Just got permanently screwed by google

[digitaledge]

Thank you google so much for screwing me over up the tail pipe without any warning what so ever.

Got an email from google saying im permanently banned and not able to do anything in the future.. due to violations.

Im not sure how this is fair. Im fairly new to IM and have failed miserably and all i was doing was direct linking so im getting punished for trying to promote other peoples websites. Go figure.

Heres a very unrealistic request to everyone. boycott google adwords.

Yeah didnt think you would.

[Adam Carn]

You got banned from AdWords or AdSense?

Adam

[digitaledge]

Got banned to Adwords

[Adam Carn]

Really? I didn't know AdWords permanantly ban people as well.

Adam

[digitaledge]

They do now..

Heres the email...

"Dear advertiser,

We are writing to let you know that your Google AdWords account has been disabled due to one or more serious violations of our advertising policies related to Landing Page and Site Quality. As a result, your ads will no longer run through the Google AdWords system and we are unable to accept advertising from you in the future. Please note that future accounts you open will also be disabled.

As part of our commitment to making the AdWords experience safe and effective for our users and our advertisers, we routinely review the landing pages that our advertisers promote through our search and content networks. If we find that an advertiser has submitted a landing page that egregiously violates our policies, we reserve the right to take immediate account-level action.

Landing pages advertised via AdWords must have relevant, original content, and must be transparent about the nature of the business being promoted. Further, advertising certain types of sites will lead to immediate account disabling. These types of sites include, but are not limited to:

* Sites that charge users or collect personal information in exchange for a product that is never delivered
* Sites that charge for "free" software
* Sites that trick users into paying for fake or poor-quality content
* Sites that charge users for information that makes unrealistic promises of financial or personal gain
* Sites that install malware software on a visitor's computer


Please note that this action is related to sites that have recently been advertised through your account. In a review of your account history, we found that your account had submitted a least one site that egregiously violated our advertising policies. Although you may have removed these sites since our latest review, advertisers that have a history of promoting these types of sites are still subject to account-level disabling.

You can review our Advertising Policies, including our Landing Page and Site Quality guidelines, by visiting: AdWords Help
You may also review the complete AdWords Terms & Conditions here: //adwords.google.com/select/tsandcsfinder
In addition, our FAQ about Account Disablings can be found here: adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164786

If you have additional questions or concerns not addressed by our policies or help center, you can contact support by replying to this email.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords team"

[Scott Ames]

I can see banning a campaign, or giving you a warning, but just to ban you forever is nuts. I know they make plenty of money and do not care about people, but to make a wild statement like "we are unable to accept advertising from you in the future" is irresponsible.

That should only happen if you have been a complete butt head after being warned several times.

They are just like eBay another company that cares very little for their users.

[Tom Goodwin]

Originally Posted by Adam Carn

Really? I didn't know AdWords permanantly ban people as well.

Adam

There are about 1000 threads on this very topic going on in the adsense/seo forum right now. Google has been a kick this week.

[tryinhere]

its running rampant at the moment

Another Big Adword Banning Operation? Did You Get The Scary Email Yet?

[digitaledge]

Well this is no warning.

I just had to vent. seems very unfair to just blanket my account suddenly. there is even a balance in there.

Ive emailed them thanking them for thier kindness and request they credit my credit card immedietly. but surprise no reply

I suppose it would apply to anything i do through them like adsense

[FrankBowman]

This has been happening a lot lately. Google, it seems is trying to weed out some of its smaller advertisers, they're starting to concentrate on larger customers.

There is an easy solution though.

1. Use a different credit card, you may need to use someone else's.
2. Open a new Gmail account AND Adwords account from a different IP (computer)

That should do it.

[T.R. McCarroll]

Should just form a LLC or C-Corp and get credit through it..separate bank account, email address etc

[digitaledge]

Originally Posted by FrankBowman

This has been happening a lot lately. Google, it seems is trying to weed out some of its smaller advertisers, they're starting to concentrate on larger customers.

There is an easy solution though.

