Adwords account suspended (Bizarre reason)

[afftyc]

Ok so a few days ago, all of the ads across all of my campaigns just suddenly stopped displaying. According to the ads diagnostic tool, the reason given was: "The keyword phrase you've entered doesn't currently trigger any of your ads."

So I thought this is weird (keep in mind I made no changes to my account the day this started happening), maybe it's just a system glitch and it'll be corrected soon. Well it remained like this for a few days so I contacted them via email (because obviously I'm just not worth their time for them to speak to me by phone - believe me I tried) and after getting the immediate canned response, I was eventually able to get an email response from Google that actually had a person's name at the bottom of it.

According to the email I received from this Google lackey, the reason my ads weren't showing was apparently because my account was suspended due to it having been flagged for MFA. And then they gave me a list of the "offending" sites, which I don't disclaim to have run ads for.

However there's only one problem. The campaigns that had ads running for those sites were deleted years ago! I'm talking like 2006 was the last time any of those ads were even active. Why are those ads that were deleted 4 years ago affecting me NOW?? Are you kidding me!?

Has anybody else heard of anything like this happening? Anybody here had it happen to them? And if so, were you able to get your account re-enabled?

I'm going to keep trying to get them to reactivate my account, but I really don't have too much faith in the "google team", with all the horror stories out there and whatnot. I guess mine is just another one to add to the growing list.

[NK]

Originally Posted by afftyc

Why are those ads that were deleted 4 years ago affecting me NOW?? Are you kidding me!?

Apparently the answer is yes. That's how I got banned too, and there was a thread going on about this where someone managed to get one of Google's staff to admit that deleted campaigns from years gone by can in fact get you banned even if the campaign is no longer running or if the site no longer exist.

If the content of the ad can get you into trouble NOW, it will - even if it was ok by Google back then.

[Brad Callen]

Did you tell this to your new contact at Google? They probably were spewing out what the automated system results were without looking at the details. They do make mistakes and I have heard, in a few rare occasions, they make good on their shortcomings. Also, I have not heard of suspension resulting from activity four years ago, but if they want to I'm sure they can say time is irrelevant when breaking TOS. However, with organic, this is certainly not the case.

[Defunct]

Yeh, I saw the other thread like this, really ridiculous tbh. You can try start a new account and copy and paste your current campaigns across.

Not sure whos bright idea at Google this was or why.

[teguh123]

MFA is made for adsense sites

[paulgl]

Originally Posted by Paul Barrs

Ahh. Thanks.

I guess I've never heard of them because I never never make it a point to remember rubbish.



Paul

You rock Paul!

I too have a disdain for the term MFA. It really should not refer to a made
for adsense site, but a site poorly done with a dumb template with adsense
smattered on it, for no other reason than bait for an adsense click.

If one does a great unique design on a website, has some decent content,
for no reason but adsense, that could be considered also a MFA. But in context
of the term "MFA," it's not.

I gotta give Brad Callen kudos on one remark, maybe "time is irrelevant when breaking TOS."

Was there a gap of 4 years that you were not using adwords? Maybe you flew under
the radar.

Paul

[tryinhere]

What you are saying about time, is very true, i have also seen where people are getting banned for promoting / thin or affiliate type sites is the exact same pattern, and that is even if you promoted it a year ago, you are still hung out to dry.

this seems to be because the global with can apply to a site in many ways, in that if a site is deemed bad, then G flick the switch on it and any account that has ever run that site is slammed.

so it tells you the system does not have a start or time line date it just operates on a global black book.

Now here is the thing even if two years ago you promoted a site that was OK, then went Ferrel, and they black book it and hit the switch of death on it, bang over you go.

Now before we go yelling the sky is falling that is my own personal findings and part of the reason my account was suspended for life / as an old global site went feral.

(my account is reinstated now, but yes people need to be very careful as there is no time line)

You would think a time line or if after this date variable could be added to coincide with rule updates ? / maybe that rule has not changed and was backdated ? but the OP is on the money with old dates for sure.

