Adwords suspended me for old campaigns

[rob6188]

I ran several campaigns 4-6 years ago for brief spurts - usually less than a few days. They have been deleted and/or inactive since 2007.

I get an email a few months ago about one of them violating tos. So I double check and make sure they are all deleted. They have definitely been inactive (paused) for many years - some since 2005.

Last week I get an email saying my account is suspended for multiple violations. So I respond telling them that those campaigns have been inactive for years. The only campaign I've run since then is a single ad for a private school and their tutoring services.

I also indicated that the campaigns in question may not have been in violation of the TOS when they were running. Apparently someone took over one of the affiliate domains and is now promoting counterfeit goods. It was a totally legit site at the time the campaign was running.

Anyway, they responded saying that they have nothing else to say on the matter.

I don't really need adwords, but it's frustrating to lose that option. Back in the day, I ran $5k-$10k per month with them on office supply and mortgage refinancing campaigns.

Still have my msn account active, so still have a ppc option, but this pisses me off.

[pribs]

Originally Posted by rob6188

I ran several campaigns 4-6 years ago for brief spurts - usually less than a few days. They have been deleted and/or inactive since 2007.

I get an email a few months ago about one of them violating tos. So I double check and make sure they are all deleted. They have definitely been inactive (paused) for many years - some since 2005.

Last week I get an email saying my account is suspended for multiple violations. So I respond telling them that those campaigns have been inactive for years. The only campaign I've run since then is a single ad for a private school and their tutoring services.

I also indicated that the campaigns in question may not have been in violation of the TOS when they were running. Apparently someone took over one of the affiliate domains and is now promoting counterfeit goods. It was a totally legit site at the time the campaign was running.

Anyway, they responded saying that they have nothing else to say on the matter.

I don't really need adwords, but it's frustrating to lose that option. Back in the day, I ran $5k-$10k per month with them on office supply and mortgage refinancing campaigns.

Still have my msn account active, so still have a ppc option, but this pisses me off.

Hey Rob,

Same thing happened to me. Literally ran two campaigns when I was first testing the water and knew nothing about affiliate marketing. The campaign ran for half a day each time about four years ago. I had a few emails back and forth with them where they told me to change the landing page. When I explained it wasn't my site, they replied:

"Thanks for writing in and letting us know of your situation. I understand that the site you promoted is not owned by you. But, since it was promoted in your account, it led to suspension. Ian, as you do not own the site, you wouldn't be able to modify the site to comply with our policies. But, per our terms and conditions, we will be able to reactivate the account only once the disabled sites comply again.

If you are unable to do so, I'm sorry that we won't be able to activate the account. Apologies for trouble caused. The decision to suspend your account was made after careful review of your account and the low quality landing page experiences promoted through your ads.

Please know that after a site violates AdWords policy and is disabled, advertisers can make changes to the landing page of the site and submit the site for re-review. If approved during the review, the site may be re-enabled for AdWords, and the account violations may be removed. Paused ads will still be reviewed based on our guidelines. Pausing or deleting ads related to the disabled sites will not automatically re-enable the ads nor remove the violation history.

As you may recall, the Terms and Conditions to which you agreed to when you signed up for AdWords state that Google reserves the right to disable any ads when deemed necessary. You can review these Terms and Conditions here:https://adwords.google.com/select/tsandcsfinder.

Again, we’re sorry for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding."


I know Yahoo and Bing are taking over more of the PPC market and from what I've heard are up to about 30% market share. It probably has to do with Google regularly inconveniencing paying customers for the tiniest violation of their TOS. I understand they are trying to control quality, but suspending ads that ran 3-4 years ago for half a day is a little too strict in my opinion.

I very rarely use PPC these days as I've become very fluent in SEO, but I too miss the option of someday advertising with Google again. But alas, what's done is done. Just have to keep my head down, plow on through, and hope Google doesn't take over the world.

