Suspended from Adwords

[MichelledGrace]

Originally Posted by Email from Google

Hello Michelle,

Thank you for your email. After reviewing your account, it has come to our
attention that your Google AdWords accounts do not comply with our Terms
and Conditions. As a result, your accounts have been suspended, and your
ads will no longer run on Google.

To view our Terms and Conditions, please visit (link). We appreciate your
cooperation.

Sincerely,

Lianne
The Google AdWords Singapore Team

Right. What is this? I have gone through the T&C several times trying to see what I done wrong, but to no avail.

I am very confident that all my current campaigns are not violating anything. In fact all my keywords have at least 7/10 QS.

This email was sent to me after I sent an email asking if they were done reviewing my account. I sent that email because my ads weren't being served, and I was receiving no impressions even after a few weeks.

I DO have a previous account that I cancelled myself to open a newer, more official "business" version. This was months ago, so I think this is not the problem they suspended my current account.

Any help with this at all?

-Michelle

P.S My account is still LIVE, though.

[MichelledGrace]

Help please!

[Texjd]

It's almost always the landing pages, that's what can get you penalized or suspended.

[MichelledGrace]

Originally Posted by Texjd

It's almost always the landing pages, that's what can get you penalized or suspended.

I think it's not the landing page, I was using a template from someone VERY reputable!

My landing page has 8 articles also, and the QS for my keywords were great! I did not keyword-stuff or anything black hat, it was totally white.

[Lucid]

Originally Posted by MichelledGrace

I DO have a previous account that I cancelled myself to open a newer, more official "business" version. This was months ago, so I think this is not the problem they suspended my current account

It could indeed be the reason.

But to my knowledge, you can get suspended or banned. I've seen both being used. These words have different meanings. Since you are only suspended, it seems all you have to do is fix the problem and ask to be un-suspended.

Does your site have affiliate links in it?

[MichelledGrace]

Originally Posted by Lucid

It could indeed be the reason.

But to my knowledge, you can get suspended or banned. I've seen both being used. These words have different meanings. Since you are only suspended, it seems all you have to do is fix the problem and ask to be un-suspended.

Does your site have affiliate links in it?

Oh? That's great news!

I hope I'm just suspended. I sent an email back to them already.

Yes, my landing page has affiliate links, but through images only.

[trapp120]

I'm having a hard time getting "unsuspended". They've mentioned "repeated advertising policy violations" and that "You have
repeatedly submitted ads that had poor quality landing pages in this or a
related account"

It's really killing my business, that's for sure. I would love some help as well.

[Lucid]

> Yes, my landing page has affiliate links, but through images only.

There's your problem. An affiliate link is an affiliate link. Doesn't matter if it's a text link or a link from an image.

I'm not an affiliate marketer myself. Some say to cloak your links but I'm not convinced this will work, at least not in the long run. First, I'd delete all groups where you are promoting sites with affiliate links. If you don't, Google will eventually ban you (as in, you can't advertise with us anymore). Recreate your campaigns but direct link to the merchant instead.

[vic1]

New rule? Quality Violations => Adwords ban
If the link isn't clickable, copy and paste it.

A lot of info about your problem.
Not a lot of answers though.

[Video Rob]

Adwords have just automatically banned loads of websites that have affiliate links in the index page. They're clamping down hard on blatant affiliate sites.

I suggest that you remove the affiliate links from the front page, make your site look like it provides useful information first and tries to sell something second then contact a google rep and ask to open another account.

[GuerrillaIM]

This usually happens when they dissallow one of your ads, then you go and keep changing ad to try and get it working again. They see this as you trying to fool the system.

[waqyum]

I thought only adsense publishers face such issues.

[Mr Money Maker]

People why put all your eggs in one basket......use many methods ...because you will never please everyone out there

[Willmarathon]

You probably already know this but if your landing page was on a traffic exchange
then that would get you suspended. Traffic exchange traffic is not allowed as far as I remember. I,for one, would forget about it and try AdBrite or Bidvertiser.com.

