What to Do if Facebook Ads Get Rejected

Show Notes: 

Error Message: Ad Not Approved ❌

You created what you think is AH-MAZING ad copy that you think will hit all the right spots to convert your audience to paying customers…

✅ well-written

✅ clear message

✅ hitting the right pain points and desires

But Facebook decides to be a 🤡 and rejects your ad. Worse comes to worst, Facebook shuts down your account 😱😱😱

Definitely a scary scenario, one that I’ve encountered before. 

Don’t make the rookie mistake of just slapping up any copy without 1) thoroughly reviewing specific policies you need to follow in order to make sure your ads don’t get rejected and 2) listening to my tips and tricks to get around ad rejections (these are tricks from years of running paid Facebook ads).  

🎧 Tune in to the latest episode of Marketing on Tap to dodge a bullet when Facebook gets cranky and rejects your ads.

Key Takeaways:

👍🏻 Golden rule to remember when dealing with Facebook ads — be compliant with Facebook ads policy as much as possible.

👍🏻 Common flagging trigger: Making specific claims — Don’t claim that your product can do this or that in a specific timeframe (even if it’s true); Facebook will surely reject that!

👍🏻 Common flagging trigger: Including personal attribute keywords in your copy — Facebook does not want you to direct the end user by using their specific situation and personal attributes.

👍🏻 Some keywords that trigger flagging you should avoid in the following niche: personal health and appearance, business opportunities, real estate, etc

👍🏻 Tips to not get flagged:

➡️ Test one ad first before you create multiple ads.

➡️ If it ever gets rejected, find the issue and fix it

➡️ Duplicate the rejected ad before fixing it, submit the new ad, and delete the old, rejected one.

➡️ Make sure landing pages also comply with Facebook ads policies.

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Get the Transcript here:

What to Do if Facebook Ads Get Rejected

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies.

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies.

Jessica Walman: What’s up everybody? Welcome back to the Marketing On Tap podcast. So pumped to be here. this is Jessica Wallman, your host. I always sound like I’m on a radio show when I do the beginning part. anyways, so I’m so excited, to be on today. And today I am talking about, the dreaded. Facebook compliance, Facebook rejections.

And I wish I could say like, we’re gonna show you, I’m never get rejected again, but I’m not. But what I am gonna show you is how to reduce your rejections and how to, overcome them. And really, if, you follow these steps, you should be able to get all of your ads approved.  Eventually, right.

So, if you really follow these steps, this is what I’m gonna help you with. Now to start, I’m personally huge on being compliant with Facebook ads and meaning I would rather be safe than sorry with my clients. It doesn’t mean that we don’t try things to see if Facebook will allow it, right?

Like try to push over the edge a little bit, get a little risky. But there are some key things that we do to be safe, even if it could mean possible less conversions. Because guess what? If your account gets shut down, you ain’t getting conversions anyways, right? So it’s really important to stay compliant.

Now to start, oh, I need to say this. you have to be promoting something. Legal not banned or restricted from Facebook. All right. If you aren’t sure what those are, you can find those by going to transparency.fb.com/policies/add-standards. That link could change honestly. Just go online and, Google, advertising policies.

Okay. Now for the sake of this episode, let’s say that you are hopefully promoting something allowed on Facebook, but you are getting your ads rejected over and over again. And I know how frustrating that is. I mean, I work with clients and I have an agency and when we work hard, On, honing in on this hooker angle for our client and creating this amazing copy, and then it gets rejected.

It’s super frustrating. And you’re like, no, I know this is gonna do so well. Why? And then also, sometimes when you look at it, you just can’t figure out why. Why is it getting rejected? I don’t understand. So first, let’s understand how Facebook is analyzing and managing the ads platform. Now, there are millions

of advertisers and ads being launched daily. So if Facebook were to manually try to review each and every ad, that would require a massive staff to do that, right, which is obviously not feasible. So therefore they have their AI, artificial intelligence, reviewing ads and landing pages. So because of that, a lot of times, it could be an AI glitch when you get a rejection, and it can be super frustrating.

But don’t worry, there are things you can do to adjust your copy or your images to ensure that they get approved. Now, my first tip to you. Please, please, please take this one seriously. Most people don’t read thoroughly. Facebook’s advertising policies, the biggest mistake, the biggest one the advertisers make when creating their ads is not taking the time to do this.

If you really wanna utilize the Facebook platform to grow your business, then don’t make the rookie mistake and get your account shut down when it could have been avoided by just reading through and understanding Facebook’s basic policies. Okay. And now that you’ve done that, there is still gonna be a lot of gray area due to the ai.