Best of luck to you,
Ian

[LiamP]

I walked into a favorite bar the other day. The owner stopped me at the door:
'Sorry, you're banned from this establishment'
'What? Why?'
'You smoked a cigarette in here 10 years ago'
'But that was 10 years ago. I haven't smoked in here since'
'Nonetheless, you smoked a cigarette in here 10 years ago'
'But smoking was allowed. You sold me the cigarettes. Heck you even lit it for me'
'Sorry, but as you can see the signs in here all say "No smoking".
'But you only put those up last week'
'Sir. Smoking is a disgusting addiction that we do everything to discourage. Since you have smoked in here once we must protect our customers and cannot let you in here again'
'While smoking is indeed disgusting, your logic is truly bizarre and possibly illegal. Anyway, will you be donating the profits you made from cigarette sales all those years to cancer charity?'
'Sir. I have a responsibility to my shareholders to keep that money. Now get out'

[Player777]

LOL well said LiamP

[rob6188]

Sad to see I'm not the only one.

LiamP, that about sums it up nicely.

So if I buy a domain previously owned by someone who advertised it on google, I can get their account suspended.

[Scott Lyons]

Geez, something's up. They must be cleaning house. The same exact thing happened to me this week.

I think it's because I haven't spent much money with them over the last year or two.

They zeroed in on an ad for Fat loss 4 idiots I direct linked to. Not sure why I did that (I always redirect), but it was in a campaign I was using to test undercover profits back in May of 2007. The ad never had any impressions or clicks. Either because it didn't perform or disapproval, I deleted it.

They say that deleting an ad does not count as complying with policy. Sure seems like intent to comply to me. Not sure what kind of crack they are smoking.

Oh and they were allowing ads for that site to run then, so that indicated to me it was OK. AND guess what? Ads for that site were STILL running today!

I don't really need the account, but it bugs me and gets under my skin.

All they say is stuff like:

"Your AdWords account was suspended after a careful review of its history
and current landing page quality and its adherence to other advertising
policies. Google considers inappropriate or unacceptable behavior by
advertisers to be a serious offense, and we reserve the right to to
suspend AdWords accounts at any time in order to protect the quality and
safety of our users' experiences."

WHAT??? "current landing page quality"? That ad was deleted four years ago.

[addykho]

The same thing happened to my site. I guess you shall create a new account (maybe using different credit card, billing address). I have my accounted suspended for the same reason and worst still, the domain name that got me suspended does not belong to me anymore....not to mention that the campaign has been deleted years ago

[yoyob]

They just suspended my adwords account also.
I have no campaigns running for almost a year (all of them deleted).

Maybe I can edit all of my ads (of the deleted campaigns), change the landing page and ask for a review.

[tryinhere]

Originally Posted by pribs

we will be able to reactivate the account only once the disabled sites comply again.

Those words there /\ are what has been under wraps for ages, there is a black book of doom (disabled sites) this is not a public book, but it is filled with all of the sites that do not comply with mr G.

If your account has ever drank from the cup of death, then you can expect Googles lips to kiss you on the backside, and this will apply to any site added regardless of age or when at any time in the past you have promoted it, down among the dead men you will be sure to follow.

It throws a new (or old well known light now), that if you use adwords make sure you have control over the destination domain, that way unless your doing the bad bad thing, you can give life saving support to an otherwise dead account.

[bwh1]

Same here, one more got the Google kiss of death.

I have no problem with this as the account was dormant for years, just used it for keyword research (as with that account the KW tool spit out 800 KW's in stead of only 100).

What bugs me definitely tough is that I'm not allowed to open ANY new account in the feature.

That's arbitrary and IMO not how they should do business. Why not moderate accounts / campaigns properly before accepting?

I got over the last months some reminders to change the stuff in the account but as I already KNEW that they going to cut me, I did nothing.

When I started out at AM, I linked most probably to all what Google hates today in time so there was no way I would survive this.

Do you guy's open new accounts even they say that we are banned for life?

G.

[batchos]

Wow, I didn't realize Undercover Profits happened 4 years ago. My account was also suspended for the same reason; I received the same letter you did. I too, haven't run an ad for more than 2 years.

