Google prioritizes safety both online and offline, so you can’t list products or services that cause damage, harm, or injury in your listings or destinations.
Below are some examples of products and services that are considered to be dangerous and are restricted by the Dangerous products policy.
On this page
- Explosives
- Guns, gun parts, and related products
- Other weapons
- Recreational drugs
- Sodium nitrite
- Tobacco
- Consumer advisories
- Options to fix
Explosives
Ads or listings for products that are designed to explode and could cause damage to nearby people or property are not allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive): Nail bombs, chemical bombs, any fireworks that explode, firecrackers, grenades
Ads or listings for instructional content about the assembly, enhancement, or acquisition of explosive items are not allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive): Bomb-making instructions, guides, software or equipment for 3D printing of parts of grenades.
Guns, gun parts, and related products
Ads or listings for gun parts and associated items that increase the safety of a gun are allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive): Gun locks, trigger locks, safety pins, chamber block
Ads or listings for functional devices that appear to discharge a projectile at high velocity, whether for sport, self-defense, or combat. Google may err on the side of caution and apply this policy to sporting or recreational guns that can cause serious harm if misused, or that appear to be real guns are not allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive): Handguns, rifles, shotguns, hunting guns, functioning antique guns, airsoft guns, paintball guns and activity as a service, bb guns, 3D-printed guns
Ads or listings for any part or component, whether finished or unfinished, that's essential to or enhances the functionality of a gun are note allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive): Ammunition, ammunition clips, silencers, tripods and bipods for guns, stocks, conversion kits, gun-grips, scopes and sights, bump stocks
Ads or listings for instructions on the assembly or enhancement of the functionality of firearms are not allowed
Other weapons
Ads or listings for knives that are designed or promoted in modern-day usage as products that can be used to injure an opponent in sport, self-defense, or combat are not allowed
Ads or listings for any knife design that provides a confrontational advantage, including disguised appearance or assisted-opening mechanism are not allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive): Switchblades, fighting knives, sword-canes, balisongs, military knives, push daggers, throwing axes
Ads or listings for any other product that's designed to in modern-day usage injure an opponent in sport, self-defense, or combat are not allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive): Throwing stars, brass knuckles, tasers, pepper spray
Ads or listings for instructional content about the assembly, enhancement, or acquisition of any product covered under the Other weapons policy are not allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive): Guides, software, or equipment for 3D printing of push daggers, brass knuckles, throwing stars
Recreational drugs
Listings for substances that alter mental state for the purpose of recreation or otherwise induce "highs" are not allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive):
Cocaine, crystal meth, heroin and other illegal opioids, marijuana, cocaine substitutes, mephedrone
Listings for products that are not recreational drugs, but are marketed for the purpose of recreationally altering mental state
Ads or listings for products or services marketed as facilitating recreational drug use are not allowed
Ads or listings for instructional content about producing, purchasing, or using recreational drugs are not allowed.
Ads or listings for pill presses, encapsulating machines and related components used for compacting or filling powders, granules or other materials into tablets or capsules are not allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive): pill presses, tableting machines, dies, molds, stamps, punches used for creation or imprinting of pills and tablets.
Sodium nitrite
Products with a concentration of more than 10% sodium nitrite are not allowed
Examples (non-exhaustive): sodium nitrite for industrial use, chemical laboratory reagents, heat transfer salts, pesticides, lubricants
Tobacco
Ads or listings for tobacco or any products containing tobacco are not allowed.
Examples (non-exhaustive): cigarettes, cigars, snus, chewing tobacco, rolling tobacco, pipe tobacco
Ads or listings for products that form a component part of a tobacco product, as well as products and services that directly facilitate or promote tobacco consumption are not allowed.
Examples (non-exhaustive): rolling papers, pipes, tobacco filters, hookahs
Ads for products designed to simulate tobacco smoking are not allowed.
Examples (non-exhaustive): herbal cigarettes, electronic cigarettes, e-cigarettes, e-juice
Consumer advisories
Ads or listings for products that carry a proven and unresolved risk of death or grievous bodily harm and that have been the subject of a consumer advisory or product recall are not allowed.
Examples (non-exhaustive): crib bumpers, inclined sleepers linked to infant deaths
Options to fix
Here's what you can do if your product is disapproved or if your Merchant Center account is impacted:
Product disapproval
- Read our Shopping ads policies to learn what we don't allow.
- Update your website. If your ad or listing directs to violating content, update your website to meet all policy requirements.
- Remove the violating products. You must remove non-compliant offers from your product data feed. You’ll receive an email with details about the violations.
- Update your product data in Merchant Center. Manually update your product data or wait for your automated upload schedule to run before requesting any reviews.
- Request a review or appeal. After fixing the issue or if you believe the disapproval is incorrect, you can request a review or appeal the decision.
- Individual product review (if you fixed the issue)
- If you edit your product data via your chosen upload method (such as a file) or directly in Merchant Center, the affected products will be automatically re-reviewed.
- If you remove the violating products from your feed, no further action or review request is necessary.
- Standard appeal (if you disagree with the issue)
- For certain issues, you can dispute the violation. You may need to complete additional steps, such as providing an appeal reason and/or uploading required documentation.
- If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will be removed from Merchant Center.
- Bulk appeal (available in certain cases)
- For specific policy issues where you believe a large number of offers require review, you may be able to submit a single bulk appeal.
- ⚠️ Warning: Before submitting a bulk appeal, you must review your offers and remove any policy-violating items from your feed. Submitting a bulk appeal for a large set of offers risks immediate failure if violations are found. This may limit your ability to submit subsequent appeals for those products.
- You must remove any offers that are violating our policies from your feed before attempting to appeal in bulk.
