Government documents policy to require government-linked proof of authorization from October 5, 2026

Google announced that from October 5, 2026 only authorized providers may advertise direct acquisition of government documents and services, and tightened what counts as authorization: the advertiser's domain must be linked from an official government website and explicitly named as authorized for that specific document or service.

• Commercial contracts, business or trade licenses, entries on business registries, and articles or blog posts are explicitly rejected as proof of authorization, even when hosted on government-owned sites.
• Valid examples given include government-managed directories of accredited commercial partners and official regulatory portals listing sanctioned specialists.
• The domain must promote only the document or service the authorization covers, and ads must target only the matching geographic region, except for inherently transnational categories such as electronic travel visas and authorizations, border entrance travel documents and U.S. Trusted Traveler programs.
• Advertisers must stay compliant with other policies such as Misleading representation, and Google reserves the right to deny or revoke certification at any time.
• Posted August 4, 2026; enforcement begins October 5, 2026.