Why Google Ads certification sets the campaign timeline, not the budget

Google requires a separate certification for each country. Approval for the UK does not open Germany, and a German certificate does not extend to Austria. The application must include the operator licence, and if the licence covers one jurisdiction, you simply will not be admitted to another.

Average review times across our campaigns over the past year: 8 to 12 business days for the UK, 15 to 22 for Germany, up to 30 for markets where Google has only recently begun issuing approvals. A rejection with no stated reason happens roughly one time in five, and resubmission resets the clock.

Campaign dates are counted from the certificate date, not from the contract date. We build in a buffer of four to six weeks between kickoff and the first impression. If the client wants to launch around a sporting event, the application goes in two months early, not two weeks.

Budget, meanwhile, determines nothing: you can earmark a million for spend, but without the certificate Google will not show a single ad. That is why the first question we ask a new iGaming client is not "how much are you prepared to spend" but "which countries hold your licence and have you applied to Google."

While Google reviews the application, Bing Ads launches faster and with less stringent documentation requirements. The audience skews older, competition is lower, and clicks run 30 to 50 percent cheaper. Volume is noticeably smaller, but this is not a substitute — it is a way to avoid wasting a month. In practice we submit applications to Google and Bing simultaneously. Bing starts first and provides data: which keywords convert, which ads perform, which bids hold. By the time Google approval arrives, the campaign has already been optimized on someone else's traffic.

First: submitting for one country and waiting for a result before applying for the next. Applications are independent and should be filed in parallel. Second: running through a grey account while waiting for certification. The domain lands on Google's blacklists, and legitimate advertising cannot launch for months afterwards.

Third: not accounting for the fact that certification is tied to the account. Changing agencies means a new application. If a client leaves a previous vendor who held an approved account, the certificate stays with the vendor, it does not follow the client.