Contextual ads restrictions in Yandex Direct and Google Ads

Contextual ads are a great way to quickly attract users to your website.

The main advantages of this promotion method are its efficiency and precise targeting. Your ads will be seen only by people who are genuinely interested in your product. But for this you need to choose the right keywords, design your ads carefully and keep in mind ad services restrictions.

And the latter are exactly what we’re discussing today.

Yandex Direct restrictions

Restrictions in the Yandex advertising system can be divided into several categories.

Taboo topics

You can’t just promote anything on Yandex. Offers of niches that are considered illegal in Russia or those that violate Yandex’s policies are guaranteed to be stopped by moderation.

This includes weapons, explosives, tobacco products, pyramid schemes and more. You can check out the complete list of taboo topics for Yandex here

Ads

There are certain requirements for the texts — both the headings and the banners themselves. First, the promoted product must be clearly defined in the ad. Second, use words in the comparative or superlative degrees only if you have an independent expert opinion to back up such advantages of the product or service.

The rest of the requirements for placing ads in Yandex Direct can be found here

Google Ads restrictions

Google isn’t too soft on the permissive end either, unfortunately. 

Topic restrictions

You won’t be able to pass Google Ads’ moderation with:

  • counterfeit goods (copies and replicas)
  • dangerous goods and services (drugs, explosives, weapons)
  • dishonest activities (hacking of computer networks, fraud of any kind)
  • goods and services of unacceptable content (threats, discrimination, animal cruelty).

Activity restrictions

Google Ads have an incredibly tough stance on:

  • violating the rules of the network
  • gathering and using personal data
  • distortion of facts.

The website is very strict about the observance of these rules. If you try to violate them, you can end up with not just the ad but even your entire ad account or website domain getting banned.

Google Adwords don’t have a total ban on the promotion of alcohol, gambling, healthcare products and other similar niches. But when promoting them, you need to strictly comply with local legislation that regulates such areas.

More detailed Google ad requirements can be found here.


Yandex Direct and Google Adwords are definitely powerful instruments for promoting goods and services. But without knowing and adhering to the game rules on these websites, it will be very difficult to achieve success. Or rather, completely impossible. May your campaigns be profitable and your bundles mega-converting.

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