AdMob and Ad Manager users will now have access to a new tool called the App Policy Center that brings Android Developer Console-like features to the advertising side of the business, according to a recent Google announcement. Available as of this writing, the new tool is geared toward taking away some of the challenges faced by publishers with regard to ad policy violations.
App Policy Center will also serve to ensure a more ‘healthy and trustworthy’ ad ecosystem, Google says, by protecting ‘quality’ publishers and ensuring enforcement is well understood across the board. Stacking atop the search giant’s current policy of emailing publishers about issues related to enforcement, violations, warnings, and review requests, the tool brings that pertinent information under a centralized hub.
Taking that further still via App Policy Center, Google intends the tool to serve as a way to quickly resolve unwarranted warnings and violations.
That means publishers who are AdMob or Ad Manager users can not only log into the dashboard to not only view their current warnings, violations, or reviews of those. Users can appeal warnings within the tool too. That’s limited to a 30-day window and only applicable to certain, unspecified violations or warnings but means that getting to the bottom of alleged violations and the status of pending appeals should be much easier.
The new tool
Although the App Policy Center is a single new tool, there are some key differences in how they will appear and what actions, categories, and metrics will be shown to publishers depending on whether they’re publishing via AdMob or Ad Manager.
That discrepancy almost exclusively comes down to exactly what the different ad services are used for and where those are used, as well as differences in terms of which policy violations are likely to be shown.
For either service, the new tool appears within the existing framework of the AdMob or Ad Manager dashboard. AdMob users will find the tool under its own subheading in the menu at the left-hand side of the page. For Ad Manager, Google has nested it under the Policy section of the Admin menu. The App Policy Center Tab will then appear at the top of the UI.
In both cases, that’s all highlighted on a card-style layout with the status of the ad — for example, as a warning or an ad that’s been pulled — violation type, and timelines of enforcement. Clicking individual violations in the web-based tool puts forward a prominent button for requesting a review of the violation and another that links the publisher through so they can fix the offending ad.
Bringing Android Developer tools to other services
The layout itself and the underlying functionality, meanwhile, are not entirely unlike what Google has been offering to Android developers via its Google Play Developer Console for years now. Among the more recent changes, the search giant released an update to those tools that helps developers with actionable insight into how their app is performing on the Google Play Store back in August.
Tools have also been in place already for Android developers, dealing with violations of policy. In each case, the changes have resulted in a more concerted and effective effort to remove wayward apps and better promote those that follow policies appropriately. So at least on the surface, the latest change for AdMob and Ad Manager users seems to be just another step in favor of consistency across the tools for all Google services. App Policy Center should ultimately improve ads on Android and where applicable on other mobile platforms as well.