[TimPhelan]

I believe that's for adsense, not adwords.

Originally Posted by Willmarathon

You probably already know this but if your landing page was on a traffic exchange
then that would get you suspended. Traffic exchange traffic is not allowed as far as I remember. I,for one, would forget about it and try AdBrite or Bidvertiser.com.

[MichelledGrace]

Why are they banning sites with the one affiliate link in the homepage?

I created that site JUST to avoid direct linking and get a higher quality score, I succeeded actually.

I'll try to remove the index affiliate link and see if anything happens.

[Wealthyclark]

It seems to me that all the big sites like google ezinearticles and such are being pushed by someone larger like the GOV. to stop making it so easy for people to make money.

I don't see how having an affiliate link on my home page can get me banned from buying advertising when Google it's self runs an affiliate program.

This means that my site is not allowed to show ads for other products related to it's content, it makes no sense. Conspiracy!

[Lucid]

> Why are they banning sites with the one affiliate link in the homepage?

Couple reasons. As WealthyClark alluded to, the FTC is apparently cracking down. No sure how true that is. Google itself would like to offer a better user experience for people.

> I created that site JUST to avoid direct linking and get a higher quality score, I succeeded actually.

Why would you want to avoid direct linking? Seems like the fastest, easiest route to use. Evidently, you did not succeed and you won't ever if you continue sending clicks to your landing page.

[MichelledGrace]

Originally Posted by Lucid

> Why are they banning sites with the one affiliate link in the homepage?

Couple reasons. As WealthyClark alluded to, the FTC is apparently cracking down. No sure how true that is. Google itself would like to offer a better user experience for people.

> I created that site JUST to avoid direct linking and get a higher quality score, I succeeded actually.

Why would you want to avoid direct linking? Seems like the fastest, easiest route to use. Evidently, you did not succeed and you won't ever if you continue sending clicks to your landing page.

Oh. I thought maybe because I was direct-linking, and someone else was already doing it, my ads weren't showing. That was why I created a landing page, to get my ads served IF someone was already promoting the same exact offer.

[oscarkool]

Good luck direct linking to a CPA offer, you'll get slapped so fast you won't even know what happened.

[Lucid]

> Oh. I thought maybe because I was direct-linking, and someone else was already doing it, my ads weren't showing.

No, you won't get banned or suspended for direct linking. You are right however that only one ad can show for that domain. If there are others using Adwords and direct linking, you just have to be smarter than them and create better ads.

[Sancho Sanches]

Originally Posted by MichelledGrace

I think it's not the landing page, I was using a template from someone VERY reputable!

My landing page has 8 articles also, and the QS for my keywords were great! I did not keyword-stuff or anything black hat, it was totally white.

It can be very frustrating not getting answers from Google as to what exactly they claim you did wrong.

I also don't know what reputable person you are talking about and I haven't seen the template, but I would not be surprised that, no matter how much you think the template couldn't be it, it may be or is one of the problems.

It's easy to think that Google hates affiliates.

It appears so.

But I don't believe this to be the case, really.

They want value and they want you to set yourself apart.

And it doesn't matter what you think has value. If you're going to play in Google's house it's their rules and if they say you don't offer value - then you don't.

But it is too bad they act a little too mysterious.

This I have against them.

Believe me, they have pissed me off and I don't like what I currently see going on and them not giving proper answers.

But be targeted and offer the value they want their users to have and you should be golden.

...

[MichelledGrace]

Originally Posted by Sancho Sanches

It can be very frustrating not getting answers from Google as to what exactly they claim you did wrong.

I also don't know what reputable person you are talking about and I haven't seen the template, but I would not be surprised that, no matter how much you think the template couldn't be it, it may be or is one of the problems.

It's easy to think that Google hates affiliates.

It appears so.

But I don't believe this to be the case, really.

They want value and they want you to set yourself apart.

And it doesn't matter what you think has value. If you're going to play in Google's house it's their rules and if they say you don't offer value - then you don't.