1. Use a different credit card, you may need to use someone else's.
2. Open a new Gmail account AND Adwords account from a different IP (computer)

That should do it.

Really? And have to change name on account too obviously. What if you open the account on another ip but come back to your old ip
Maybe ill just renew my ip on my network?

[Steven Wagenheim]

Makes me glad as hell that I don't use them and don't need them.

[FredFarnes]

I received the same letter from Google. Permanent ban. They have not responded to my email request for info about this. I can't believe I did anything anything so wrong. For a week or two early this year, I did run a campaign for some email/zip submits to my landing page. Is that enough for the death sentence?

[digitaledge]

Everyone boycott google. head on over to yahoo and msn. they dont want us.

They will see a dent in thier pockets soon enough

[css]

Makes you wonder how they got your IP. What if the IP was never yours to begin with? That would solve half your problem right up front.

[DogScout]

Got an email today. Apparently some company that spends over a million a year with them was also banned.

I think they have gone over the edge.

I found it,

Here it is:

Mark,

Yesterday I had a private call for my Mastermind Club
members. We explored the dark side of Google.

One member was spending $1 million per year on Google
selling coffee and they shut him down. (He wasn't selling
Warez, or ebooks, or get rich quick, or affiliate programs,
or anything like that. He sold COFFEE).

No explanation. No recourse.

Google said, "Stop sending us emails."

Another guy was an affiliate spending $300K per year. He
says he wasn't "pushing the boundaries" but they shut him
down anyway. Permanently banned.

Percentage wise this only happens to a very small
percentage of people. But it can happen.

What if this happens to you?

If your business is excessively dependent on Google then
you're an accident waiting to happen.

At the beginning of every personal AdWords 12 week Coaching
run, I say:

"If 12 months from now you are still getting most of your
traffic from Google, I will have failed to do my job. I want
you to use Google to perfect your sales funnel, then get
traffic from EVERYWHERE. Not just Google."

I've been preaching that for 4+ years now.

In my Maui AdWords Master's Summit 1/3 of the seminar will
be about paid traffic sources OTHER than Google. So that no
matter what Google does, you have a healthy business.

One of the speakers at that seminar will be Jonathan Mizel
who is a MASTER of paid traffic media buys. Jonathan just
released a new course on how to buy tens of thousands of
clicks from the "invisible half" of the online marketing
world.

There are 20+ major companies NOT including Bing and Yahoo
who sell banners, Pay Per Click services, contextual
advertising, popups, popunders and access to email lists.

Jonathan created a new course on buying this kind of media
and it's superb:

Traffic Evolution - How to use Paid Media to generate unlimited traffic

Don't get caught with your pants down. Never rely on just
ONE source of traffic - that's lethal. It's not a question
of IF, but WHEN. Google AdWords is great but it's even
better when it's only one fifth of your traffic.

My friend, sleep with one eye open.

Perry Marshall

[sdentrepreneur]

Below is Google Guidelines, they are suspending account that are landing page, email capture and affiliate type web pages. They are rewarding real looking web sites that have several pages built into it. You also need to be extremely relevant to keywords you have chosen. If you are promoting some Internet program that is on there server, I suggest getting it off and hosting it your self. Good luck

James Hickey
SD Entrepreneur - James Hickey ? Internet Marketing Expert and Mentor



Landing Page and Site Quality Guidelines

As part of our commitment to making AdWords as effective an advertising program as possible, we've outlined some site-building guidelines to better serve our users, advertisers, and publishers. We've found that when our advertisers' sites reflect these guidelines, two important things happen:

* The money you spend on AdWords ads will be more likely to turn into paying customers.
* Users develop a trust in the positive experience provided after clicking on AdWords ads (and this turns in to additional targeted leads for you).

Furthermore, following our site guidelines will help improve your landing page quality score. As a component of your keywords' overall Quality Scores, a high landing page quality score can affect your AdWords account in three ways:

* Decrease your keywords' cost-per-clicks (CPCs)
* Increase your keyword-targeted ads' position on the Content Network
* Improve the chances that your placement-targeted ads will win a position on your targeted placements

Learn more.

