London Ad Rejections: The Ultimate Approval Guide

Alright, let's talk about the nightmare of ad rejections in London. It feels personal, doesn't it? You spend ages crafting the perfect campaign, hit 'publish', and then an hour later... 'Disapproved'. It's enough to make you want to throw your laptop out the window. The brutal truth is, the platforms' review systems are mostly automated, clumsy, and they have a particularly hard time with the UK's specific advertising rules.

But it's not random. There are patterns. Once you understand why your London-based ads are getting slapped down, you can start building campaigns that sail through review. It's less about fighting the system and more about learning how to avoid the fight in the first place. I've spent years navigating this for clients, from fintech startups in the City to e-commerce brands in Shoreditch, and I can tell you that most rejections boil down to a few common, fixable mistakes.

So, why are my London ads *really* getting rejected?

Forget the generic policy links Meta or Google send you. The real reasons are often more nuanced and very specific to the UK market. Tbh, the platforms' bots are looking for certain trigger words and patterns, and London's key industries are riddled with them.

Financial Services: This is the big one. If you're advertising anything related to investments, crypto, loans, or even some accounting services, you're playing on hard mode. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) rules are incredibly strict, and ad platforms are terrified of falling foul of them. Any ad that even hints at "guaranteed returns," "financial freedom," or uses aggressive financial language is likely to get flagged instantly. You need crystal clear disclaimers, and your landing page must be impeccable and often needs to show you're FCA regulated. We had a client in fintech, and getting their ad copy approved required us to strip out almost every exciting adjective and focus purely on the compliant, factual features of their platform.

Housing, Employment, and Credit (HEC): This is another minefield. In the UK, you can't discriminate based on protected characteristics, and the ad platforms apply this with a very broad brush. If you're a London estate agent advertising a property, you can't say "perfect for young professionals" because it could be seen as discriminating against older people or families. Same goes for recruitment. I remember a campaign for a medical job matching SaaS we worked on; we had to be incredibly careful with our wording to avoid any suggestion that we were targeting a specific age or gender for roles. This is where a lot of businesses get caught out, their not trying to discriminate but the AI sees a trigger word and shuts it down.

Healthcare & Wellness: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) is all over this. Making specific health claims is a no-go unless you can back it up with robust scientific evidence. This applies to everything from supplements and wellness apps to cosmetic treatments. "Lose 5kg in a week" is an instant rejection. "Before and after" images are heavily scrutinised and often disallowed. You have to focus on the journey and feeling rather than making direct, unprovable claims.

Is it a bot or a person rejecting my ad?

It's almost always a bot first. Think of it as a two-stage process. Your ad gets submitted and immediately scanned by an AI. This AI is looking for keywords, image patterns, and checks your landing page for basic compliance signals. It's fast, but it's also pretty dim. It lacks context, especially for UK-specific language or humour.

This is why an ad for a perfectly legitimate business can get rejected. The bot sees the word "finance" and immediately assumes you're a dodgy crypto scheme, without looking at the context. Only after you appeal (and sometimes appeal again) does it get passed to a human reviewer. Getting past the bot is the first hurdle.

Your landing page is probably the problem

This is the secret killer of so many ad campaigns. People spend forever on their ad creative and copy, then send traffic to a landing page that's a compliance nightmare. The ad platforms' bots crawl your landing page thoroughly. It's not just about what's on the page; it's about what's missing.

Here’s what they are looking for:

• Mismatch Hell: Does your ad promise a "50% off sale" but the landing page barely mentions it? That's a huge red flag. The offer, branding, and message must be consistent from ad to page.
• Who Even Are You?: A landing page with no clear contact information is seen as untrustworthy. For a London business, this is an easy win. Add your registered business address, a phone number, and your Companies House registration number in the footer. It builds instant credibility with both users and bots.
• Missing Paperwork: You absolutely MUST have an easily accessible Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Not having these is one of the fastest ways to get your entire ad account flagged, not just a single ad.
• Unrealistic Promises: Just like in your ad copy, your landing page can't make wild claims. If your ad is compliant but your landing page says "We guarantee you'll double your money in a month," the ad will be rejected. The entire user journey is assessed. Many businesses find that even with great traffic, their ads don't convert, and often it's because the landing page fails to build on the ad's promise.

Right, so how do I actually fix this and avoid it happening again?

Being proactive is so much less stressful than being reactive. Instead of waiting for the rejection email, build a pre-flight check into your campaign launch process. Before you ever click 'publish', run your ad and landing page through this checklist.

First, read your ad copy out loud. Does it sound like a real person talking, or does it sound like spam? Avoid excessive capitalisation, weird symbols, and pushy language. Instead of "YOU NEED TO BUY THIS NOW!!!", try "Discover how our [product] helps London businesses solve [problem]".

Second, check your images and video. Is there too much text on the image? Meta, in particular, dislikes that. Are you using any sensationalist or misleading imagery? Before-and-after photos are a classic trigger for rejection in the health and beauty space.

Third, give your landing page a health check. Click through it as if you were a new customer. Is it easy to find your contact details? Does the privacy policy link work? Is the offer you mentioned in the ad front and centre? Fixing these small things can make a huge difference.

To help you get a sense of where your ads might be vulnerable, I've put together a simple calculator. It's not foolproof, but it'll give you a good idea of your risk level based on the common triggers we see for London-based businesses.

I've appealed and been rejected again. Now what?

This is where persistence pays off. The first appeal is often just a re-scan by the same bot that rejected you in the first place. It's frustrating, but you need to push past it to get a human to look at your ad. The best way to do this is usually through the platform's live chat support for business advertisers.

When you get through to someone, don't just say "my ad was wrongly rejected". Be specific. State the ad ID, explain calmly why you believe it complies with their policies, and reference the specific policy if you can. For example: "Hello, my ad (ID: 12345) was disapproved for violating the HEC policy. However, the ad is for a B2B software and does not relate to housing, employment or credit. Could you please escalate this for a manual review?"

Sometimes, an ad just seems to get "stuck" in the system. It gets flagged once and then every variation you create gets automatically rejected. In these cases, the best course of action is often to delete the ad, duplicate the campaign, and start completely fresh with a slightly different creative or copy. It's annoying, but it's often faster than spending days in a fruitless back-and-forth with support. If you're constantly finding your campaigns are underperforming, it's worth reviewing a broader checklist; we've put together a guide on how to troubleshoot and fix failing ad campaigns here.

A simple framework for getting your ads approved

Navigating the ad approval process in a tightly regulated market like the UK can feel overwhelming. But it doesn't have to be a guessing game. By focusing on a few key areas, you can dramatically increase your approval rate. The issues that cause rejections are often the same reasons why paid ads fail to deliver results in the first place – a lack of trust and clarity.

This all comes down to building trust. Trust with your potential customers, and trust with the ad platforms. A clear, honest, and compliant ad and landing page combination is the foundation of any successful campaign, especially in London. I've detailed my main recommendations for you in a table below to give you a clear, actionable summary.

Dealing with ad rejections is a frustrating part of the job, but it's manageable. It requires a bit of detective work, a lot of patience, and a proactive mindset. The rules are constantly changing, and what worked last month might get your ad rejected today. It's a moving target.

For many London founders and marketing managers, this becomes a huge time sink. You should be focused on growing your business, not arguing with support bots about policy nuances. This is often where expert help can make a huge difference. Having someone who has been through this hundreds of times, who knows the common triggers, and who can often get a faster response from platform reps can free you up to focus on what you do best.

If you're tired of battling rejections and want an expert eye on your campaigns to see what might be causing the issue, we offer a free, no-obligation strategy session where we can review your ads and give you some actionable advice.