Validate Google Ads changes before you approve them

What it does

The Google Ads API has a validate-only mode: a request is sent with a flag that tells Google to validate it fully but not execute it. Google checks field formats, limits, references to campaigns and ad groups and many rules for ad text, and returns either success or the errors a real write would have produced. Nothing is created, changed or removed in the account. Google Ads Editor has a similar idea in its “Check changes” step before posting; validate-only brings the same safety to any change sent through the API.

Typical errors caught this way: a headline longer than 30 characters or a description over 90; a budget amount Google does not accept for the account currency; a keyword or ad text that triggers a policy finding; a reference to an ad group that was removed; a duplicate name; an operation that the campaign type does not support, such as a setting unavailable in Performance Max or Demand Gen; or missing access to the account. Without the check, each of these would surface only after approval, as a failed operation that someone has to fix and approve again.

Validation has limits worth knowing. It is a snapshot: if someone edits the campaign in Google Ads after the check, the result may no longer hold. It does not predict performance, and it does not replace Google's ad review, so an ad that passes validation can still be disapproved later. And it checks the change only against Google's rules, not against your plan: a valid budget can still be the wrong budget. Treat validate-only as a gate for technical acceptance and keep human review for the decision itself.

In AdAce Ads any proposed Google change can be checked in Google before approval: the service sends it in validate-only mode, Google fully validates it, and nothing is written. If the campaign changed after the proposal was made, the service says exactly what changed, for example that the budget was one amount and is now another, that other changes ran, or that data was refreshed from the account, and offers “Create the same again” based on the current state. Approval still needs your password and second factor, and at run time the executor reads the account again and refuses if it no longer matches.

Why it helps

• Errors show up before approval, not as failed operations afterwards.
• Nothing is written to the account during the check.
• Stale proposals are explained and can be rebuilt in one click.
• A person still makes the decision.

How to set it up

1. Open “Approvals” and choose a pending Google proposal.
2. Run the check in Google; the change is sent in validate-only mode.
3. If Google returns an error, reject the proposal and create a corrected one.
4. If the proposal is stale, read what changed and press “Create the same again”.
5. Approve with your password and second factor and follow the result on “Operations”.

Good to know