A plain-English breakdown of Google's Healthcare and medicines policy: how it's structured, what it means for supplements, peptides and clinics, and how enforcement actually works.
Google's Healthcare and medicines policy is the rulebook that decides whether supplement, peptide, pharmacy and telehealth ads run, get limited or get the account suspended. It's also one of the most misread policies in Google Ads. Advertisers often treat it as one rule when it's really a set of separate sections, and each one has its own restrictions, certification requirements and enforcement style.
This guide explains how the policy is organised, what each part means in practice for health and wellness advertisers, and how to structure an account so the policy works for you instead of against you. It's written for brand owners and marketers, not lawyers. For anything that decides whether a product is legal to sell, get regulatory counsel.
Google groups healthcare advertising under one umbrella policy, but enforcement happens section by section. The parts that matter most for supplement, peptide and clinic advertisers are:
Knowing which section a disapproval came from is the first step in fixing it. The disapproval reason in your account (for example "Unapproved substances" versus "Healthcare and medicines") tells you which rulebook the reviewer used.
Supplements can generally be advertised when they contain no prescription or unapproved ingredients and the ads and landing pages avoid false or misleading health claims. The practical risks are an ingredient on Google's unapproved list, claims that read as treating or curing a disease, and landing pages that host risky content such as testimonials describing medical outcomes. See how to advertise supplements on Google for the full process.
Topical peptide skincare and collagen products are usually reviewed under standard advertising policies, as long as claims stay cosmetic. Problems start when copy moves from "supports the look of firmer skin" to anything that sounds therapeutic.
Research peptide suppliers are judged on function and marketing, not on a fixed list of compound names. The same compound can be treated very differently depending on whether the funnel reads as laboratory supply or human consumption. Our Google Ads for peptides guide explains how to structure a research-use-only account, and GLP-1 vs research peptide policy differences explains why some compounds carry more risk than others.
For prescribing businesses, certification comes first. In the US and Canada that typically means LegitScript certification followed by Google's healthcare advertiser certification. Holding one without the other isn't enough. Our LegitScript certification guide covers costs and process, and the telehealth marketing guide covers what to do once you're certified.
Enforcement isn't the same for every violation, and that difference shapes how you should manage risk.
The accounts we manage that scale without interruptions share the same design:
This is the structure behind our peptide brand case study: $260K in tracked monthly revenue by month six, a sustained 4.2x ROAS and no account-level policy flags. We go deeper in account structure for multi-compound brands.
If you have disapprovals, start with our disapproval recovery guide. If the account is suspended, read Google Ads account suspended: the appeal guide before you submit anything. A rushed first appeal is the most common reason recoveries fail.
The disapproval label in Google Ads tells you which part of the policy the reviewer applied. Here's how we triage the most common labels on health accounts:
| Disapproval label | What it usually points to | First fix to try |
| Unapproved substances | An ingredient or compound Google won't allow in ads, keywords, feeds or on the landing page | Remove the product and every mention from the destination; exclude it from campaigns and feeds |
| Healthcare and medicines | Prescription drug terms, pharmacy or telehealth promotion without certification | Remove restricted terms, or complete the required certification |
| Misleading content / unreliable claims | Guaranteed or exaggerated outcomes, "miracle" language, implausible timelines | Rewrite to factual product and quality statements |
| Destination requirements / destination mismatch | Landing page broken, different from the ad, or thin on business information | Match the page to the ad; add contact, refund and policy pages |
| Circumventing systems | Behaviour that looks like evading review | Stop immediately; audit redirects, cloaking and spelling tricks before any appeal |
Here's a typical ad we see in audits, and how it gets fixed:
Before: "Clinically Proven Joint Pain Relief | Heal Faster With Our Collagen | Results in 7 Days"
Three problems: a disease or symptom claim ("joint pain relief"), a treatment claim ("heal"), and a guaranteed timeline ("results in 7 days").
After: "Grass-Fed Collagen Peptides | 10g Per Serving, Third-Party Tested | Supports Healthy Joints*"
The rewrite describes the product, its dose and its quality evidence, and uses a structure/function claim that's backed by the FDA disclaimer on the landing page. It's also more specific, and in our experience specific, factual copy usually converts at least as well as hype because it filters for serious buyers.
Google updates healthcare policies and their enforcement several times a year, often with short notice. Changes to what counts as an unapproved substance, and to certification requirements for telehealth, have the biggest impact on this category. Subscribe to the Google Ads policy change log, review it monthly, and re-audit any campaign that touches an affected category. We summarise the changes that matter for peptide and supplement brands on the Oney Studio blog.
Generally yes, provided the supplement contains no prescription or unapproved substances and the ads and landing pages don't make false or misleading health claims.
Unapproved substances is one section within the wider healthcare and medicines rules. It covers products and ingredients that can't be promoted at all. Other sections cover restricted categories, such as prescription drugs, pharmacies and telemedicine, that can be advertised with certification.
Not usually. Certification applies to pharmacies, prescription drug advertisers, telehealth and some other regulated services. Supplement brands need compliant ingredients and claims, not certification.
Yes. Fix the ad or landing page first, then request a review. Appealing without changing anything rarely works and adds to the account's history.
Enforcement is automated and not perfectly consistent, and reviewers look at the whole destination, not just the ad. A competitor's ad running today doesn't make the same approach safe for your account.
We audit ads, keywords and landing pages against each section of the policy and give you a prioritised fix list.
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