad can get approved in minutes while others take days.
However, if the account was erroneously restricted, it is likely that it will be reinstated after a review. To request a review, visit the account quality page and request a review.
Personal attributes
For more help with this policy, check out the Facebook Brand Resource Center and the Instagram Brand Resource Center.
Sometimes, the more time you spend on a piece of content, the harder it is to identify mistakes. So if you double-check your ad and don’t see anything wrong with it, you should still have someone else review it just in case. Even better, run it through Grammarly for a contextual review.
Yes, being bold and different is one way to write copy that sells. But if you want to get your ad up fast, don’t take risks. If it has something that you sort of think might possibly be potentially offensive, not inclusive, or even erroneously disapproved, don’t try it.
- You can’t imply endorsement from Facebook, Instagram, or any other entity owned by Facebook.
- You can’t mention them in a way that represents the brand more dominantly than the business or product itself.
- Platform and interface screenshots must be accurate and honest.
- You can’t manipulate logos or trademarked terms or interface appearance.
If you mention Facebook or Instagram, there are specific rules:
Prohibited and restricted categories
Imagine how creeped out you might be if an ad highlighted a medical condition that you were getting treated for? It would feel so intrusive! So it’s important that advertisers don’t exploit any personal attributes that they might have access to.
Prohibited categories
Facebook’s ad disapprovals can be quite nuanced—remember, a large portion of Facebook ads get reviewed by humans. So keep the “fine lines” in mind when you’re going for clever, bold, or compelling ads. Avoid being super detailed about personal attributes that could feel like an invasion of privacy to a user, or sarcasm that could accidentally be misunderstood.
While losing advertising access isn’t common, it also isn’t *uncommon*, so it is important to be prepared. I bring this up because advertisers should be aware of this. If there are no other users on the account, or especially if there are no other admins, it could mean no one has access (or no one has administrative access) to an ad account that is currently running. Yes, it has happened and no, Facebook support doesn’t work any harder to help you regain access in these instances.
For many of these, you’ll have to request permission with a specific form and then there will be certain requirements for your ads or landing pages. For example, displaying your terms and conditions, sometimes with a check box, linking to your privacy policy, and making sure important details are clear and prominent.
Restricted categories
The tricky thing with Facebook ad disapprovals is that between email addresses connected to the account and delays in the notification center, they can sometimes be easy to miss. So make it a habit of checking for disapprovals “manually” using Ads Manager or Facebook Business Suite.
Of course, there are prohibited and restricted business categories, most of which are common sense. Read on for a general overview, but again, be sure to check the full policy details here for exact terminology and specifics of every rule.
While you shouldn’t be required to have multiple admins on your ad account, it should be considered a best practice in the sense that users are sometimes restricted from advertising erroneously frequently enough for this to be a real issue.
Some of the more obvious categories are body parts, weapons, illegal products or services, tobacco, recreational drugs, malware, or deceitful practices.
What to do if your Facebook user login is restricted from advertising
Separate from ad account disablements, individual user login accounts can also be restricted from advertising. This isn’t any less stressful than advertising account disablements, unfortunately.
Even though Facebook’s 20% text limit (and the tool to check for it) has been removed, it’s still a best practice to keep your text to a minimum. Facebook talks about it here. Social media feeds are largely visual, so you should let your imagery be the loudest. Check our 9 Tips to Write the Best Facebook Ads Ever for more help with your copy.
If your Facebook ad is rejected, make sure to read the broken policy in full before resubmitting for approval—there are nuances to consider and there are humans reviewing your ad!
Think golden rule here, and use common sense to maintain respect, integrity, and authenticity with your ads.
No matter your industry or what you are promoting, your campaigns and ads AND landing pages must follow the below guidelines. But please note that this is a very abridged list, intended for general understanding only. Please refer to Facebook’s official ad policy page for exact details.
Personal attributes here refers to race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, financial status, physical abilities, mental or physical health, income, and (much) more. Your content cannot make implications about any of these attributes, nor can you ask for information like this in your lead ads.
How to get your Facebook ads approved fast [recap]
Unfortunately, if your business falls into one of the prohibited categories, you won’t be able to use the Facebook Ads platform.
- Check regularly for disapprovals.
- Read the policy you violated carefully.
- Don’t take risks with ads you want published fast.
- Proofread your ad copy.
- Minimize text in images.
- Keep your tone friendly.
- Target appropriately.
- Check your landing pages for all requirements.
- Make sure your ad is mobile-optimized.
- Try boosting posts if you’re in a prohibited or restricted category.
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