Some products, such as health items, sit in what Google calls sensitive interest categories. When they do, Google may flag them under its "Restricted targeting in Personalized advertising" policy, or a specific category of it such as "Health in personalized advertising". This guide explains what that flag means, which products it tends to affect and what you can do about it.
What the policy covers
The policy limits how you can target audiences when promoting products in sensitive categories. It is about who ads are shown to, not about whether you may sell the product. Google's policy page lists sensitive interest categories that include these, among others.
- Health: Physical or mental health conditions, including sexual health and chronic conditions
- Birth control
- Alcohol
- Sexual content
- Gambling
Google's health page gives examples such as over-the-counter medications for yeast infections and CPAP machines for sleep apnea.
What it changes
For sensitive categories, Google says you cannot use advertiser-curated audiences, because they may contain sensitive user signals. Predefined Google audiences can still be used, because Google removes sensitive signals from them. Google's health policy page says flagged ads are disapproved.
| Audience type | Allowed for sensitive categories |
|---|---|
| Advertiser-curated audiences | No |
| Customer match and your data segments | No |
| Predefined Google audiences | Yes |
Find what triggered it
Check which products or ads carry the flag, then look at two things: the targeting on the campaigns that include them, and the content on the product page. Google says the policy applies to your site as well as your ad content, so the wording of a product page can be what puts it in a sensitive category.
Fix it
Google gives three routes. Choose based on whether the product really belongs in a sensitive category.
- Change targeting: Remove advertiser-curated audiences from the ad, ad group, asset group and campaign
- Change content: Edit or remove content that put it in a sensitive category, then save so it is reviewed again
- Appeal: If the policy was applied in error, appeal from your Google Ads account
If the product genuinely is a health product, changing the page wording to dodge the category is not a fix. Adjust the targeting instead. If the flag is a mistake, for example a word read out of context, edit the copy or appeal.
Prevent it
Group sensitive products into their own campaigns so audience settings stay clean, and write product copy that describes the product plainly. For health and supplement copy, see supplement claims under FDA and FTC rules.
- ✅ Separate campaigns for products in sensitive categories
- ✅ Predefined Google audiences on those campaigns
- ❌ Remarketing lists or customer lists on health products
- ❌ Copy that hints at knowing a shopper's personal condition
Doing this at scale
FeedFix checks every product against Google Merchant Center and Meta Catalog rules and scores each one from 0 to 100 per channel, so you can see which products have data problems. It drafts compliant title and description rewrites you review as before/after diffs, apply in bulk, and every change is audit-logged. See FeedFix.