And so that is where my experience and expertise will come in handy here for you with common mistakes when creating ads. So we’re gonna go over a few common flags that we see with ads that can easily be avoided. So the first one, which is a big one, that most people I think do are claims. So Facebook does not like when you make specific.

Claims such as monetary claims, such any specific claim timeframe claims, lose five pounds in 10 days, and I don’t want you to say five pounds, I don’t want you to say 10 days. Right. That’s a very specific claim, but even less specific, like promising or guaranteeing be rejected if you promise something or guarantee it.

So, we’ve personally guaranteed in our ads before we’ve said, Hey, we guarantee this. Before, but we do it very strategically with the right wording, so we have no flag words, and by stating a disclaimer, And although Facebook will tell you that a disclaimer doesn’t matter, we’ve seen it help, a disclaimer like these results aren’t typical.

but are possible with our clients who whatever put in the work have a great offer, et cetera. Right? so make sure that you’re not have, that you’re not stating a claim. It’s very hard cuz you’re trying to tell people like what they can accomplish. but you can do it without being as specific with like monetary, like you can say, oh, you could trip.

I like to say like instead of three x triple, Facebook doesn’t want you to say, have claims, so I really want you to be, and this is where I say like we try to be safe, but then sometimes push the edge, like don’t make claims. But really this is one that I’ve just noticed throughout the years, is that when you put numbers, Which really sucks cuz numbers are so powerful when you’re doing marketing.

But when you put numbers, a lot of times Facebook can flag, if you’ve got kind of a few numbers in there and maybe it’s also, paired with some other trigger word, flag word, then all of a sudden they’re, they don’t like it. So sometimes, if I’m talking about increasing return on ad spend and marketing, I’ll be careful with some of the numbers that I use in my stuff.

And I might say triple or you know, um, something like that just to. Get around that, but it still could technically be, um, possibly be rejected. Okay, so now the claims, this all ties into the rest because we, we as marketers wanna provide like a clear outcome for our clients, right? And Facebook, your really doesn’t want that.

And so that one, that kind of makes the rest of these really hard that I’m gonna go through, but I just want you to kind of keep that in mind. So the next one are personal attributes. This is also one of the top ones that you probably see when you get your ads rejected. Oh, you’re, you know, You’re talking about a personal attribute in some way, so I’m actually gonna read this straight from Facebook.

So ads must not contain content that asserts or implies personal attributes. Now this includes direct or indirect assertions or implications about a person’s race, ethnicity. Ethnicity, oh my gosh, religion, beliefs, age, sexual orientation or practices, gender identity, dis disability, physical or mental health, including medical conditions, vulnerable, financial status, voting status, membership in a trade union, criminal record, or name.

So if you were to listen that again, I’m just gonna read the very first part, must not contain content that asserts or implies personal attributes, including direct or indirect assertions. Okay. So we do that personally by reducing and strategically placing the words. You or your cause. If you think about it, when you say you or your, you’re talking about them, Facebook does not want you to direct your copy to the end user cuz then you’re talking about them and their specific situation, which starts to go into their personal attributes at some point.

It just does. And so, Does that mean? Does that mean you can’t use the words you or your, that has been a huge debate, um, in the marketing space, in the ad, in the Facebook ad space. And you can use them, but you should use them sparingly and strategically. Okay. Using them is powerful as it clearly speaks to your end user by saying you, your right.

But it’s risky if not in the right context because Facebook has their AI, auto flagging stuff. So even if you think you wrote your copy correctly, it could get flagged because you used the words you and copy. Maybe already with’s a sensitive topic like health or bizo, bizo or something. And you wanna reduce the number of auto flags, auto rejections you get from the ai, okay?

Because that keeps your account healthy. So the more auto rejections you’re gonna get, the less healthy your account is, which means higher cpm, then just your account really not beating in your favor guys. So, and then even if you appeal it, sometimes it can be hard to get approved. And we’re gonna go over that in just a second.

So, Here is an example of what not to say in your ad copy. Hey, do you wanna lose weight for the summer? Now it implies a personal attribute about them, right? So you must, you must wanna lose weight, so you must be overweight. Um, instead, we would reword that to something like getting fit and healthy for the summer is hard, but not impossible.

Right? Now I didn’t talk about them. I talked more of like a general statement, not speaking about them specifically, more journalist written, right? Um, or instead of, I help women like you remove those stubborn love handles and create the body you love. Sounds great, but can get flagged for possibly using body and you together potentially.

So instead say, This is just an example guys, but my clients come to me struggling to get rid of those love handles, and they are the most stubborn to get rid of. But I have a five step process that can help. Now you’re not talking about the end user anymore, you’re talking in general terms, and you’re talking about your own client and experience.

