I spend a lot of time working with support technicians for our various advertising platforms. One of the keys to our success is that at Mediaura we know each platform’s guidelines and requirements and push them to the limits. That’s why I’ve been confounded to recently see Destination Experience restrictions popping up on our Google ads.
I recently wrote about beating the algorithm from a customer perspective, but today I want to talk about how we must work within the limits of the advertising algorithms and still get our client’s message to their audience.
What Is a Destination Experience Restriction?
A destination experience restriction doesn’t mean anything is wrong with the ad itself but rather a problem with what your ad is pointing to. Advertising platforms aim to give their users the best results with the landing page being part of that experience.
According to the support documentation on Google, to avoid a Destination Experience Restriction your targeted URL from an ad must not:
• Be difficult or frustrating to navigate.
• Full page pop-ups
• Interference with the back button on the browser
• Low page load speed
• Application downloads required to view the landing page
• Link directly to a download or email address
• This includes PDF landing pages for some sectors
• Contain an abusive experience
• Auto-redirects without user action
• Websites that resemble site warnings or errors
Most of these are common sense for user experience designers, but don’t be afraid to push back on these guidelines when a customer says they really want that full page pop-up.
Why Am I Experiencing This Now?
Advertising platforms have been checking our landing page targets for a long time. After getting my first destination experience restriction, I reviewed the guidelines, then reviewed my page with those guidelines in mind. After finding no issues, I contacted support.
The support technician reviewed the page with me and suggested I resubmit the ads that were restricted. I did so and the restriction disappeared.
The next day during a follow-up task I saw the restriction had returned. I contacted support again with a similar experience, but this time I wanted more information. According to my support technician, while destination experience restrictions have been around for a while, Google is now using AI to identify these issues.
This increase in AI verification for ads, particularly for destination experience, got a big push in March of 2022. This falls in line with Google’s goal of delivering the best search engine results to its users. Before this rollout, user experience was primarily evaluated by human users, but that’s a blog in itself.
How Can Mediaura Help?
If you’re running your own ads, go check them, right now. You’ll have a notification about the restriction and access to how to evaluate them. Our team would be glad to help improve your overall ad performance if you find yourself struggling or just want to take your advertising to the next level.
If you’re not advertising but considering it, please contact us. Our process includes an evaluation of your current site or designing a new site if you’re new to the web. We can polish up your current brand, build landing pages or a new site for your new ads, and boost them to the right audiences on the right platforms.
Don’t let a Destination Experience Restriction stop your campaign. We believe in you.
