Is my Google Ads account suspended? What the Google Ads API can and cannot tell you

What the API does tell you

• Status: customer.status is ENABLED, SUSPENDED, CANCELED or CLOSED. A suspended or cancelled account refuses its own queries with CUSTOMER_NOT_ENABLED — its manager account's customer_client row still shows the status.
• Advertiser verification: the IdentityVerificationService (customers/{id}/getIdentityVerification) returns nothing when verification is not required; otherwise the program, the start and completion deadlines, the status — PENDING_USER_ACTION, PENDING_REVIEW, SUCCESS or FAILURE — and Google's own link to act on it. Google warns that missing the deadline can pause the account.
• Billing: billing_setup and account_budget with their status.
• Policy: ads whose approval status is not fully approved, with their policy topics.
• For a manager: every direct child's status, which is the fastest way to find the one suspended account in a large MCC.

What it does not tell you

The reason for a suspension. The Google Ads API has no field for it; Google states it in the Google Ads interface (the account banner and Policy manager) and by email to the account's admins, and that is where an appeal is filed. A tool that reports a suspension reason through the API is guessing.

What the data can offer is signals: verification overdue or failed, no active billing, disapproved ads by policy topic. They are worth reading next to the email — not instead of it.

Three answers that look like a suspension and are not

• USER_PERMISSION_DENIED. The login or manager the connection uses lost access to the account. The account itself may be fine; reconnect with a login that has access.
• BILLING_NOT_ON_MONTHLY_INVOICING on the verification call. Verification status is readable through the API only for monthly-invoiced accounts. A card-billed account answers this, and it means "check the interface", not "verification not required".
• NO_EFFECTIVE_BILLING. No active billing is linked. Ads do not serve, but that is a billing setup to fix, not a policy action.

A weekly check worth scheduling

In Agent Planners this is one read, google_ads.get_account_health, also available over MCP as google_ads__get_account_health; it never starts a verification or changes anything.

1. 1Read the status of every account under your manager, and list anything not ENABLED.
2. 2For each account, read advertiser verification and flag any completion deadline in the next 14 days or already passed.
3. 3Count disapproved ads by policy topic, so a policy problem shows up before it becomes an account problem.
4. 4Send the result to the people who can act on it — an admin of the account, since Google sends its notices to the account's admins.

Frequently asked questions

Can I find out why my Google Ads account was suspended through the API?

No. The Google Ads API reports the SUSPENDED status but not the reason. Google gives the reason in the Google Ads interface and by email to the account's admins, and that is where you appeal.

How do I check Google Ads advertiser verification status via the API?

Call the IdentityVerificationService (customers/{id}/getIdentityVerification). An empty answer means verification is not required; otherwise it returns the program, deadlines, status and an action URL. Card-billed accounts answer BILLING_NOT_ON_MONTHLY_INVOICING and must be checked in the interface.

Does USER_PERMISSION_DENIED mean my Google Ads account is suspended?

No. It means the connection's login or manager no longer has access to the account. A suspension appears as customer.status SUSPENDED.

What is CUSTOMER_NOT_ENABLED in the Google Ads API?

The account is not enabled — suspended, cancelled or closed — so it refuses its own queries. Query the manager account's customer_client row for that account to read which status it has.