Case Study: How Ritner Digital Fixed Google Ads Disapprovals Caused by Bot-Only Server Errors
TL;DR: Two client websites worked perfectly for humans. Google Ads still shut their campaigns down. The fix wasn’t copy or targeting — it was developer hours.
If you’ve ever had a Google Ad disapproved for Destination Requirements, you know the frustration.
You click the ad URL.
The page loads.
Everything works.
So you check again.
Still works.
And yet… the ads are disapproved.
That’s exactly what happened with two different clients working with Ritner Digital.
The Problem
Both clients had active Google Ads suddenly disapproved under Destination Requirements.
The reason Google gave:
The landing page was inaccessible.
The reality:
When we visited the URLs ourselves, both sites loaded instantly.
Pages rendered correctly
Forms worked
No visible errors
No redirects
No warnings
From a human perspective, nothing was wrong.
From Google AdsBot’s perspective?
The pages were effectively broken.
Why This Happens
Google doesn’t approve ads based on what you see in a browser.
It approves ads based on what Google AdsBot sees when it crawls your landing page.
And in these cases, the server was responding differently to bots than to real users.
No alerts.
No obvious errors.
Just disapproved ads and halted spend.
Fix #1: Humans Saw the Page. AdsBot Saw a 404.
In the first case, the server was incorrectly serving legacy static 404 error pages from 2021 — only to Google AdsBot.
Humans were routed to live WordPress content.
AdsBot was served cached error files.
Root cause
A caching conflict between Nginx and Plesk affecting certain user agents.
What we fixed
Cleared server-side caches
Removed outdated legacy error files
Reconfigured Nginx routing rules
Ensured AdsBot was routed to live WordPress content
Once AdsBot saw the same page humans did, the disapproval was resolved.
Fix #2: A Page That Failed Only When Google Knocked
In the second case, the landing page worked perfectly in browsers but returned a
500 Internal Server Error only for Google AdsBot.
Root cause
A PHP 8.1 compatibility issue within the site’s security firewall bot-validation logic.
In short:
The firewall didn’t trust AdsBot and blocked it before the page could load.
What we fixed
Reconfigured security headers
Adjusted firewall bot-validation rules
Resolved PHP 8.1 compatibility conflicts
Verification
After deploying both fixes, we verified everything using server-side AdsBot simulations.
Result:
HTTP/2 200 OK
Full landing page access
No errors, blocks, or redirects
Google AdsBot now receives the same response as real users.
The Outcome
Ads approved
Campaigns live again
Spend resumed
Revenue restored
And importantly — no changes were made to ad copy, landing page design, or targeting.
The Bigger Lesson
This is why “the site works for me” doesn’t mean
“the site works for Google.”
It’s also why boutique marketing agencies sometimes cost more.
Because sometimes fixing ads doesn’t mean tweaking headlines —
it means having developers who can:
Diagnose bot-specific server behavior
Read error logs instead of guessing
Fix backend issues before they quietly kill performance
Everything looked fine.
Until we looked at the site the same way Google does.
Want Help With a Similar Issue?
If your ads are disapproved but your site “looks fine,” there’s a good chance Google is seeing something you’re not.
At Ritner Digital, we don’t just manage campaigns — we have developers ready to diagnose server-level issues that most marketing teams can’t access.
If your ads are stalled, rejected, or mysteriously underperforming:
👉🏼 Reach out to Ritner Digital and we’ll figure out what Google is actually seeing — before it costs you another dollar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why were the ads disapproved if the websites worked for users?
Because Google Ads doesn’t evaluate landing pages the same way humans do.
Google uses Google AdsBot to crawl and test landing pages. In these cases, the server was responding differently to AdsBot than it did to real users — serving error pages or blocking the bot entirely — even though the sites appeared to work perfectly in a browser.
What are “bot-only” server errors?
Bot-only errors happen when a server, firewall, or caching layer treats automated crawlers differently than human visitors.
That can include:
Serving cached error pages only to bots
Blocking bots via security rules
Returning different HTTP status codes based on user agent
They’re especially tricky because they’re invisible unless you specifically test for them.
Can Google Ads disapprove a page even if it loads in my browser?
Yes — and it happens more often than most advertisers realize.
Google Ads approvals are based on what AdsBot sees, not what you see. A page can load flawlessly for users while still returning a 404, 500, or blocked response to Google’s crawler.
Why didn’t Google Ads clearly explain the issue?
Destination Requirement disapprovals are intentionally broad.
Google typically doesn’t surface detailed server or firewall errors in the ad interface. Without reviewing server logs or simulating AdsBot requests, it’s nearly impossible to identify the exact cause from Google Ads alone.
Could this have been fixed without developer involvement?
Not reliably.
These issues lived at the server, firewall, and caching level — outside the scope of standard Google Ads management. Fixing them required:
Reviewing server logs
Diagnosing bot-specific responses
Adjusting Nginx, PHP, and security configurations
This is where developer support becomes essential.
Is this a Google Ads problem or a website problem?
It’s usually a website infrastructure problem that only becomes visible through Google Ads.
The ads are simply the messenger. The underlying issue is how the server responds to automated crawlers versus human users.
How do you test what Google AdsBot actually sees?
We use server-side testing and AdsBot simulations to replicate Google’s crawler behavior, including:
User-agent–specific requests
HTTP status code verification
Firewall and caching response analysis
This allows us to confirm whether AdsBot receives a valid HTTP/2 200 OK response and full page access.
Is this something that affects SEO as well?
Potentially, yes.
If Google AdsBot is blocked or served errors, other Google crawlers may be affected too. Left unresolved, these issues can impact:
Ad approvals
Quality Score
Crawlability
Indexing behavior
Why do boutique agencies cost more for issues like this?
Because solving problems like this isn’t just marketing work — it’s technical infrastructure work.
Boutique agencies with in-house developers can diagnose and fix issues that live beyond dashboards and ad platforms, helping prevent downtime, lost spend, and missed revenue.
How do I know if my site has a bot-only issue?
Common warning signs include:
Ads disapproved despite working URLs
Intermittent “destination not working” errors
Ads that suddenly stop without changes
Inconsistent crawl or approval behavior
If something feels off, it usually is.
Can Ritner Digital help with this?
Yes.
At Ritner Digital, we combine paid media management with developer support to diagnose and resolve issues that prevent ads from running — even when everything looks “fine” on the surface.
👉🏼 Reach out to Ritner Digital if you’re dealing with unexplained ad disapprovals or performance issues, and we’ll help you figure out what Google is actually seeing.
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