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Google Ads Healthcare Policy Checker

Check your healthcare ad copy against Google's healthcare and medicines policies before it gets disapproved.

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We hash, we don't store your copy. Raw text never touches our database.

Questions this checker answers

Can you advertise prescription-only medicines on Google Ads?

Not to consumers. Google's Prescription drug services policy restricts the promotion of prescription-only medicines and requires advertisers such as online pharmacies and telemedicine providers to hold LegitScript certification before they can run, and only in eligible countries. In the UK a separate legal prohibition applies on top of the platform rule: advertising a prescription-only medicine to the public is an offence under the Human Medicines Regulations 2012.

Sources: Google Ads — Prescription drug services (source checked 13 Jun 2026); MHRA Blue Guide + Human Medicines Regulations 2012, reg. 284 (offence under reg. 303) (source checked 16 Jun 2026)

Which healthcare categories need certification before you can advertise?

Google gates several treatment categories behind certification rather than banning them. Addiction services are the clearest example: those ads run only in a small set of approved countries and require Google approval via LegitScript certification. Pharmacy and prescription services are gated the same way. Certification is a prerequisite, not a defence — the ad copy still has to satisfy the rest of the healthcare and misrepresentation policies.

Sources: Google Ads — Addiction services (source checked 13 Jun 2026); Google Ads — Prescription drug services (source checked 13 Jun 2026)

What makes a health claim unreliable under Google Ads policy?

Google's Misrepresentation policy prohibits claims that are inaccurate, misleading, or unsupported by the evidence an advertiser can produce — its Unreliable claims section is the operative rule for health advertising. In practice the copy patterns that trip it are absolute outcome promises, implied clinical guarantees, and health benefits stated without qualification. A claim being technically arguable is not enough if the overall impression oversells the result.

Source: Google Ads — Unreliable claims (Misrepresentation) (source checked 13 Jun 2026)

Does Google Ads require AI-generated ads to be labelled?

There is no general AI-disclosure rule in Google Ads policy. The synthetic-content rules that do exist are narrower: Manipulated media under the Misrepresentation policy, and a separate altered-or-synthetic-content disclosure that applies to election ads only. Reports of a broad Google requirement to label all AI-generated ad creative appear on third-party blogs but are not in the published policy, so CheckFirst does not flag against them.

Source: Google Ads — Manipulated media (Misrepresentation) (source checked 13 Jun 2026)

Guidance, not legal advice. No tool or review can guarantee approval by any platform or regulator.