In the process of working with Google Ads, you may have a situation when unspent funds remain on your account balance. For example, you decide to close your business or simply change the source of advertising traffic. In addition, Google may block an advertising account for violating certain rules of the platform.
In all these situations, the service allows you to return unspent funds to the current account or bank card attached to the account. And here is where the question often arises – how to return money from Google Ads.
In this article, we will look at the whole process from A to Z. You will learn under what conditions a refund is possible, how to submit a request and within what timeframe to expect the money to arrive. We will also tell you what documents you need for this.
In what cases may I need to get my money back from Google Ads?
You do not plan to advertise anymore. If you have decided to suspend or completely stop working in the service, but there are still unspent funds on your account, it’s time to ask for them back. This is a fairly standard procedure, and the company will have no problem transferring the remaining funds to your account after deleting your profile.
Your profile has been blocked. Google strictly monitors compliance with the rules of content placement and can block an advertising account for violating them. This may be promotion of goods or services prohibited in the system, misleading users, fraudulent actions, etc. If you worked on prepayment and there was money left on your account at the time of blocking – you can request it back.
You have encountered fraud. According to a study by Cheq, the total losses from ad scrolling in Google Ads amounted to $81 billion dollars in 2023. Unscrupulous competitors or fraudsters can use bots or hired people to artificially inflate click-throughs on ad messages. This leads to a rapid waste of budget and decreased advertising effectiveness. If you suspect that you have become a victim of scrolling, you can contact the technical support of the system and try to get your money back from Google Ads.
How can I withdraw money from my Google Ads account?
At the moment, you can withdraw money from your Google Ads account only after deleting your account in the system. You should not worry if you want to resume working with ads in the future – if necessary, the previously deleted profile can be restored.
After you initiate account deletion, the system will automatically generate a request for balance transfer. After its approval, the money will be transferred to the payment card or account linked to the account (for legal entities).
So, for the return of funds, we act according to the following algorithm:
Deleting the advertising account
To delete an account, click on the key icon in the top horizontal menu. This will take you to the Tools and Settings submenu. Then move to the “Status” section. If your profile is active, you will see a corresponding notification.
Next, click on the “Delete my account” button and confirm your action in the pop-up window. After that your account will be canceled and the return of your balance will start automatically.
Please note that the e-mail address assigned to the account will receive a message about account cancelation and automatic refund of your balance in the system. To avoid interrupting this process, do not log in to the deactivated account until you receive this email.
It usually takes up to 14 days to process a request. However, if you have linked a bank account to your account, the processing time may increase to 70 days. Exceptions are the United Kingdom, the United States, and Israel, where everything takes up to 10 days.
How do I request a manual Google Ads refund?
Sometimes it is impossible to make a refund from Google Ads in automatic mode. For example, if you funded your account in the advertising system by bank transfer. In such situations, you should manually send a request to technical support, attaching the relevant data of your account. To do this:
Go to your account settings and go to the “Payment” menu.
Open the “Summary of payment data” section there.
If you have already deleted an account, you will see the corresponding message in red at the top of the page.
Click on the inscription “Complete the refund process”.
Next, you will need to fill in the details – account owner’s full name, IBAN and identification code.
Save the changes you have made.
After entering your bank details, you will need to send the completed form to Google. The fastest way is to fax it to +7(495) 644-14-21. Alternatively, you can send documents by post (not email). You can find a link to the document to fill out and forward on the change of details page. It looks like this:
To fax the form, save the page as a PDF by pressing Ctrl + P on your keyboard. After that, print the document, sign it by hand and send it to the phone number indicated on the form.
Please note that the form is quite lengthy, and the more data you provide, the better your chances of success. Do not forget to check the form carefully before sending it, so that you do not miss any fields and be sure to specify your client ID (it can be found in the upper right corner in the personal cabinet of the advertising system).
After sending the form, it remains only to wait for the transfer to the details specified by you. Usually such requests are considered within 2-3 weeks, but in some cases delays are possible, about which Google warns in advance.
You can also track the refund status and the amount of funds sent. To do this, click on the wrench icon in the advertising cabinet and go to the section “Payment” → “Summary”. This page will display your current balance and the current status of the application consideration.
In what cases is it impossible to withdraw money from Google Ads?