But it is too bad they act a little too mysterious.

This I have against them.

Believe me, they have pissed me off and I don't like what I currently see going on and them not giving proper answers.

But be targeted and offer the value they want their users to have and you should be golden.

...

Well, my keywords have at least 7/10 QS. It must be relevant enough!

On my website, I also included 8 articles directly related to the keywords AND outgoing links also directly related to my keywords.

Anyway, how do I find WHAT is valuable to Google?

I haven't receive a reply from them.

[jcmentor]

Use Yahoo and MS Ad Center. Taking your business elsewhere is the ultimate revenge.

[Lucid]

> Well, my keywords have at least 7/10 QS. It must be relevant enough!

True, you are relevant with such a QS. But the issue as I said before is that you are a bridge page between Adwords and the merchant. Stop your campaign. Delete it before you get banned outright. Use Yahoo, MSN and others if you want. It's smart to spread your net wider. But to not being able to leverage Google's huge traffic is not very smart. Play by their rules. If you have revenge in mind, they are not going to shed a tear and you'll lose by not being able to advertise on the most popular search engine in the world.

[MichelledGrace]

Originally Posted by jcmentor

Use Yahoo and MS Ad Center. Taking your business elsewhere is the ultimate revenge.

I'm very confident that Google doesn't need my $20 per day.

Originally Posted by Lucid

> Well, my keywords have at least 7/10 QS. It must be relevant enough!

True, you are relevant with such a QS. But the issue as I said before is that you are a bridge page between Adwords and the merchant. Stop your campaign. Delete it before you get banned outright. Use Yahoo, MSN and others if you want. It's smart to spread your net wider. But to not being able to leverage Google's huge traffic is not very smart. Play by their rules. If you have revenge in mind, they are not going to shed a tear and you'll lose by not being able to advertise on the most popular search engine in the world.

So I should delete all existing campaigns(8)?
I wouldn't be able to leverage Google anymore?
Google doesn't care about an extra $20 a day, so I'm not going to "avenge" my suspension lol.

[Lucid]

> I wouldn't be able to leverage Google anymore?

You wouldn't if you got banned, would you? So stop doing what you're doing before you do get banned. Or rethink how to do your site without affiliate links.

[7_8_shortcuts]

Originally Posted by Lucid

> I wouldn't be able to leverage Google anymore?

You wouldn't if you got banned, would you? So stop doing what you're doing before you do get banned. Or rethink how to do your site without affiliate links.

But I don't really get it... So you are not supposed to link from an ad to a page and from that page to a merchant...? That doesn't make sense. Is one only allowed to link to ones OWN product or what?

I have some campaigns doing just that and it works so far. Should I worry that I can get suspended now or what?

That said, I have heard recently of accounts being suspended WITHOUT warning from Google and WITHOUT any explanations or re-considerations... and I am talking accounts from people who spend like 30.000-50.000 USD a month for years with them! And even if you made one mistake unintentionally once, they don't even explain themselves, they say their decision is final and just shut you down. Has happened to some people recently, who of course are completely furious, but also quite helpless against that giant.

They have grown too big, I was their biggest fan until recently, but now it annoys me that they are such a monopoly and start to act pretty arrogantly. When that happens companies lose sight a bit. Hope they don't overdo it.

[MichelledGrace]

Originally Posted by Lucid

> I wouldn't be able to leverage Google anymore?

You wouldn't if you got banned, would you? So stop doing what you're doing before you do get banned. Or rethink how to do your site without affiliate links.

If I cancel all my campaigns, then I wouldn't be able to leverage Google too.

I am 101% sure that there are a lot more people linking to sites with affiliate links. If not, why would people advertise with Adwords anymore? I think this has nothing to do with the affiliate links.

Anyway, I'm going to cancel all campaigns and see what happens.

I'll ask for a reconsideration too...

[7_8_shortcuts]

Originally Posted by Sancho Sanches

...It's easy to think that Google hates affiliates.

It appears so.

But I don't believe this to be the case, really.