[rohnsmith]

Google banned adword account I do not think so because it is the way it is earning money , I heard about the adsense but not about the adwords

[afftyc]

Update:

This just got even more ridiculous. So I sent the google a rep an email yesterday explaining my situation, that the campaigns that had ads for those sites were deleted years ago and haven't been active since.

This is basically the response I got from them (copy & pasted): "pausing or deleting your ads from your account does not erase the violation from your account history. Your sites violate our Made For AdSense policy and even if they are currently not running they continues to be disabled for policy violation and hence your account remains suspended. Hence, I encourage you to make changes to your sites such that they comply to our landing page and site policies."

Oh great, all I have to do is make changes to those sites (there were only 3 sites that they listed) so that they comply with google's site policies and I can have my account re-enable. Only one problem: I DON'T own any of those sites anymore! Obviously it would not be possible for me to make changes to a site that I didn't own or control. So I sent an email to my Google rep explaining that I didn't own those sites anymore and there's nothing I can do about them.

The response I got back from them was laughable and pretty much indicated to me that they didn't even read my email. They basically just repeated what was stated in their last email: "make changes to those sites so that they comply with Google's site policies" even though I CLEARLY stated to them in my email that I do NOT own those sites and that there was nothing I could do about them.

Clearly these people didn't even make the effort to even look at those sites that they referenced. One of those sites is now your typical portal site, another one was a Sedo parked domain page with ads on it, and the last one wasn't even registered! The url just leads you to your standard Godaddy page with ads on it. Wait so both Sedo and Godaddy parked domain pages qualify as MFA sites? So all I have to do is contact both of them and ask them to take the ads down on those sites so I can have my adwords account reinstated? That should be easy! NOT.

Well it looks like they're just going to keep giving me the canned response every time no matter what I say. Someone here suggested that I open a new adwords account. Do I have to use someone else's name and cc info if I want to do that?

[gtk29]

AdWord or AdSense? I think it is AdSense account.
I think they track the IP of user and sites, so they cannot make a new account with different name or address.

[QuickSurf]

This has been happening a lot lately, I've even read on other forums of people getting banned for ad's they ran years ago.... absolutely ridiculous.

[tryinhere]

Originally Posted by afftyc

Update:

The response I got back from them was laughable and pretty much indicated to me that they didn't even read my email. They basically just repeated what was stated in their last email: "make changes to those sites so that they comply with Google's site policies" even though I CLEARLY stated to them in my email that I do NOT own those sites and that there was nothing I could do about them.

?

Yes exactly as you say you account history is not time limited, any site black flagged by G, is run through the system to pick up any account that run it, at any time and is why people get slam dunked, and second as you have posted, is the exact reason why i have been saying to affiliates to very careful of this black hole that nobody talks about, in that if a site changes up you are at risk of loosing your account due to another persons error, and there will be nothing you can do to get your site back.

In many ways the system seems basic at many levels and catches innocent people out, and not sure the way it works is the best option.

[ayushiinfo]

so far i have not faced any problem with add-sense. i Amased to see this problems you are all facing

[RustyF]

This is not making any sense to me.

Did you, the OP setup MFA sites then run campaigns to send traffic to those MFA sites?

[oda]

Just got the same treatment for ads that where deleted years ago,
I tried fighting but they will not budge.

I guess when your that big you just do what you want.

Sad really

[IMNomad]

I was shocked to find out that my account was suspended today also. I am only writing here for solace. I can't remedy the problem because 2 of the sites I don't own, and 2 sites I own but no longer registered. It is a sad thing to be locked out for things that were perfectly acceptable back then. No grandfather clause here.

Three conversations with the G-team, only netted me the same messages seen above. For a while I thought I was the only one with this problem. :-)

Paul

[arttse]

If ever - Yahoo/Bing and Facebook dominate the online advertising market google may think differently how they conduct business.