Although Google provides the option to withdraw unspent money, there are certain situations in which no payout is possible:
You used a promo code to fund your account. If at the moment of sending the request there are funds left on the account received with the help of the promo code, you will not be able to withdraw them. The promotional code is provided by the company to attract new advertisers and stimulate activity, so it is logical that this money is not cashed out.
The account is active. You can withdraw money only after deleting your profile. If your account is still working at the moment of sending the request, no refund will be made.
Uncovered debt on your account. If for some reason you have not repaid part of your advertising costs, and at the time of the request this debt remains open, Google will not allow you to withdraw the remaining balance.
How do I get a refund for invalid clicks?
Unfortunately, not all clicks on ads are made by real people and bring the desired result. There are situations when unscrupulous competitors or fraudsters artificially inflate clicks, which leads to the rapid spending of the advertising budget without any real return.
If you encounter such a situation, you have the right to ask Google to refund your money for invalid transitions. The company takes this problem seriously and in some cases is ready to compensate advertisers for wasted money.
However, please note that before you send a request to the support service, you should gather a proof base confirming the fact of fraud. Only if there are strong arguments and a detailed description of the problem, technical support specialists can consider your request.
Prepare the data
So, to fill out the form you will need:
Customer ID in Google Ads;
Start and end dates of the campaign where you noticed suspicious activity;
The groups of ads for which low-quality clicks were recorded;
Key phrases used in these ads;
Type of running RC – contextual-media or search;
Examples of ads shown for the last 30 days;
Information on whether you increased your budget and bids during the period;
Whether and how you tested the suspicious traffic;
A detailed description of the problem and suspicions of fraudulent activities;
List of IP addresses of users who clicked on the ads;
Suspicious sites where ads were displayed.
In addition to the request, you need to attach tracking data and provide your contacts. Remember that the absence of any of the requested information can significantly reduce the chances of a positive decision from Google.
Of course, gathering all the information will require considerable time and effort. If you are determined to get justice and get your money back, be prepared to work hard to gather evidence.
Be patient, carefully review available reports and metrics, and try to identify any suspicious patterns and anomalies in user behavior.
Gather evidence
For successful refunds for invalid clicks, it’s not enough to simply report your suspicions – you need to provide solid evidence of fraudulent activity. One of the main proofs is the IP addresses of users who clicked on the ads.
Unfortunately, Google Ads and Analytics themselves do not collect IP addresses, as this is considered a violation of privacy policy. If you don’t use special tools to track traffic, you’ll have to do some extra work.
One way to get IP addresses of users is to study the server logs and analyze how visitors get to the site, what part of them comes exactly from ads. After identifying users, you will be able to identify recurring IP addresses that appear on your site solely as a result of clicking on advertising links. And these addresses will appear in the logs many times a day, which already looks suspicious.
Of course, manual collection and analysis of IP addresses is a rather labor-intensive process that requires certain skills and time. It is much more convenient to use special services for tracking traffic, such as ClickCease.
Besides, such tools will provide you with additional valuable information:
The geographic location of users who have clicked on ads.
The presence of specific IP addresses in so-called “blacklists”.
If it turns out that a certain IP address is on the list of unreliable IP addresses, it is highly likely that it is associated with bots or unscrupulous competitors.
Contact tech support
Once you have gathered all available evidence of fraudulent activity, it’s time to contact customer support. They are the ones who review the requests and decide on the compensation of the wasted money.
To initiate the process, submit a standard request through the appropriate form in your account. Afterwards, be sure to contact the support team directly to provide them with details about the situation.
Support specialists will send a link to a page where you can describe the problem in detail and enter the information collected earlier. The form for evaluating the quality of clicks is quite detailed and looks like this:
Additionally, you will be able to attach screenshots, reports and other supporting documents to your appeal, which will help the support team to better understand the situation.
However, we note that even with strong evidence, the number of advertisers who manage to achieve a positive result is relatively small. Google scrutinizes each case and makes a decision based on many factors that are not always obvious to users.
Be prepared that requesting refunds too often may result in your profile being blocked. If the company believes that you are abusing the option or providing false information, you risk facing serious restrictions in using the platform.
Therefore, refer to the procedure only in critical cases, when you have irrefutable evidence of unfair actions of third parties in hand. You should not use this option as a tool to optimize costs or manipulate an advertising campaign – this can lead to dire consequences.
