Learn / Checks # What to check before an ad goes out The checks that catch what actually ships wrong: the price on one size, the legal line on the smallest banner, the logo under the platform’s button. Abinash Senapati Founder, eonik Updated 26 Oct 2026 4 min read Checked against Meta, Google, W3C and the FTC on 26 Oct 2026 The short answer Check every size of the set, side by side, in five passes: the offer (price, dates, legal line), the brand (logo, type, colours), the words (spelling, contrast, nothing cut off), each placement (safe zones, sizes, file limits) and where the ad leads (the landing page sells the same thing). Fix what you find on every size it touches, then leave time for the platform’s own review. - Check the set, not the ad: the mistakes live in the sizes nobody opened. - A needed disclosure has to be close to its claim and work on every device the ad runs on. 1 - Small text needs a contrast of at least 4.5:1 against its background. 3 - Meta’s review is typically done within 24 hours, so a checked set still needs a day before it runs. 6 On this page Check the offer on every size Check the brand Check every word can be read Check each size against its placement Check where the ad leads Common mistakes Questions Sources Most mistakes that reach a live ad are small and boring: a price that was updated on four sizes out of five, a legal line cut off at the edge of a banner, a logo sitting where the platform draws its profile icon. None of them would survive a careful look. They ship because nobody looks at every size carefully, so the checks below are written to be done on all of them, in order. What you need - Every size of the set, exported, and the master. - The approved copy: the claims, the price and the legal line. - The brand’s rules, and the placements each size is for. ## Step 1 Check the offer on every size Start with what the customer is promised, because it is what costs the most when it is wrong. Put the approved copy beside the set and read the offer on every size, including the short forms on small banners. - The price matches the approved copy On every size, in every form it appears. - Dates and conditions match Start, end, and any limits on the offer. - The legal line is present and complete And readable at the size it is set. - Every claim is one the product may make Nothing added in a resize or a translation. The FTC’s guidance on digital ads asks for a needed disclosure to sit as close as possible to the claim it qualifies, and to be enough to keep the ad from misleading on every device or platform it can be seen on. 1 A legal line that is on the feed size and missing from the mobile banner fails that on the banner. ## Step 2 Check the brand Read each size against the brand’s rules, not against your memory of them. The usual failures are small and visual, which is why a rule written as a check catches them and a style guide in a drawer does not. - The logo is whole and not stretched Same proportions as the master, with its clear space. - The brand’s fonts, not a fallback Especially in translated or edited lines. - The brand’s colours Not shifted by a photo filter or an export setting. - The product is the real one Its shape, colour and label, in every shot and size. Check the brand on the exported files, not in the design file. An export can quietly change what was approved: a colour that shifts on the way out, a font that was not included and fell back to another, a logo flattened onto a background that no longer matches. Open the files the platform will receive, on the kind of screen they will be seen on. ## Step 3 Check every word can be read Read the words at the size people will see them, on a phone for social sizes and at 100% for banners. A widely used measure of legibility is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines: a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text (18 point, or 14 point bold); text that is part of a logo has no requirement. 3 Text Minimum contrast Where it fails most Legal line and small print 3 4.5:1 Over a busy part of the photo Headline at 18 pt or more 3 3:1 Light type over a light sky Logo 3 None Not a contrast problem; check it is whole From WCAG 2.2, Success Criterion 1.4.3. 3 - No spelling mistakes Read every line, slowly, on every size. - No word cut by the frame Or hidden behind the photo or the button. - Captions match what is said In every video cut. ## Step 4 Check each size against its placement Each placement has its own rules about where text can sit and what the file may be. Check each size against the one it is for. Placement Check Rule Instagram Stories 4 Text and logo out of the bands 14% top, 35% bottom, 6% each side Instagram Stories 4 Size and shape 9:16, 1440×2560 Google uploaded image ads 5 Format and file size GIF, JPG or PNG, 150 KB at most Google uploaded image ads 5 Exact size The listed size, such as 728×90 Examples from Meta’s and Google’s own specs. Check every placement in your plan against its own page. - Every size is the size it claims to be The file’s pixels match its name. - Every file is within its limit Size, length and format. - Each file is named by placement and size So the person uploading never has to guess. ## Step 5 Check where the ad leads The last check is the click. Under Meta’s Advertising Standards, the products and services in an ad must match those on its landing page, and every part of the ad must be relevant to what is offered. 2 Open the link from each ad and confirm the page sells the same product, at the same price, with the same offer. - The link opens the right page Not the home page, not last month’s offer. - Same product, same price, same offer As the ad shows. 2 - The page is live when the ad is Not still in draft. Then leave room for the platform. Meta says its ad review is typically completed within 24 hours, may take longer, and that ads can be reviewed again after they are live. 6 A launch that needs to run on Monday morning should be checked and submitted by the working day before. ## Common mistakes - Checking the master and trusting the sizes . The sizes are where the mistakes are. - Checking on a large monitor only . Social sizes are seen on a phone, and small text that reads on a monitor may not. - Leaving the landing page to someone else . An ad that does not match its page fails Meta’s rules, however right the ad is. - Submitting the morning of the launch . Review typically takes up to a day. Doing this in eonik eonik checks every page against your brand’s rules. What is missing is pinned where it is missing, and put back in one click, before your team reviews and approves the set in a browser. See checks → ## Questions ### Who should do the final check? Someone who did not make the set, with the approved copy and the brand’s rules beside them. The person who made it reads what they meant to write; a second person reads what is actually there. ### Do Meta and Google check the ad for me? They review it against their own policies, not against your brand or your offer. Meta’s review is typically done within 24 hours and does not know your price, your legal line or your logo rules. 6 Those checks are yours. ### What is the one check that matters most? The offer on every size: the price, the dates and the legal line. It is what a customer relies on and what is hardest to take back once it has run. ## Sources - .com Disclosures: How to Make Effective Disclosures in Digital Advertising , US Federal Trade Commission, March 2013 . Disclosures close to the claim, on every device the ad runs on, including space-constrained ads. Checked 26 Oct 2026 - Introduction to the Advertising Standards , Meta Transparency Center . No misleading claims, and the ad must match the product on the landing page. Checked 26 Oct 2026 - Success Criterion 1.4.3, Contrast (Minimum) , W3C, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.2 . 4.5:1 for text, 3:1 for large text, and logos exempt. Checked 26 Oct 2026 - Image ad specs on Instagram Stories , Meta Ads Guide . 9:16, 1440×2560, and the 14% / 35% / 6% safe zone. Checked 25 Oct 2026 - Uploaded display ads specifications , Google Ads Help . Every uploaded image ad size, GIF, JPG or PNG, and 150 KB at most. Checked 26 Oct 2026 - Ad review, policy and support , Meta for Business . Review is typically done within 24 hours, and edits may send an ad back to review. Checked 26 Oct 2026 ## Read next How to write your brand’s rules down Learn How to get a set approved without the email chain Learn Legal line Glossary On this page Check the offer on every size Check the brand Check every word can be read Check each size against its placement Check where the ad leads Common mistakes Questions Sources ## Make your next ad in eonik. Download for Mac Free to start. No card.