Below we've outlined the three main components of a quality website: relevant and original content, transparency, and navigability. Note that these guidelines aren't exhaustive, nor do they replace any of our Editorial Guidelines, which your ads need to comply with in order for you to advertise with AdWords.

Please be aware that there are some types of sites that we've found provide a consistently poor experience for our users. These sites will receive low landing page quality scores. Learn more.

Relevant and Original Content

Relevance and originality are two characteristics that define high-quality site content. Here are some pointers on creating content that meets these standards:

Relevance:

* Users should be able to easily find what your ad promises.
* Link to the page on your site that provides the most useful information about the product or service in your ad. For instance, direct users to the page where they can buy the advertised product, rather than to a page with a description of several products.

Originality:

* Feature unique content that can't be found on another site. This guideline is particularly applicable to resellers whose site is identical or highly similar to another reseller's or the parent company's site, and to affiliates that use the following types of pages:

o Bridge pages: Pages that act as an intermediary, whose sole purpose is to link or redirect traffic to the parent company

o Mirror pages: Pages that replicate the look and feel of a parent site; your site should not mirror (be similar or nearly identical in appearance to) your parent company's or any other advertiser's site

* Provide substantial information. If your ad does link to a page consisting mostly of ads or general search results (such as a directory or catalog page), provide additional, unique content.

It's especially important to feature original content because AdWords won't show multiple ads directing to identical or similar landing pages at the same time. Learn more about this policy.

Transparency

In order to build trust with users, your site should be explicit in three primary areas: the nature of your business; how your site interacts with a visitor's computer; and how you intend to use a visitor's personal information, if you request it. Here are tips on maximizing your site's transparency:

Your business information:

* Openly share information about your business. Clearly define what your business is or does.
* Honor the deals and offers you promote in your ad.
* Deliver products and services as promised.
* Only charge users for the products and services that they order and successfully receive.
* Distinguish sponsored links from the rest of your site content.

Your site's interaction with a visitor's computer:

* Avoid altering users' browser behavior or settings (such as back button functionality or browser window size) without first getting their permission.
* If your site automatically installs software, be upfront about the installation and allow for easy removal. Refer to Google's Software Principles for more guidelines.

Visitors' personal information:

* Unless necessary for the product or service that you're offering, don't request personal information.
* If you do request personal information, provide a privacy policy that discloses how the information will be used.
* Give options to limit the use of a user's personal information, such as the ability to opt out of receiving newsletters.
* Allow users to access your site's content without requiring them to register. Or, provide a preview of what users will get by registering.

Navigability

The key to turning visitors into customers is making it easy for users to find what they're looking for. Here's how:

* Provide a short and easy path for users to purchase or receive the product or offer in your ad.
* Avoid excessive use of pop-ups, pop-unders, and other obtrusive elements throughout your site.
* Make sure that your landing page loads quickly. Learn ways to improve your load time.
* Turn to Google's Webmaster Guidelines for more recommendations, which will improve your site's performance in Google's search results as well.

[aniebee]

Think any of this has to do with the FTC sniffing around now? Sounds like Google is trying to cover their butt, and apparently it's huge!

[Sean Ski]

There's probably a sh*t load of advertisers who are breaking the new FTC rules... I'm not saying anyone who got their accounts banned were 100% definitely in the wrong but Google probably went through and anyone who even looked a smidgen off was banned.

Direct linking doesn't excuse anyone, it's guilty by association in Google's eyes. If you have any outlandish testimonials or fake reviews on your site or you're pushing products that have a bad reputation then it's probably easier for Google to just ban you.

They're making so much money at this point it probably doesn't hurt them financially at all; and even if it did, all they'd have to do it re-activate everyone's accounts be a little bit more flexible on the rules and they'd have all of those affiliates pouring money back into Adwords again...

[GeorgR.]

I am "boycotting" Google for some months already by having ALL my ads paused.

