Making their policies more stringent, Google has expanded its verification programme, thus causing advertisers to prove their authority and for several search engine marketing services to alter.

The rise in fraudulent advertisements posed a serious threat to customers' data. The additional verification acts as a much-needed protection that avoids people getting scammed when they click on search ads.

The programme was first launched in the year 2021 in The United Kingdom. As per the reports, the number of advertisements promoting or supporting malicious services have declined considerably. Post the success of the UK launch, Google further expands its horizon and introduces the programmes to other countries beginning with Australia, Taiwan and Singapore.

What does this change for the advertisers?

Advertisers that belong to the above-mentioned markets or wherever the programme will be introduced will require to undergo two additional steps before running ads related to financial services.

Following are the two steps of verification:

• Complete the advertiser’s verification programme by Google.
• Confirm their authority through a regulator for their respective financial services.

While these may be two extra steps, they are also potent sources of maintaining authenticity and giving the true players of the industry a fair chance.

The said policy will come into effect on August 30, 2022, and the application process for the advertiser’s verification will be beginning by the end of June, 2022.

The two months are crucial as the advertisers can get verified and avoid any kind of advertising disruptions in the future.

It may just be two simple steps, however, they take time, especially the advertiser’s verification process. It is ideal to start at the earliest to enjoy the benefits without any hassle.

How does the Google Verification Program work?

There are multiple requirements to be completed which involve their own set of steps in the Google verification program.

During the verification process, Advertisers are required to:

• Answer questions related to their Google Ad account and about their business too. Some of the questions that the advertisers would have to answer are as follows:
  
  1) Is the business an advertising agency?
  
  2) Whether you put up advertisements of your own products or someone else’s?
  
  3) Who makes the payment for the ads?
  
  
• Provide verification of identity. The process that follows usually includes:
  
  1) Verifying the legal name through the business operation verification process or advertiser’s verification process.
  
  2) The identity will be verified by Google and a disclosure will be generated for the ads.
  
  3) 30 days are given to complete the verification process which must be done by an authorised individual.
  
  
• Provide information related to the operations of your business:
  
  1) There are certain documents that are required to be submitted. These include business model, types of services offered, business registration information, products or third parties, etc.
  
  2) The verification procedure must be completed by a verified representative within 30 days.
  
  

Advertisers that fail to complete the verification process within 30 days will be unable to use Google Ads in order to promote their financial services. This can have adverse effects on SEM in digital marketing companies that offer the service.

If you wish to get leads that matter, ensure to adhere to all the policies or connect with a reputed digital marketing agency to avail services that perform and deliver as per the policies.