So if you can see in your copy, Anything that ever that ever gets rejected and you can see where you can shift it around that way to stop, stop talking about the end user and to be more generalist or journalistic, that’s what you should do. Okay. And yes, does it sound a little bit less, I’d say juicy or sexy in the ad copy?

It probably does. Um, but it’s going to be healthy for your account and it will still work and get you conversions. Um, personal health and appearance. Again, going to read this straight from Facebook. So, um, personal health and appearance is, is something that also gets flagged so it, Facebook says ad content must not imply or attempt to generate negative self-perception in order to promote diet.

Weight loss or other health related products. So two of the biggest words, and people ask me this before I even say this, guys, two people ask me all the time, do you have a list of flagged words? You know, we have like an internal kind of list, but it changes and it’s not so specific. So I don’t like to kind of say, here’s a list of, because I feel like when we.

Try to get around something for a while. Facebook catches on. You’re like, oh, nevermind. Can’t do that anymore. Um, not that I’m trying to get around Facebook, but you, you know, Facebook as I try to get around their AI cuz their AI likes to flag things that aren’t necessarily wrong and that’s really hard cuz their team doesn’t always, always have the time to like manually review things.

And so, and we’re gonna go over that in a second on how to get your ads. Uh, working if they’re getting rejected. And we’re gonna go over that in a second. So two of the biggest words that we’ve seen get flagged, um, in the personal health and appearance are diet and weight, which outside of that too, if you’re doing anything like diabetes or you’re talking about health stuff, those will all get flagged as well.

So you have to do your best not to say those words. Okay. And sometimes it’s like, well, I have to say this word so they know what it’s about. Yes. But there usually is a way to go around and say other things where it’s very clear what it’s about without actually saying what it is. I know that sounds crazy, but there is, and we do do it all, all the time.

Okay. So diet and weight, weight loss, those get flagged massively. Um, and sometimes it’s hard not to use those when you’re specifically helping those, when your offer. So alternatives would be like, you know, it’s time to fit into those skinny jeans. And you see how I said those skinny jeans not your skinny jeans, right?

Um, or instead of saying something like, losing weight isn’t as hard as you think it is. Well, I said weight and you, so that’s gonna get flagged. So instead I could say shedding those stubborn pounds is not as hard as people make it sound. Boom. Um, now the goal with, with fitness and health is to one, be positive.

And, and that’s actually a goal in general with all of Facebook stuff. They want you to be positive. They want a positive experience, but personal health and a parents like positive instead of saying something like, uh, you can’t even ride a bike with your kids. Say something like bike ride with your kids in the evening.

Or maybe not say the word your, but see how I said your kids in the evening. I feel like in that context it would be fine. Um, but again, if you’re talking, if you’re seeing other words in the copy that could be slightly on the edge of getting re you know, rejected, then maybe I wouldn’t say the word your, and then don’t use words that will get flagged.

Just in general, don’t use words. They’re gonna get flagged the best you can. That’s really the goal. Um, another one is job opportunities guys. So if you are in the job opportunity space, um, Not even in the job opportunity space. So, sorry. So job opportunities. What’s funny is like we have clients who are in bis opp and they’re like, yeah, go.

You know, I teach people how to quit their nine to five job. And so we put the word job in our copy and boom, it gets flagged for job opportunity. It gets rid and we’re like, no, no, no. This is not a job opportunity. I mean, you know, we’re telling ’em that they could quit their job and be their own boss or whatever.

Um, we have one, uh, someone who helps people with building out their resume. And so, you know, it’s just a course. And they teach, actually they were giving away a free lead magna on like, here’s your resume cheat sheet. Um, but because we said resume, It was getting flagged. And because we said, you know, you know, to help you find your next career, like, you know, advancing your career career was getting flagged and it was all getting flagged for job opportunity.

So I remember in my copy, um, I was saying, you’re cmo, your chief marketing officer. I was getting flagged as I said, mark, I said, um, cmo. And so they were thinking like it has something to do with jobs. So just be really careful sometimes in, in the verbiage for job opportunities, you’ll see why. When I say that, you might have been like, I looked at my copy and I have no idea what they’re talking about, but now you might.

Um, and I know that, uh, like for job sometimes we’ll put J dash O dash B so that, you know, it doesn’t get auto flagged. Um, we’ll put nine to five. Um, we’ll write it out sometimes so it’s not even numbers. Um, so things like that just to kinda get around it. Right. Another one is housing opportunities. So if you’re using words like real estate, if you work in the real estate market, we’ve had lots of coaches in the real estate market by saying real estate.

They think it’s a housing opportunity when really they’re just coaching other real estate agents. So, um, you know, that’s when we say like, re if you’re an re agent, real estate agent instead of real estate. So if you’re in the real estate space or saying the word house even, or home sometimes in our copy will all of a sudden be like housing opportunities.