Ryan Deiss recently put out a sales video about what's happening with Google, Facebook, and all the other players who used the little guys to get rich, but don't need them anymore.

Oh well, no sense worrying about things you can't control.

Originally Posted by Scott Lyons

Geez, something's up. They must be cleaning house. The same exact thing happened to me this week.

I think it's because I haven't spent much money with them over the last year or two.

They zeroed in on an ad for Fat loss 4 idiots I direct linked to. Not sure why I did that (I always redirect), but it was in a campaign I was using to test undercover profits back in May of 2007. The ad never had any impressions or clicks. Either because it didn't perform or disapproval, I deleted it.

They say that deleting an ad does not count as complying with policy. Sure seems like intent to comply to me. Not sure what kind of crack they are smoking.

Oh and they were allowing ads for that site to run then, so that indicated to me it was OK. AND guess what? Ads for that site were STILL running today!

I don't really need the account, but it bugs me and gets under my skin.

All they say is stuff like:

"Your AdWords account was suspended after a careful review of its history
and current landing page quality and its adherence to other advertising
policies. Google considers inappropriate or unacceptable behavior by
advertisers to be a serious offense, and we reserve the right to to
suspend AdWords accounts at any time in order to protect the quality and
safety of our users' experiences."

WHAT??? "current landing page quality"? That ad was deleted four years ago.

[mrizos]

Originally Posted by rob6188

I ran several campaigns 4-6 years ago for brief spurts - usually less than a few days. They have been deleted and/or inactive since 2007.

I get an email a few months ago about one of them violating tos. So I double check and make sure they are all deleted. They have definitely been inactive (paused) for many years - some since 2005.

Last week I get an email saying my account is suspended for multiple violations. So I respond telling them that those campaigns have been inactive for years. The only campaign I've run since then is a single ad for a private school and their tutoring services.

I also indicated that the campaigns in question may not have been in violation of the TOS when they were running. Apparently someone took over one of the affiliate domains and is now promoting counterfeit goods. It was a totally legit site at the time the campaign was running.

Anyway, they responded saying that they have nothing else to say on the matter.

I don't really need adwords, but it's frustrating to lose that option. Back in the day, I ran $5k-$10k per month with them on office supply and mortgage refinancing campaigns.

Still have my msn account active, so still have a ppc option, but this pisses me off.

Yep, I had the exact same situation happen to me last week. I've never heard of any other business that levy's account suspensions or bans based on the past. At one point Adwords allowed me to advertise ALL of my campaigns for months. I'm the one who stopped them YEARS ago. Now that their policies have changed I'm being help responsible. It's complete Bullsh*t. Plain and simple. I'm looking for a class action lawsuit I can join at the moment.

[yoyob]

I asked from them to let me know what I did wrong, because I am not using the account for a year.

They sent me the list of the bad landing pages that are stored in the history of my account.

Guess what, those are all Clickbank landing pages.

Maybe I should contact Clickbank with this list.

[tryinhere]

Originally Posted by yoyob

.

Maybe I should contact Clickbank with this list.

They already know its a heap of crap buddy, it has been happening for ages, the vendors also know, so save your time.

What they will do probably in the near future is throw, a O dear golly gosh you naughty people we only want good landing pages policy because we are so good and only want the right thing for all people. Long after they have allowed many hundreds possibly thousands to have their accounts banned with their eye turned away so they cant see the mess.

[yoyob]

Originally Posted by tryinhere

They already know its a heap of crap buddy, it has been happening for ages, the vendors also know, so save your time.

You are right. I just had some hope that I will continue using the service.

It is funny I was last month in a convention, where Clickbanks VP of Business Development, Dush Ramachandran spoke and said that they are in touch with G and they fixed their landing pages.

[rob6188]

I'm now waiting for google to start banning adsense accounts because some domain is now violating their tos for adsense. Hence they ban all accounts associated with that domain, past present and future. It doesn't make any sense, but neither does what they are doing with adwords.