Yes, besides Google actually has its own affiliate network... So they can't really hate affiliates per se, they probably just want to control exactly how you play the game (by their rules, which they actually never completely disclose LOL )

[MichelledGrace]

Does anyone know how to contact an Adwords Representative for a reconsideration?

[MichelledGrace]

Hello Michelle,

Thank you for your email regarding your ads not serving any impressions. I
found that your ads are not serving because your account is suspended. I
have reconsulted the specialist team about your account suspension, and
have confirmed that our team's decision is correct and final. Your ads
will no longer run on Google. This policy will apply to all accounts you
have created. As noted in our Terms and Conditions, Google reserves the
right to terminate advertisements for any reason. To view our Terms and
Conditions, please visit https://adwords.google.com/select/tsandcsfinder.

Our support team is unable to provide any further information. Please do
not contact us again. For questions about other Google products, please
visit Google Help. We appreciate your cooperation.

*Spit*

Oh please. Suspending without solid reasons.

*Spit*

[rachelle123]

Michelle,

I feel your pain...lol... I have a 2yr old account.. just started using it again.. Built a couple of nice review sites.. qs was no lower than 8/10...

Was doing good with them.. then had to pause them do to funds..and waiting for affiliate commissions to come in.. I received an email on nov5th stating that they have notified me several times regarding bad landing page qs issues..

For one.. that was the first email I had ever received and its not even to an email that is related to my adwords account.

So i went into my account and deleted all my campaigns immediately.. Today I just received an email stating my account was suspended...

Have no idea what I have done, nor have they explained.. other lp qs... which is bs as mine were all fine..

Time to move on...

[kausarkhan]

Very disappointing, I am using adwords since 2003 and spent more then $100K and my adwords account also suspended one week back due to voilations of landing page quality scores. I dont under why they are very strick this days. There is no option for me now, I am only depending on SEO. Getting free traffic is the best idea.

[Andrew O]

Wow, that's tough, especially considering that they didn't even give you a solid reason for the suspension. Seems like AdWords has been getting more and more strict lately with their landing pages...even for pages that seem to comply with their TOS.

Like kausarkhan said, I try to depend entirely on SEO nowadays.

[sousen]

I think if you read carefully google terms and conditions page you will get the answer and tally what to not do and what you have done

[Christian Fox]

I am very confident that all my current campaigns are not violating anything. In fact all my keywords have at least 7/10 QS.

Same boat here this is a joke. I am glad I do well in organic... Google is becoming more like eBay every day I HATED working with them also.

My sites are review sites and do EXACTLY what my ad says they do. Even if they buy nothing they still get a free review...Jeebus what am I supposed to do?

I custom built 2 sites specifically for PPC and used the 'slap Google back method' I have been reading they have made it next to impossible to direct link as well. Soooo I guess the only way to make money with Adwords is to sell your own product now?

Who is going to use PPC to send people to anything that is not monetized in some way? Whats next no opt ins?

I'm checking out MSN and Yahoo...

F it... Adnerds was hard enough before this...

[Christian Fox]

Opened accounts at Yahoo and MSN... Getting my clicks for .12 vs .60 needed at Google.

[tryinhere]

Originally Posted by Christian Fox

My sites are review sites and do EXACTLY what my ad says they do. Even if they buy nothing they still get a free review...Jeebus what am I supposed to do?

I custom built 2 sites specifically for PPC and used the 'slap Google back method' I have been reading they have made it next to impossible to direct link as well. Soooo I guess the only way to make money with Adwords is to sell your own product now?...

most review type sites are known to be more or less affiliate bridge pages and as such are usually dumped with a low qs land page. most of these sites / pages are thin with no content, so beefing it up with content and external links , pages will help

in regards the next to impossible to direct link stories ? i am not sure about stories but i can say i run direct link ads with a qs of 10 / 10 for 90% + of my keys

[warrich]

there are many reasons to Suspend your adwords account.

Landing page is not reachable.
Copyright content
copyright videos (Example : youtube.com) not allowed
copyright images