Google restricted our ED telehealth ads under "Sexual health and wellness"

What the policy allows

Google's wording: "Google Ads allows the promotion of personal lubricants and prescription drugs for erectile dysfunction and female sexual interest/arousal disorder on the Google Display Network and YouTube in limited cases." Those products "can be advertised only when all of the following requirements are met":

• "Your ads aren't promoted in a way that focuses on sexual pleasure or enhancement."
• "Your ads don't use sexually suggestive elements and themes."
• "Your ads only target users 18 years or older."
• "Your ads respect the serving and location-specific restrictions of the Healthcare and medicines policy. Businesses like pharmaceutical manufacturers and providers of prescription drug services must apply and be approved to advertise."
• "Your ads comply with local laws in the regions your campaigns target."

The certification step telehealth brands miss

"Pharmaceutical manufacturers, online pharmacies, and telemedicine providers may promote prescription drugs for erectile dysfunction and female sexual interest/arousal disorder in the following locations only. These advertisers must apply to advertise first." The locations are Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

That application runs through Google's Prescription drug services policy, which covers "services related to the online prescribing, dispensing, and sale of prescription drugs". In the United States, "Google allows telemedicine providers if they're accredited by LegitScript's Healthcare Merchant Certification Program", and "Advertisers must also be certified with Google." Google's application notes that trip people up:

• "Do not apply for a category that does not match your business model."
• "Make sure applications are made at the child account level, not the MCC (Manager Account) level."
• Include your Google Ads customer ID and the certified domain, and if an agency applies, send documentation of its relationship with the advertiser.
• If an application is denied, Google says it "may be due to your website not meeting these criteria or containing terms (like prescription drug terms) which you are not certified." Fix the site, then reapply or reply to the rejection email.

Copy and creative that get ED ads disapproved

Ads promoted outside the policy's criteria "are subject to Google Ads' Sexual content, Inappropriate content, and Healthcare and medicines policies and may continue to be restricted or disapproved." The patterns behind most ED disapprovals:

• Performance framing. Lead with the medical service, such as a licensed clinician and a private consultation, rather than performance claims.
• Innuendo, suggestive imagery or wordplay, which falls under "sexually suggestive elements and themes".
• Campaigns or audiences without an 18+ restriction.
• Drug names before approval. "Advertisers of prescription drug services must be approved by Google Ads to bid on keywords containing prescription drug terms."
• Landing pages that read like a medication checkout. Google "errs on the side of caution" with pages that appear to facilitate the online prescription or sale of medicines, so make the clinical visit clear before any treatment is offered.

How to fix and resubmit

1. Confirm LegitScript accreditation and Google certification for each country you target, at the child account level.
2. Set every campaign to 18+ and limit locations to Canada, New Zealand or the United States.
3. Rewrite ads and landing pages around the clinical service, and remove suggestive language and imagery.
4. Save the edit. Google says "Your ad or asset will be automatically re-reviewed, which typically takes 24-48 hours."
5. Appeal only if you meet every requirement and the ad was still disapproved. "Each ad is limited to 3 appeals", and Google asks you to wait at least 24 hours between appeals for the same ads.
6. If audiences were flagged as well, see Google's sensitive health targeting notice.
7. If you run ED campaigns on other platforms too, check each one's rules before reusing the copy. ED treatment advertising across platforms compares them.

Talk to Curve

Men's health patients expect discretion, and Curve builds it into your measurement. Curve's team sets up HIPAA-compliant, server-side conversion tracking in place of pixels, with neutral event names, identifiers SHA-256 hashed to each platform's requirements, consent management, and attribution kept through booking tools such as IntakeQ, Calendly and Jane. It is typically live in about a week, with a BAA signed on every plan. Book a call with Curve and see how your ED campaigns can keep optimizing.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• Google Advertising Policies Help: Sexual health and wellness
• Google Advertising Policies Help: Prescription drug services
• Google Advertising Policies Help: Healthcare and medicines
• Google Advertising Policies Help: Fix a disapproved ad or appeal a policy decision

Last verified September 28, 2026

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• Google Ads Healthcare Policy: Why Your Ads Were RejectedWhy Google disapproves telehealth and med spa ads under Healthcare and medicines, what certification it requires, and how to resubmit or appeal.
• Google Ads Unauthorized Pharmacy Suspension: What to DoSuspended for Promotion of unauthorized pharmacies? What Google's policy means for telehealth, the proof to gather, and how to appeal once.
• Google Ads Personalized Advertising Policy: Health AudiencesWhat Google's sensitive health targeting notice means, which audiences health advertisers can't use, what still works, and how to fix the ad.
• Microsoft Ads Disapproved Telehealth Ads? Preapproval GuideMicrosoft Advertising disapproved your telehealth ads? Why prescription services need preapproval, the US accreditation rules, and how to request an exception.