I think it would affect the buy/sell domain business significantly.

[eljeffe77]

Same BS happened to me when I first started like in 2006 or so with PPC - my account got banned for something i ran 1 campaign on for 1 or 2 DAYS

[Alex Copeland]

Same here, ran the ads when they were allowed, deleted them years ago and hadn't looked in there for ages, then got the letter telling me I was in violation with no chance to appeal... IMO not the best way to run a business but I'm pretty sure they are making enough elsewhere to not care!

[JoePNY]

Yep, same thing happened to me last week. I setup a starter campaign years ago for a legit website and the campaign was inactive. I was able to get someone from Google on the phone and the guy was SUPER RUDE. He couldn't tell me what was wrong and actually put me on hold to get more information. He comes back on the phone and starts to recite the Terms Of Service blah, blah, blah.

I guess I'm a bigger fan of Facebook now!!!

[motley]

I've received the same email today. My account is suspended because of tos violations. I have removed the wrong campaign, but the landing page. The question is - what will happen if I'll install a wordpress blog on this domain instead of the "bad" landing page?

Update. I have removed an old landing page and installed a wordpress blog with more than ten articles. Than I sent a message to the big G asking to re-review my site and open my account again. Here is a couple of lines from the answer:

We are writing to let you know that your Google AdWords account has been suspended due a serious violation of our Advertising Policies related to Landing Page and Site Policies. As a result, your ads will no longer run on the Google AdWords system, and any newly created accounts may be subject to the same suspension.

....... blah-blah......

Although you may have removed this site since our latest review, advertisers that promote these types of sites are still subject to account-level suspension.

That means they don't only ban my site or account, they ban ME PERSONALLY. Ups...

What is my next step? To register a new account to my wife's name (we live at the same place and have the same surname)? Any suggestions?

[yudb]

Hi,

All of this suspended AdWords accounts used (Direct Link) old landing page's trough CB merchants.

I think that you should involve ClickBank.

[bigdan79]

Has anyone thought of launching a class action lawsuit for unfair business practices?

This guy here contacted the FTC, will be interesting to see the result:
negbox.com/ftc-complaint-on-adwords-ban-yes-im-still-banned

Sure they can ban anyone, but given they are the dominant position in the market, they could just simply disallow urls that you can advertise against instead of banning the actual user.


PS: It seems there are tons of such stories, perhaps enough mass for a class action lawsuite
experienced-people.net/forums/showthread.php/3347-Permanently-banned-from-Google-Adwords-after-2-years-of-inactivity

[wolfmmiii]

A class action suit would have no merit. You can't sue because you were banned for breaking TOS.

[DrJale]

Who knows what is the background of this. I will never understand why some ad networks including adwords doesn't allow you to delete permanently your campaigns. Everyone makes mistakes, but not allowing you to make changes and KNOWING that you promoted affiliate websites and that it was ok back then doesn't make sense.

I am certain there is something else going on, but the bigger picture may not be clear yet.

[masterjani]

Adwords management is not good. They don't even give another chance even for newbie. Waste of time.

[Lucid]

Originally Posted by wolfmmiii

A class action suit would have no merit. You can't sue because you were banned for breaking TOS.

Exactly. Here's what would happen:

You: Your honor, Mr. Google banned me from using their advertising service for no reason.
Google: Your honor, you've read our TOS and saw the complainer's account and site.
Judge: Mr. Google is right. You did not follow their terms and were in their rights to ban you as per the contract you signed. We find in favor of Mr. Google. Case dismissed.

>> They don't even give another chance even for newbie.

You are given a chance and told the rules. If you choose to not read or ignore them, that's your choice but be prepared to suffer the consequences. No sane judge in the world will say "come on, Mr. Google. Give him another chance, he didn't read your TOS" after you've agreed to the terms which is what you did by joining Adwords.

[aygabtu]

Curious what adwords rules did you violate?

[momfriend]

sounds like what happened to me. so what now?