And guess what..sales were never better with my Clickbank marketing...and Google doesn't see a penny from me anymore.

[digitaledge]

Originally Posted by Sean Ski

There's probably a sh*t load of advertisers who are breaking the new FTC rules... I'm not saying anyone who got their accounts banned were 100% definitely in the wrong but Google probably went through and anyone who even looked a smidgen off was banned.

Direct linking doesn't excuse anyone, it's guilty by association in Google's eyes. If you have any outlandish testimonials or fake reviews on your site or you're pushing products that have a bad reputation then it's probably easier for Google to just ban you.

They're making so much money at this point it probably doesn't hurt them financially at all; and even if it did, all they'd have to do it re-activate everyone's accounts be a little bit more flexible on the rules and they'd have all of those affiliates pouring money back into Adwords again...

Its one thing to ban a customer, its another thing to give them fair warning before banning. Ever heard of 3 strikes and your out? Heck they didnt even give 1 strike warning. That would be courtesy.

[Intrepreneur]

GOOGLE are going CRAZY CRAzY CRAZY and EVEn more CRAZY. Google the crazy dudes of all CRAZINESS are CRAZY! Please fiX your thinking Mr and Mrs Googleness!

[FrankBowman]

I think Serge and Larry need to get laid

[JeffMitchell]

I got "slapped" by google earlier in the week for a capture page that I used 8 months ago...

I guess I deserve it. The page was just a standard capture page with no inbound or outbound links. It did not understand the fundamentals of PPC at the time really. I had never really dug that deep into it.

I don't use PPC very much anymore. But if I ever decide that I need it, then I will just open a new account with a new domain, and credit card.

They can't ban you forever....

HEHE.

Jeff Mitchell

P.S Did any of you catch the "Inside The Mind Of Google" on T.v. It was a great 1 hour documentary on Google.

[Jay Es]

well if you don't adhere to their guidelines, what do you expect?

you can either bitch and moan that Google "screwed" you or you can adhere to their standards, right?

there is a TON OF MISINFORMATION still being thrown out there by internet marketers. especially some "gurus" trying to convince people that it's easy to make money online. and that it's easy to make money in pay-per-click. These "courses" plant ideas like this...

"all you have to do is redirect your website to the affiliate w/your clickbank id and you'll get rich...."

that's kind of the theme.

well it's time for EVERYONE to realize that this advice is not only wrong and outdated, but it WILL get you banned. It *may* have worked for some a few years ago but it won't work now.

people like this create the expectation and then we're disappointed when things don't turn out that way. it's not Google's fault...it's the fault of the bad advice/ecourse/product that you bought that gave you the expectation that this is a viable business model.

Most people trying to earn money online - i dare say even the MAJORITY of people in here - do not have a viable sustainable, scalable business model of any sort...

[Yoel Cohen]

Originally Posted by thmgoodw

Google has been a kick this week.

Well this might be because of the new FTC law that begins this month!!!!

Think of it....if you are an affiliate and you're direct linking to an offer then you aren't "transparent" meaning the customer doesn't know that you are in the middle and making money....

Check out these videos...

Federal Trade Commission's Advertising - Edorsement Guide Videos

I'm just speculating here, but this might be why....

[butters]

Originally Posted by Myster

Well this might be because of the new FTC law that begins this month!!!!

Think of it....if you are an affiliate and you're direct linking to an offer then you aren't "transparent" meaning the customer doesn't know that you are in the middle and making money....

Check out these videos...

Federal Trade Commission's Advertising - Edorsement Guide Videos

I'm just speculating here, but this might be why....

Personally I think that is a load of crap to mass ban people. People with inactive campaigns still got banned. The new FTC rules come into action on dec 1st so anything before that was fine.

[YanKirby]

Got the same exact email too!!! I was dumbfounded, shocked and was really frustrated! Didnt even play with adwords for like 5 months already!

This is just not fair at all. I emailed them and up until now, I dont have any replies.

