Has anyone experienced a Dating & Companionship Ads certification being approved before but later rejected for the same website?

I'm hoping someone with experience can help me understand what might have happened.


My website previously successfully received Google's Dating & Companionship Ads certification.


Recently, I submitted a new certification application for the exact same website, but this time Google rejected it, stating that:

"Your service does not meet the definition of a Dating & Companionship service under our policy."

Click to expand...

The website is essentially the same service and business model as before, so I'm confused about why the outcome changed.


My questions are:

1. Has anyone seen Google approve the same website before, but reject it later?
2. Could this be due to changes in Google's review standards, different reviewers, or something else?
3. If a website is rejected once, does Google keep a permanent negative record for that domain, or is it still possible to modify the site and successfully obtain certification again?

Any insights or similar experiences would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I wouldn't assume the rejection is permanent. Google can change how it interprets policies over time, and different reviews don't always produce the same outcome. you should compare your current site against the version that was originally approved, make a few improvements if needed, and try again after addressing anything that could be causing confusion.

reviewer roulette is very real with google. you probably just got a manual reviewer who was having a bad day or is based in a stricter region. to answer your question... nah, one rejection doesn't kill the domain. but if you keep spamming the exact same application you might flag the ad account itself.

best way to handle this is to make the landing page look incredibly vanilla and boring for the review. clean up any borderline copy, make it look like a basic social networking site, get the green light, and then slowly phase your actual content back in. just don't do it overnight or you'll trigger a automated re-review.