Since early February we were warning Google AdWords advertisers that Google would be enforcing the display URL policy, where the display URL must match the destination URL. The policy enforcement was suppose to begin on April 1st. On April 10th, we asked why Google wasn't enforcing this new policy? But we had no answer.
That all changed this weekend. A WebmasterWorld thread has reports from several AdWords advertisers reporting that Google has finally begun enforcing the policy. One advertiser said the automated method of detecting and penalizing ads for breaking the display URL policy is fairly accurate, for the most part. He said:
The software has made the odd false negative, but otherwise doing great.
Other advertisers have confirmed the new policy has been enforced for them. We have yet to see a major backlash from advertisers who are upset about this policy - yet.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.