Solving common Google Ads errors

Where can I find the Google Ads errors?

To see if any part of your Google Ads campaigns contain errors navigate to the Preview step of your ad generator. There you will see tabs for the different Google Ads elements such as campaigns and ad groups. Click on the tab you want to inspect and to filter on errors, select "By Error" from the Filter dropdown menu. You will see elements that contain errors and the "Status" column will show which errors occur. Click on the error itself to see more information about the error such as what triggered it and the type of error.

Common Google Ads errors

1

Policy finding

If you see this error, you have violated one of Google's policies that should be followed when creating ads.

For more information about the policy in question and how to solve the error, click on the red error bar and adjust your text so that it complies with the policy.

2

Line too wide / Too long

This error appears when the number of characters in one of your text ad elements exceeds its limit.

Click on the red error bar to see which element of your text ad is affected and adjust the length of the texts. Keep in mind that Google uses the following limits:

• Headline 1 (30 characters)

• Headline 2 (30 characters)

• Headline 3 (30 characters)

• Description 1 (90 characters)

• Description 2 (90 characters)

• URL Path 1 (15 characters)

• URL Path 2 (15 characters)

Note: Characters in Japanese, Chinese and Korean count double for Google, which affects the limits above.

3

Illegal Chars

This error means you're using characters in your ad that are not accepted by Google.

Click on the red error bar to see which piece of text triggers the error and remove the illegal character. The character that most often triggers this error is the exclamation point (!) as Google does not accept headlines containing exclamation points.

4

Connecting with a Google Ads manager account

When adding a connection with Google Ads in Channable, you need to connect to a client account, not a manager account. Channable must invite this Google Ads account from Channable's Google Ads MCC account. If you connect with a manager account, this will result in errors in your Text Ads, Shopping Ads and Channable Insights.

If you encounter errors because of a manager account connection, create a new connection and make sure it is connected with a client account.

5

Inviting multiple account IDs

If you ask Channable to invite a list of account IDs or connections that are not created in Channable yet, Channable cannot send an invite. Example: you send a list of NL, DE, FR and UK account IDs while only the NL connection is ready. Channable needs to ensure that what you push makes sense because some settings cannot be changed after pushing live.

First set up the connection and build the ad templates before requesting the invitation to Channable’s MCC account.

6

Account linked to the maximum of managers

This error means your account is linked to the maximum number of managers and therefore Channable cannot be linked.

Unlink one of the managers from your account by following the instructions in this article.

7

Setting up the ad generator only halfway

This error means you have not fully completed the Text Ads setup — for example you have not set the Text Ads configuration, built ad templates, or placed keywords. This is similar to error 4: Channable needs to ensure that what you push makes sense, because some settings cannot be changed after pushing live.

Note: Don't forget to change the default values campaign and title in the campaigns/ad groups steps to a desired static value or dynamic field.

Set the Text Ads configuration, build the ad templates and place keywords before receiving the invitation to Channable’s MCC-account.

8

Creating Ad groups, ads and the information in the ads on different levels

This occurs when you create ad groups on a broader level (e.g., brand or category) but use item-level fields (for example, the product link) in the ad templates.

Check that the fields used in the ad templates and keywords match the ad group level. If the ad group is set on brand level, you cannot use the item-level link field for the final URL because that would land on a product page rather than a brand overview page. Only use fields that are on the same level as the ad group.

Don't use link, title or other item-specific fields when your ad group is broader than the item level.

9

Unusual or no targeting

This error means you have either not set targeting or have set unusual targeting (for example setting "Afghanistan" as a country and "Arabic" as a language by mistake).

Targeting cannot be changed after pushing live, so make sure you set it up correctly.

10

Incorrectly using ad customizers

This indicates that all your main templates include an ad customizer. Google/Microsoft advertising policy specifies there should be at least one main template without an ad customizer. More information about ad customizers can be found here.

11

Policy exemption error

This means your ads or keywords violate Google Ads policies. To resolve it so Channable can create ads with these keywords:

1. Create an ad in your Google Ads account that includes the keyword which got the policy exemption error. Save the ad even if Google shows a policy error.

2. In Google Ads go to "Tools & Settings" > "Setup" > "Policy Manager" or click: https://ads.google.com/aw/policymanager/issues (you must be logged in).

3. Select the exemption and click "resubmit for review". Make sure to select "all ads in this account".

Google will review the exemption; when approved Channable should be able to push the ads. This can take a few days. After approval, remove the manually created ad in your Google Ads account.

Reference

12

Value must be unset

This occurs when one field is empty or contains a wrong value while the "next field" is correct. The "Field name" in the error indicates which field triggers the error (for example, "Path1" is empty but "Path2" is correctly set).

To fix this either unmap the next correct field or ensure the first field is filled in correctly.

13

Resource Not Found

The entity Channable is trying to update is not found on Google. This could be because it was removed on Google's side, or because a parent entity was removed. For instance, a Keyword might show this error when the Keyword, the AdGroup, or the Campaign was removed.