Sorry, No Emoji Allowed In Google PLAs (Frown Face)

Just when it looked like the newest frontier for emoji could be PLAs, Google has fixed the glitch, so to speak.

At least one intrepid advertiser figured out how to get an emoji to appear alongside the display URL in its Google Shopping campaign ads, spotted here on Google.dk (Denmark).

Unfortunately for this and any other advertisers pushing the emoji envelope, Google recently updated its store name guidelines in the Merchant Store policy center to specifically cite emoticons and emoji among its don’ts.

Emoticons and emoji had fallen under the existing guidelines that disallowed the use of unnecessary symbols, but until the recent update, the guidelines only specifically listed “ALL CAPS” as an example of unnecessary use of punctuation, capitalization or symbols.

So until a business adopts an emoji as part or all of its name (and that is a dare), PLAs will be an emoji-free zone. And admittedly, that’s probably for the best.

Thanks to Frederik Hyldig from s360 A/S for the SERP screenshot.