How do you keep women's health content in a media plan?
Part of Fair publisher planning
The short answer
Keep women's health content in a plan by judging each page on its purpose and presentation rather than on body or medical words. Menstrual, menopause, pregnancy and breast health education is eligible inventory, reproductive health news is treated as news, and only graphic or sexually gratifying material is excluded, under the categories built for it.
Key takeaways
- Women's health pages are lost through anatomical keyword lists, broad health and news exclusions, and rules that drop whole taxonomy branches such as Diseases and Conditions.
- The World Health Organization calls menopause a life stage and asks that menstruation be treated as a health issue, which is the frame a suitability policy should use.
- YouTube's advertiser guidelines separate breastfeeding, mastectomy and reproductive news content by context, which gives buyers a working model for the open web.
- Brands that sell regulated products beside this content still need their own claims checked against FDA, FTC or Health Canada rules.
- A written women's health clause names the life stages it covers, how reproductive news is handled and who reviews disputed pages.
Why does women's health content get blocked?
Three planning habits remove women's health pages before anyone reads them. The first is the anatomical keyword list: words such as breast, vaginal, bleeding, cervix or pregnancy loss sit on stock adult or tragedy lists, so a guide to heavy periods or a mammogram explainer trips the same rule as explicit material. The second is a broad platform exclusion chosen as a default. Google describes its Health (sensitive) theme as "Health content that people might find sensitive or upsetting, such as medical procedures or images and descriptions of various medical conditions" in the Display & Video 360 theme list (opens in a new tab) and it can sweep in clinical explainers with upsetting imagery.
The third habit is excluding a whole taxonomy branch. In the IAB Tech Lab Content Taxonomy 3.1 file (opens in a new tab), Women's Health sits under Healthy Living, but Menopause sits under Medical Health, Diseases and Conditions, and Pregnancy, Infertility and Birth Control sit under Reproductive Health in the same branch. Excluding Diseases and Conditions to avoid frightening medical content also removes pregnancy guides and menopause coverage.
| Rule | Page it removes | Fairer check |
|---|---|---|
| Anatomical keyword list | A breast self exam guide or a cervical screening explainer | Read the page; keep adult and graphic categories for material that is adult or graphic |
| Health (sensitive) theme as a default | A perimenopause symptom guide with a clinical illustration | Set the theme only when the client asked for it, and review what it removed |
| Excluding Diseases and Conditions | Pregnancy week by week guides and menopause coverage | Exclude named conditions the client objects to, not the whole branch |
| Politics or debated issues exclusion | A news report on a reproductive health law | Decide reproductive news handling as a separate, written client choice |
How do you tell women's health education from adult content?
Definition
- Women's health content
- Editorial about health across the female life course: menstruation, fertility, pregnancy and birth, breastfeeding, breast and gynecological health, and perimenopause and menopause, written to inform readers rather than to arouse or shock them.
The clearest public model for the line is YouTube's advertiser friendly content guidelines (opens in a new tab), which decide which YouTube videos can earn ad revenue (checked October 2026). They do not treat the body as the problem; they look at context. "Breastfeeding nudity where a child is present" can earn ad revenue, while "Breastfeeding nudity without a child present in the scene" cannot. "Artificial breasts used by those who have had mastectomies" appear in the nudity section as content that can earn. "Medical or cosmetic procedures that are educational, focusing on the procedure itself" can earn, and content "featuring (either through focus or repeated showing) breasts or genital areas" cannot.
Those rules govern YouTube monetization, not open web inventory, but the reasoning carries over.
Four questions for a women's health page
- Name the life stage or condition. A page that is clearly about periods, fertility, pregnancy, breastfeeding, breast health or menopause starts as health education.
- Check why the body is shown. Diagrams, clinical photos and feeding images in a care setting inform; imagery framed for sexual attention belongs to the adult category whatever the topic.
- Look for a source. Named clinicians, health agency guidance and a review date mark a serious publisher; unsourced cure claims mark a quality problem, not a suitability one.
- Separate the article from its surroundings. Forums, comments and sponsored widgets can carry material the article does not, so judge them on their own.
Which brands fit beside menstrual and menopause content?
The obvious fits are brands whose products serve these life stages, and their creative needs the closest scrutiny, because the products are regulated. The US Food and Drug Administration states on its menstrual products page (opens in a new tab) (content current as of July 6, 2026) that "All menstrual products marketed in the United States are subject to regulation by the FDA as medical devices." On February 12, 2026 the FDA announced labeling changes (opens in a new tab) for six menopausal hormone therapy products, opening with the line "Menopause is a normal life stage, but its symptoms can significantly reduce quality of life."
| Brand type | Why it fits | Check before launch |
|---|---|---|
| Period care and incontinence products | Direct product relevance to menstrual and pelvic health guides | US menstrual products are FDA regulated medical devices; claims follow the label |
| Menopause treatments and supplements | Readers researching symptoms and options | In Canada only health products Health Canada authorizes may be advertised; US claims need scientific support |
| Bras, sleepwear and apparel | Comfort, nursing and post surgery needs | Keep product imagery plain beside clinical articles |
| Clinics, telehealth and insurers | Care access and coverage questions | Avoid creative that implies the reader has a condition |
Health Canada's advertising requirements page (opens in a new tab) (dated January 30, 2026) says "Only health products that Health Canada authorizes for sale in Canada may be advertised." In the US, the FTC's Health Products Compliance Guidance (opens in a new tab) says advertising "must be truthful and not misleading." Those checks apply to the advertiser's creative, not to the publisher's page.