The worse thing is, I have funds remaining on that account coz I opted for deposits rather than having it credited to my credit card. Everything gone. I cant even push for a refund. Nadda, zilch.

Its one thing to commit something and learn from it but its NEVER EVER ethical to ban someone forever just for one stupid mistake.

Tough Times!

[keivn2]

I am dumbfounded as well..Just starting to get grip of the adword and Bam, everything gone.

So what is the alternative move for me to earn money on the Internet? It is such a depressing Sunday for me.

[tryinhere]

Originally Posted by keivn2

I am dumbfounded as well..Just starting to get grip of the adword and Bam, everything gone.

So what is the alternative move for me to earn money on the Internet? It is such a depressing Sunday for me.

what product were you promoting ?

[keivn2]

Originally Posted by tryinhere

what product were you promoting ?

DIY blueprint products.

definitely not health and makes rich product.

[tryinhere]

Originally Posted by keivn2

DIY blueprint products.

definitely not health and makes rich product.

it must be tough thats for sure, hope it sorts for you

[erwindegrave]

Oh, it is a bit weird to experience that. You are the first one I've heard banned by google. However, I'm quite sure they have reasons behind it.. Most probably you made a mistake which you are not truly aware of so much better to ask them for reasons :-)

[ladyqueen1988]

Originally Posted by digitaledge

They do now..

Heres the email...

"Dear advertiser,

We are writing to let you know that your Google AdWords account has been disabled due to one or more serious violations of our advertising policies related to Landing Page and Site Quality. As a result, your ads will no longer run through the Google AdWords system and we are unable to accept advertising from you in the future. Please note that future accounts you open will also be disabled.

As part of our commitment to making the AdWords experience safe and effective for our users and our advertisers, we routinely review the landing pages that our advertisers promote through our search and content networks. If we find that an advertiser has submitted a landing page that egregiously violates our policies, we reserve the right to take immediate account-level action.

Landing pages advertised via AdWords must have relevant, original content, and must be transparent about the nature of the business being promoted. Further, advertising certain types of sites will lead to immediate account disabling. These types of sites include, but are not limited to:

* Sites that charge users or collect personal information in exchange for a product that is never delivered
* Sites that charge for "free" software
* Sites that trick users into paying for fake or poor-quality content
* Sites that charge users for information that makes unrealistic promises of financial or personal gain
* Sites that install malware software on a visitor's computer


Please note that this action is related to sites that have recently been advertised through your account. In a review of your account history, we found that your account had submitted a least one site that egregiously violated our advertising policies. Although you may have removed these sites since our latest review, advertisers that have a history of promoting these types of sites are still subject to account-level disabling.

You can review our Advertising Policies, including our Landing Page and Site Quality guidelines, by visiting: AdWords Help
You may also review the complete AdWords Terms & Conditions here: //adwords.google.com/select/tsandcsfinder
In addition, our FAQ about Account Disablings can be found here: adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164786

If you have additional questions or concerns not addressed by our policies or help center, you can contact support by replying to this email.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords team"

Adwords cannot ban anyone permanently because they themselves are the losers if they loose some clients this way. Better you mail and confirm adwords team. I never knew this before that Adwords too bans someone. I had a felling that only Adsense team alone ban permanently.


Your last try would be contact Adword team and ask for sorry.

[bgmacaw]

File your complaint here: DOJ/Antitrust: Reporting Antitrust Concerns

[YanKirby]

Originally Posted by ladyqueen1988

Your last try would be contact Adword team and ask for sorry.

I dont think it would matter that much. Ive been reading all about it for the past 3 days or so. One thing seems to be pretty obvious: Google is king, everyone follows.

If there's any consolation at all, makes me a bit comfortable thinking this is not the ONLY way I get the money coming in.

If you are solely relying on adwords to run your business, as perry marshall said (or was it!?) its an accident waiting to happen.

Dead on the money.

[warrich]

i will suggest you to time to time read google tos and policy

[Oscar D]

I also got an email like that, but to the OP and everyone else who has got this email have you tried to login to your Adwords account?

