Google has updated or is updating a number of Google Ads and Google Merchant Center policies. This goes across alcohol, prescription drugs, gambling and games and government documents and services policies.
(1) Physical goods subscriptions expansion: Alcohol - Google Merchant Center:
Physical goods subscriptions policy will be updated to formally include alcohol (for example, Wine Clubs) for eligible merchants in the United States. Requirements for alcohol subscriptions:
- Offers must comply with all standard Alcoholic beverages policies.
- To ensure compliant serving, you must use the Google product category “Alcoholic Beverages” (ID 99676).
- Like other subscription products, you must update your product feed with the subscription cost [subscription_cost] attribute.
Be aware that our systems can only support one subscription price per landing page and subscription cost should be a total, non-discounted periodic payment. Google wil also encourage you to review your checkout process to ensure all mandatory fees are clearly disclosed to customers.
(2) Recurring billing policy expansion: Prescription drugs - Google Merchant Center:
Google is updating its recurring billing policy. This update will allow certified merchants to promote prescription drugs with recurring billing and bundled services in the U.S.
If you are a certified U.S. Online Pharmacy, you can now run the following types of offers:
- Prescription drug subscriptions: Selling prescription drugs using a recurring billing model.
- Prescription drug bundles: Bundling prescription drugs with services (like weight loss programming or coaching), as long as the prescription drug is the primary product.
- Prescription drug consultation services: Offering “access to prescription drug,” which includes evaluations to determine prescription eligibility (whether they are recurring standalone consults or recurring consults bundled with a prescription drug).
To take advantage of these changes, ensure you meet the following criteria:
- Certification: Maintain status as a certified U.S. Online Pharmacy.
- Feed compliance: Use the subscription cost
[subscription_cost]attribute to submit the total, non-discounted periodic payment and include a URL link to your subscription terms and conditions in the return policy field in your Google Merchant Center account. - Fee transparency: Clearly disclose all associated fees and explicitly state on the landing page what the offer includes (for example, "prescription drug only" or a "bundled treatment plan").
- Policy adherence: Comply with all existing Healthcare & Medicine and recurring billing policies.
If your account is currently disapproved for prescription drug subscriptions, you can request a new account review in the Merchant Center when you’ve met the above requirements.
(3) Update to Gambling and Games Policy: Indiana, USA (March 2026) - Google Ads:
On March 31, 2026, Google will update the United States country specifics of its Gambling and Games policy to temporarily pause new certification applications for online-gambling promoting content (aggregators) in Indiana.
(4) Update to Other restricted businesses: Government documents and services policy (March 2026) - Google Ads:
On March 17, 2026, the Google Ads "Other restricted businesses: Government documents and services policy" will be updated.
If you’re running ads promoting "Business identifiers" and exclusively targeting India as a region, you don’t need to qualify as a government or authorized provider but will still need to apply to be excluded from the policy, to ensure your ads aren’t improperly disapproved.
Please note: If you are running ads for any restricted government documents and services that are covered by this policy, you will still need to apply for certification, by choosing the appropriate option that applies to your individual case
Google will begin enforcing the policy update on March 17, 2026.
That is all folks.
Forum discussion at LinkedIn.
