Google Ads Updates Dishonest Pricing Practices Policy

"This will require advertisers to disclose the payment model or full expense that a user will incur before and after purchase, and clarify any false or misleading impressions of the cost of a product or service. Google wrote, they "will begin enforcing the policy update on October 28, 2025, with full enforcement ramping up over approximately 4 weeks." (1) Advertisers must clearly and conspicuously disclose the payment model or full expense that a user will bear before and after purchase."

"(2) Pricing practices that create a false or misleading impression of the cost of a product or service, leading to inflated or unexpected charges are prohibited. This includes, but is not limited to: Bait-and-switch tactics: Deceptively advertising a product or service at an enticing, often unrealistic, low price to lure customers, with no genuine intent to sell it, only to pressure them into buying a different, typically more expensive or inferior, alternative once they're engaged."

"Price Exploitation: Exploiting individuals in vulnerable situations or under duress, leveraging their immediate need or lack of reasonable alternatives to demand a payment significantly higher than the prevailing market rate. For example, a locksmith threatening to leave the customer unless a cost above what was quoted is paid on the spot Promoting apps as free when a user must pay to install the app Promoting a free trial without clearly stating the trial period"

Advertisers must clearly and conspicuously disclose the payment model or full expense users will bear before and after purchase. Pricing practices that create false or misleading impressions of cost and that lead to inflated or unexpected charges are prohibited. Prohibited examples include bait-and-switch tactics, price exploitation of vulnerable individuals, promoting apps as free when installation requires payment, and promoting free trials without clearly stating the trial period. Enforcement begins October 28, 2025, with full enforcement ramping up over approximately four weeks. Violations will trigger a warning at least seven days prior to any account suspension.

Read at Search Engine Roundtable