I can still login to my Adwords account and I might still be able to use it, I am not sure. Please will you guys try login and see what happens with your accounts?

I have not even been using Adwords for the past 4 months?

[Agoge Warrior]

Originally Posted by Oscar D

I also got an email like that, but to the OP and everyone else who has got this email have you tried to login to your Adwords account?

I can still login to my Adwords account and I might still be able to use it, I am not sure. Please will you guys try login and see what happens with your accounts?

I have not even been using Adwords for the past 4 months?

You can log into your account but your ads won't run.

[brp002]

I am sorry to hear that. My Friend had that happen to him but he wrote a letter to them explaining everything they told him he did wrong. It justified him and now he is back on adwords.

[Oscar D]

Originally Posted by zosowolfpacker

You can log into your account but your ads won't run.

Really? And what if you still have money in there? Is the money lost?

[Judge Groovyman]

Originally Posted by Oscar D

Really? And what if you still have money in there? Is the money lost?

I think its lost until they decide to refund. I think I remember reading up above that the OP actually already requested a refund to no avail.

It seems like there should be a bit 'cash out' button like on a slot machine - at least for the unspent money of yours that they have.

[Manivannan]

looks like google is following ebay as its role model!

[GeorgR.]

Originally Posted by digitaledge

Heres a very unrealistic request to everyone. boycott google adwords.

Yeah didnt think you would.

I do that for several months already and my affiliate earnings couldnt be better. I tell you, article marketing is way better

[lassitermarketing]

They have about $1K of mine. They said it would be refunded in 30 days but 30 days has come and gone. They have no phone support and they never respond to emails. Google sucks. If my company provided this kind of support, I wouldn't be in business long. I think I'll just show up at their local office one day next week to demand my $$.

[carlos123]

Originally Posted by digitaledge

I just had to vent. seems very unfair to just blanket my account suddenly.

I'll be the first to stand in line and add my voice in support of the belief that Google has become too big for it's britches. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely and all.

But in this case I must in good conscience say that Google may not have acted like the bully it is coming to be known in your particular case.

If their email accurately points to egregrious violations of their TOS for Adwords at your sites then they were under no obligation to give you a warning and to allow you to bring your sites up to par with their TOS.

It is up to us to read the TOS, to study it, and to abide by it. If we don't then they are perfectly within their right to cancel our account (whether Adsense or Adwords).

As a big corporation they cannot afford a notice to everyone who violates their TOS. They cannot afford the entanglement of trying to work with everyone to bring things up to their TOS in compliance with it.

It would be like saying...it's against the law to commit a crime but if you do we will warn you once or twice and give you a chance to stop or let you know that we know you did it so that you can be motivated to stop committing crime.

Doesn't work that way. You commit a crime you pay (or at least that is the way it's supposed to work). You violate Google TOS you open yourself up to being cancelled. Doesn't matter if you did not read the TOS as carefully as you should have or otherwise. The TOS is the TOS and it's up to us to study it carefully and err on the side of caution with respect to doing anything that might be construed by Google as a violation.

Not picking on you in particular but I think the whole "Google didn't warn me!" complaint is lame. They warn us in their TOS ahead of time and give us plenty of opportunity to read and abide by it.

Again don't assume that I am pro-Google and believe them to be the next best thing to sliced bread. I am not either pro or con. I just call things as I see them. Their customer service is some of the worst I have ever heard of. Sometimes they act like a giant overgrown bully. They have gotten too big and too full of self-absorbing success which has led them at times to be downright arrogant. But they are not ALWAYS wrong in what they do.

Carlos

[SirLucius]

Sorry to hear about the ban, but I would either try to sign-up again using proxies and a new e-mail or just go on to make money online through other mediums.

For example, you can use TrafficVance, Yahoo!, MSN, forums and blogs to drive traffic to affiliate offers. You can also create your own content sites or community forums and monetizie them, or market on YouTube with video marketing. There are dozens of ways to make money online, don't just rely on Google.

- SL