Advancing mobile app inventory quality with app reviews

To help create a clean and safe ads ecosystem for both developers and advertisers, we’re introducing a new app review process across AdMob and Ad Manager. The process will help enhance the mobile app inventory quality for developers who choose to monetize with either platform. Together with initiatives such as support for app-ads.txt and sellers.json, we continue to increase inventory quality and strengthen advertiser trust to create more value for publishers. 

What’s the new app review process?

App review is a new process that evaluates a mobile app’s inventory quality before allowing unrestricted ad serving. In going through the process, publishers will get a unified view of all their apps' approval status with actionable feedback. The feedback will help them resolve issues upfront and lessen the likelihood of future policy violations. App reviews will be rolled out gradually in 2021 with two features: app readiness and app claiming.

App readiness  

With app readiness, publishers will need to link new mobile apps they want to monetize with AdMob or Ad Manager to at least one supported app store. Linking an app will kick off a review process which checks things like the app source, the publisher’s ownership of the app, and compliance with AdMob or Ad Manager policies. These checks help ensure that the apps entering our networks have high inventory quality, and bring value to the users and advertisers. 

We will gradually roll out app readiness to all publisher accounts for AdMob and Ad Manager starting in April 2021.

App claiming

With app claiming, publishers can declare a comprehensive list of their apps’ inventory with the ability to manage and track all apps' review status directly in their AdMob or Ad Manager account. With this feature, publishers will receive suggestions of mobile apps that are being monetized using their publisher ad code, but haven’t been added to their AdMob or Ad Manager account. Publishers can act on suggestions starting in mid-2021, and eventually will be required to add all apps to their account to allow unrestricted ad serving. 

How to prepare for the changes

We recommend publishers complete the app review process by linking mobile apps to supported app stores and claiming their mobile apps to prevent potential interruptions in monetization. If next steps are required from a publisher to complete the process, we'll send timely updates in the publisher’s account, the policy center or via email. 

We're excited about the benefits app review can bring to publishers and advertisers. And we’ll continue to share our efforts in creating a healthy and sustainable ads ecosystem.