- How to appeal in bulk: The bulk appeal option may not be available in all instances or when using third-party platforms.
- Option 1 - Under all products
- Go to Merchant Center > Products > Needs attention.
- Navigate to the specific issue.
- Select “View fix”
- Select the option to disagree with the issue for all products.
- Review any informational prompts that appear.
- Select “Request review” to submit the appeal.
- Option 2 - Product details page
- From the product details page, selecting “Review and fix” will display the appeal options: “I disagree with the issue” and/or “I disagree with the issue for all products”.
- Third-party platforms
- If you use a third-party platform to list your products, consult that platform for available review options.
- If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center.
- Go to Merchant Center > Products > Needs attention.
- Option 1 - Under all products
- Individual product review (if you fixed the issue)
For most violations, we'll send you a warning email detailing the policy violation and give you 7 or 28 calendar days to fix your issue. However, we may not issue a warning for egregious policy violations.
- Read our Shopping ads policies to learn what we don't allow.
- Update your website. If your ad or listing directs to violating content, update your website to meet all policy requirements.
- Remove the violating products. You must remove non-compliant offers from your product data feed. You’ll receive an email with details about the violations.
- Update your product data in Merchant Center. Manually update your product data or wait for your automated upload schedule to run before requesting any reviews.
- Request a review or appeal. After fixing the issue or if you believe the disapproval is incorrect, you can request a review or appeal the decision.
- Individual product review (if you fixed the issue)
- If you edit your product data via your chosen upload method (such as a file) or directly in Merchant Center, the affected products will be automatically re-reviewed.
- If you remove the violating products from your feed, no further action or review request is necessary.
- Standard appeal (if you disagree with the issue)
- For certain issues, you can dispute the violation. You may need to complete additional steps, such as providing an appeal reason and/or uploading required documentation.
- If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will be removed from Merchant Center.
- Bulk appeal (available in certain cases)
- For specific policy issues where you believe a large number of offers require review, you may be able to submit a single bulk appeal.
- ⚠️ Warning: Before submitting a bulk appeal, you must review your offers and remove any policy-violating items from your feed. Submitting a bulk appeal for a large set of offers risks immediate failure if violations are found. This may limit your ability to submit subsequent appeals for those products.
- You must remove any offers that are violating our policies from your feed before attempting to appeal in bulk.
- How to appeal in bulk: The bulk appeal option may not be available in all instances or when using third-party platforms.
- Option 1 - Under all products
- Go to Merchant Center > Products > Needs attention.
- Navigate to the specific issue.
- Select “View fix”
- Select the option to disagree with the issue for all products.
- Review any informational prompts that appear.
- Select “Request review” to submit the appeal.
- Go to Merchant Center > Products > Needs attention.
- Option 2 - Product details page
- From the product details page, selecting “Review and fix” will display the appeal options: “I disagree with the issue” and/or “I disagree with the issue for all products”.
- Option 1 - Under all products
- Third-party platforms
- If you use a third-party platform to list your products, consult that platform for available review options.
- If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center.
- Individual product review (if you fixed the issue)
Note: Account reviews typically take 7 business days, but may take longer for complex reviews. If you remove violating products, the warning will be removed. If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center. In the case of account suspension, we will approve the account and allow products to be displayed again.
Your account has an issue and is operating with reserved functionality, therefore your products have limited visibility. Check your email for a notice with details about the issue and steps to resolve it. Common issues include policy violations or missing account information.
- Read our Shopping ads and listings policies to learn what we don't allow.
- Update your website. If your ad or listing directs to violating content, update your website to meet all policy requirements.
- Remove the violating products. You must remove non-compliant offers from your product data feed. You’ll receive an email with details about the violations.
- Update your product data in Merchant Center. Manually update your product data or wait for your automated upload schedule to run before requesting any reviews.
- Request a review or appeal. After fixing the issue or if you believe the disapproval is incorrect, you can request a review or appeal the decision.
- Individual product review (if you fixed the issue)
- If you edit your product data via your chosen upload method (such as a file) or directly in Merchant Center, the affected products will be automatically re-reviewed.
- If you remove the violating products from your feed, no further action or review request is necessary.
- Standard appeal (if you disagree with the issue)
- For certain issues, you can dispute the violation. You may need to complete additional steps, such as providing an appeal reason and/or uploading required documentation.
- If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will be removed from Merchant Center.
- Bulk appeal (available in certain cases)
- For specific policy issues where you believe a large number of offers require review, you may be able to submit a single bulk appeal.
- ⚠️ Warning: Before submitting a bulk appeal, you must review your offers and remove any policy-violating items from your feed. Submitting a bulk appeal for a large set of offers risks immediate failure if violations are found. This may limit your ability to submit subsequent appeals for those products.
- You must remove any offers that are violating our policies from your feed before attempting to appeal in bulk.
- How to appeal in bulk: The bulk appeal option may not be available in all instances or when using third-party platforms.
- Option 1 - Under all products
- Go to Merchant Center > Products > Needs attention.
- Navigate to the specific issue.
- Select “View fix”
- Select the option to disagree with the issue for all products.
- Review any informational prompts that appear.
- Select “Request review” to submit the appeal.
- Go to Merchant Center > Products > Needs attention.
- Option 2 - Product details page
- From the product details page, selecting “Review and fix” will display the appeal options: “I disagree with the issue” and/or “I disagree with the issue for all products”.
- Option 1 - Under all products
- Third-party platforms
- If you use a third-party platform to list your products, consult that platform for available review options.
- If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center.
- Individual product review (if you fixed the issue)
Note: Account reviews typically take 7 business days, but may take longer for complex reviews. If you remove violating products, the warning will be removed. If a review or appeal is successful, the issue will disappear from Merchant Center. In the case of account suspension, we will approve the account and allow products to be displayed again.