So if you get that and you’re like, I don’t understand why they think that. Figure out a different way to say house or home in the context that you needed. Okay. Okay, so this is where I think everyone really is gonna want to know, which is, let’s go over what to, let’s go over what to do if your actual ads get rejected.

Now, first key is before you create a ton of ads with new copy tested in one ad, first. Hit published, let it get approved. Then at that point, you can move forward with creating more ads with that copy. But don’t go and create 20 new ads out the gate with the new copy, because what if they all get rejected?

That is so detrimental to your account health. So again, start with one ad, let it get approved, let it look like it’s active, and then go ahead and start putting more up. Okay, now. If you get an ad rejected, what do you do? One, try to figure out based on the rejection error, what the issue is and fix it. You know, I just gave you a ton of tips.

So if you can follow those tips and you feel like Jessica, I, I’m, uh, I am following everything I. So if you feel like it was rejected in error, then appeal it. Okay. Number two, if you, like I said, if you can see how you can improve it. Okay. So do things, you wanna appeal it. If you feel like you, it’s, it’s all great appeal.

It sometimes, no matter what Facebook, Even if you appeal, they’re not gonna manually review it, even though they, they say they will and it will just stay rejected. Okay? So at that point, you’re gonna have to change something. Even if you don’t know what it is, you’re gonna have to change something. Okay?

Now, if you see how you can actually improve the ad so that it’s more compliant, do not just go in and edit that ad. That’s not what we do. It’s not our best practice. What we do is we duplicate the ad, we fix the copy in the new ad. Before submitting it, then we’ll submit the new ad and we’ll delete the old rejected ad.

Then at that point you can see does this new ad get approved? But it, you don’t want the rejected ad to then get approved because it just kind of started off the ad on a bad foot. Right. Um, bad note And Facebook. So we want our ad to always start off on a really positive note, which is why we. Always start off with a new ad, um, if it gets rejected.

Now, if your ad keeps getting rejected, really, really, guys go through it with a fine tooth comb and pick it apart. Okay? That may mean that you make it a little less specific.

I like to say less sexy, but that’s better than it getting rejected or your account getting shut down. There is always a way to reword things so that Facebook will say yes, as long as the topic of course is allowed by Facebook, and also know that sometimes Facebook will reject it and make it seem like it’s the ad copy.

And sometimes it’s the actual landing page copy. Usually they’ll tell you it’s, if it’s a landing page copy that’s not complying with their, with their advertising standards, but sometimes they don’t. And so you need to review your landing page copy because your landing page has to comply the exact same way that your ads do.

So everything I discussed today in regards to your ads, You’ll need to apply to the landing page you are pointing people to with your ad, but only that page, not the subsequent pages. Okay, so again, your page has to comply just as much as the landing, as the, as the end. Really, honestly, you want them to be cohesive anyways.

You want someone to click an ad and. Go to a landing page and have it be super cohesive anyways, but your Facebook does look at both your ad copy and your landing page, so please make sure they both comply. So you guys, hopefully this is helpful. Like I try to give you as much as I could in regards to, um, the top reasons that the ads get rejected and really some of the things that we look out for and the things that we try to change and shift so that you can really just kind of.

Like, dive into your copy, analyze it, and see the shifts that you can make if it’s getting rejected. But then also, you know, if it does get rejected, what do you do? What are the next best steps? If at the end of the day you’re really, really stuck, you know, you could always try to get on a chat support with Facebook, to be honest with, and, and I’ve done that before.

Like if it has like, I’m like, dude, there’s nothing wrong with this copy. Like, I’ve tried everything. I, and you know, sometimes we just scratch the copy cuz getting on chat support is like, unhelpful. Um, and we have a rep, um, but we try not to go to a rep with these tiny things. And so like, and, and honestly our rep does the same thing.

It’s really about, um, They will actually put in like the, the appeal for you. And I actually have seen that helpful. Like they’ll actually put the appeal in for me, um, and I’ve actually seen it come back and they approve it even though I tried doing it myself and it did not work, it’s because they did it all of a sudden.

It works. So you know, if you need to get on a chat support, cuz you’re really adamant cuz now you’re gonna get Facebook’s direct eyes on it. So you really do wanna make sure that it’s probably pretty on point with their policies. Then go ahead and have Facebook review it, um, in a chat and hopefully they can get it approved for you.

So hopefully this is helpful. Let’s not get any more ad rejected, but if they are, I know you can get them back up and running with these tips. Let me know, DM me, message me on Instagram, Jessica underscore Wallman if this was helpful and any big key takeaways you had. And I will see you guys in the next episode.

Bye.