[bigdan79]

Originally Posted by wolfmmiii

A class action suit would have no merit. You can't sue because you were banned for breaking TOS.

It depends. They have a dominant market position hence a ban blocks you from entry to market for life.

If there would be plenty of players, like 4-5 each with a 20% market share this could not be argued. But this is different.

Originally Posted by Lucid

Exactly. Here's what would happen:

You: Your honor, Mr. Google banned me from using their advertising service for no reason.
Google: Your honor, you've read our TOS and saw the complainer's account and site.
Judge: Mr. Google is right. You did not follow their terms and were in their rights to ban you as per the contract you signed. We find in favor of Mr. Google. Case dismissed.

Yes, if we focus on their terms, sure. But we need to approach this differently. Namely, that they own the market, have a monopoly, and banning you makes your life online impossible, which is a necessity these days that you cannot be deprived of. If the lawsuit focuses on their TOS yes, but it needs to focus on the online market and their dominance.

Also in my case they banned me because of an ad that I stopped in 2008, and even if the campaign is deleted, once you are associated with an url that stays with you... I logged back in 2011 and bamm, I was banned. This retroactive usage of their TOS is criminal in this case.

If you have been banned and reading this lets start to pile pressure through the FTC as explained here:
negbox.com/ftc-complaint-on-adwords-ban-yes-im-still-banned

[milczy]

Same thing happened to me. I was a real newbie! I had 2 new sites and decided to "try out" google adwords. I had submitted "both" websites and one was approved and one denied. I thought OK, fine, the denied one is crap and I just won't use it anymore. lol they have banned me for "repeated" landing page violations on the one that was denied. So even if the ad isn't approved they still won't let you have an adwords account until the denied one is fixed. Seriously????

[Lucid]

Originally Posted by bigdan79

Yes, if we focus on their terms, sure.

Well what else are you going to focus on? It's a contract and every contract has terms. Google's lawyers and the judge are going to be looking at that contract.

Secondly, I don't know why a lot of people say Google owns the market, have a monopoly. Maybe in your eyes because that's the only brand you use. But there's plenty of others. Sure they have a large market share but far from a monopoly.

I'm still trying to figure out your necessity line. Really? Anyway, you've been deprived as far as Google is concerned.

Originally Posted by bigdan79

Also in my case they banned me because of an ad that I stopped in 2008

Some people say I'm on Google's bandwagon. Maybe so but I also have one or two issues which makes even a veteran like me scratch his head. Never happened to me but I've heard it often enough: a deleted campaign being the cause of a banning. The best advice I have to is read the TOS and do your due diligence.

To those wishing to sue and really thinking they can win, good luck.

[bigdan79]

Originally Posted by Lucid

Secondly, I don't know why a lot of people say Google owns the market, have a monopoly. Maybe in your eyes because that's the only brand you use. But there's plenty of others. Sure they have a large market share but far from a monopoly.

I suggest you search it a bit before making such statements. The 2nd result in Google gave me this:

Google chairman Eric Schmidt admitted to a US Senate antitrust panel that the search giant is “in [the] area” of a monopoly at a hearing yesterday ...

Originally Posted by Lucid

Some people say I'm on Google's bandwagon. Maybe so but I also have one or two issues which makes even a veteran like me scratch his head. Never happened to me but I've heard it often enough: a deleted campaign being the cause of a banning. The best advice I have to is read the TOS and do your due diligence.

To those wishing to sue and really thinking they can win, good luck.

Sorry, if this is your best advice it wont cut it. As mentioned, I am banned for life without recourse because of a 2008 campaign...Back in 2008 it was not against the TOS to advertise for that affiliate site (fatloss4idiots), now it is...Anyway, it does not matter, I made my FTC complaint, so did many others. Lets wait and see.

[fixxidotnet]

Everyone , I am organizing a legal suit against Google on this, Please join me with a 10 usd pledge.

Join a a suit against google for illegal adwords accounts suspension DISCUSSION