How should reproductive health news be treated?
Reproductive health news covers court rulings, new laws, clinic closures, drug approvals and personal accounts, and it sits where health, news and politics meet. The platforms separate factual coverage from graphic or inflammatory material. YouTube's guidelines list "Non-graphic abortion content, including personal accounts, opinion pieces, or medical procedure content" and "Content that covers historical or legislative facts related to abortion" as content that can earn ad revenue, while a "Video showing or depicting an abortion procedure" is given as an example of explicit content.
Google Ads settings can still remove this coverage when chosen broadly. Its content suitability page (opens in a new tab) describes the Sensitive social issues exclusion as one that "Excludes content intended to elicit a response about controversial issues", and that sensitive content exclusion applies to the Display Network and Google video partners, not to YouTube, as checked in October 2026. In Display & Video 360, the News (sensitive) theme includes "commentary on potentially controversial social and political issues", and the theme page says themes "apply to YouTube, Demand Gen, and Google Video Partner inventory." Each should be a client choice made knowing what it removes.
How should a policy describe women's health content?
Write the clause around life stages and treatment, not vocabulary. The World Health Organization's statement on menstrual health and rights (opens in a new tab), dated June 22, 2022, asks that menstruation be recognized as "a health issue, not a hygiene issue" and commits WHO to "breaking the silence and stigma associated with menstruation." The clause should name the subject as health and say plainly which treatments of it are out.
What a women's health clause should state
- The life stages covered by name: menstruation, fertility and infertility, pregnancy and birth, breastfeeding, breast and gynecological health, perimenopause and menopause.
- Breastfeeding and post mastectomy content in a care or educational setting is eligible.
- Pregnancy loss, infertility and birth trauma writing is judged on tone and purpose, not placed in a tragedy exclusion.
- Reproductive health news follows the client's written choice for news, with opinion and advocacy handled as a separate line.
- Taxonomy branches such as Diseases and Conditions are never excluded whole; named conditions are excluded only on request.
- Graphic procedure imagery and sexually gratifying material are excluded under their own categories.
- A person reads each disputed page and records the reason for the decision.
Review the clause with the sexual health content guide so both share one reading of the adult category, and see the brand suitability guide for tiers and tolerances.
How does PlacementGraph keep women's health coverage in reach?
What does a women's health review change on a real plan?
Fictional example
A fictional bra maker in Connecticut and Rhode Island
A fictional maker of wire free, nursing and post mastectomy bras briefs a display plan in Hartford, New Haven and Providence, in English, beside breast health, breastfeeding and menopause content. The client wants no graphic medical imagery and no political commentary.
The first draft, built with a stock adult keyword list and the whole Diseases and Conditions branch excluded, holds fashion magazines and almost no health publishers. The planner reviews the removals: a breast cancer survivorship magazine, a lactation consultant's blog and a regional newspaper's health section were dropped on words such as breast and nipple. None crossed the client's adult tolerance when read.
The team replaces the keyword list with the adult category at the client's tolerance, excludes only graphic surgical imagery, and leaves reproductive news out by the client's written choice while keeping clinical guides in. The approved list adds the three publishers, each with the sampled articles that justify it.
Frequently asked questions
Is pregnancy loss coverage suitable for advertising?
It can be, when the brand has a reason to be there and the creative is quiet. Support articles and personal accounts written with care are health writing, not tragedy news. Baby product brands should review this coverage page by page, since a cheerful ad can read as painful to a grieving reader.
Should menopause content be planned as senior health?
No. The World Health Organization says natural menopause generally occurs between 45 and 55, and the IAB Tech Lab taxonomy keeps Menopause and Senior Health in separate branches. Planning menopause coverage under senior health puts working age readers in the wrong context and can misplace brands aimed at people in midlife.
Can a brand advertise beside fertility and IVF content?
Yes, with care over tone. Fertility clinics, insurers and employers offering fertility benefits are natural fits. Infertility sits under Reproductive Health in the IAB Tech Lab taxonomy, so a rule excluding that branch removes it. Creative should never assume the reader is trying to conceive or has struggled to.
Does advertising beside women's health pages mean targeting women?
No. A contextual placement is chosen by what the page covers, not by who reads it, and readers of a menopause guide include partners, carers and clinicians. Google's personalized advertising policy lists Health among its restricted categories, which is one more reason to plan this coverage by page rather than by audience profile.
Sources
- Advertiser-friendly content guidelines (opens in a new tab)YouTube Help
- Excluded content themes (opens in a new tab)Display & Video 360 Help
- About content suitability (opens in a new tab)Google Ads Help
- Content Taxonomy 3.1 (TSV) (opens in a new tab)IAB Tech Lab, GitHub
- Menopause fact sheet (opens in a new tab)World Health Organization, October 16, 2024
- WHO statement on menstrual health and rights (opens in a new tab)World Health Organization, June 22, 2022
- Menstrual Product Options: Facts and Safe Use (opens in a new tab)US Food and Drug Administration
- FDA Approves Labeling Changes for Menopausal Hormone Therapy Products (opens in a new tab)US Food and Drug Administration, February 12, 2026
- Regulatory requirements for advertising (opens in a new tab)Health Canada
- Health Products Compliance Guidance (opens in a new tab)US Federal Trade Commission
- Restricted targeting in Personalized advertising (opens in a new tab)Google Advertising Policies Help
Researched and written by PlacementGraph Research. Read how we research, source and update these pages. Corrections: diana@placementgraph.com.