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Does Adwords really frown upon Clickbank stuff?

by Eoon
17 replies
  • PPC/SEM
    • |
OK, so I said my goodbyes to advertising my Clickbank products on Adwords a long time ago. I went back and forth with them supplying every evidence possible that the offer is the real-deal only too be left with lines that "the business model" breaches some of their rule.

Done and done. Moving on.

What I want to right now is create website on the topic of my product and use Adwords but I have a dilemma and here it is - if I advertise that site and send traffic from there to a Clickbank website could this be an issue as well.

In other words - could they "see' where the traffic is ending up and have a problem with that? This could hardly be a bridge page because the content would be top notch and the link would not be affiliate.

The alternative to that is just having that site with a lot of content and an inline opt-in to collect emails and then use the list to sell my product.

Which of the options you think is safe?
#adwords #clickbank #frown #stuff
  • Profile picture of the author dburk
    Originally Posted by Eoon View Post

    What I want to right now is create website on the topic of my product and use Adwords but I have a dilemma and here it is - if I advertise that site and send traffic from there to a Clickbank website could this be an issue as well.

    In other words - could they "see' where the traffic is ending up and have a problem with that? This could hardly be a bridge page because the content would be top notch and the link would not be affiliate.
    Hi Eoon,

    Make sure you understand Google's definition of a bridge page.
    Landing pages that are solely designed to send users elsewhere
    Examples: Bridge, doorway, gateway, or other intermediate pages

    Originally Posted by Eoon View Post

    The alternative to that is just having that site with a lot of content and an inline opt-in to collect emails and then use the list to sell my product.

    Which of the options you think is safe?
    The opt-in alternative would probably be the safest option.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eoon
    My logic was that the bots might be "smart"enough to see that the traffic is sent to a Clickbank page without affiliate code and why would anybody send traffic to a page just for the sake of getting them there.

    Hence, it's logical that the money website is also mine and the sole purpose of the landing page is to get traffic to the money site.

    That would make it a bridge page by definition.

    So, right now I have 3 options:

    1) normal links from landing to money page (with the risk of Google seeing this is a bridge page no matter how much the content there is good)
    2) Opt-in with the setup of user staying on the same page where they would also have the link to go through the Clickbank fwebsite
    3) Just an opt-in with a regular thank you page
    4) Opt-in that would send users to the money site as a thank you page

    My main question here is that whether somebody experienced problems with sending people like this to their own Clickbank website? That's my main concern?

    If I conclude that it's a risk I would just have the opt-in and track how long it would take me to break even.
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Hi Eoon,

      I'm not sure you understood the key concept for AdWords bridge page policy. The landing page does not have to be the offer/order page, you can send users to a different page to place an order, or to view an offer. However, the offer featured in the ad should be on the same website (same root domain). If you own the domain the offer page is on, then create your landing page on that same domain, that will avoid a bridge page violation.

      Google is trying to make the user experience a positive one, you should as well. Sending users, that click an ad, directly to the offer page generally provides the best user experience.

      Another thing to consider is that you can send users to a different website to checkout or complete a purchase. You just cannot send them from one offer page directly to another offer page for the same product/service on a different website. One approach, AdWords advertisers have used successfully, is to create your own offer page, and send users to the affiliate partner's checkout page on a different website (presumably Clickbank in your case). This approach only works if the affiliate partner site allows you to do it this way.

      The key concept is that the "implied offer" in the ad must be found on the same website the user lands on after clicking the ad. If the user has to go to a 3rd party website to find the true (final) offer page then it is considered a bridge page.

      This is ok:
      Ad -> Advertiser's Offer page -> Clickbank checkout page
      Ad -> Advertiser's Review Page -> Advertiser's Offer page -> Clickbank checkout page

      This is not:
      Ad -> Advertiser's Bridge page -> Affiliate Partner Offer page -> Clickbank checkout page
      Ad -> Advertiser's Offer page -> Affiliate Partner Offer page -> Clickbank checkout page

      Please note that the "Offer page" in the above example refers to the offer page that is on the same website as the ad's landing page. The "Offer page" is the page where users find the implied offer promised in the ad text.

      Also, you should note that it isn't only bots that inspect your ads for compliance. The initial submission of an ad is instantly checked by bots for compliance on a handful of easy to detect violations. However, your ad will only be considered eligible, not approved. There is a second human review that is performed on all ads, and the human review is likely to find any policy violation that the bots did not detect.

      The only people that have problems with approval are people that are violating AdWords policies, or have a product or service in a prohibited category.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eoon
    I own both of the websites, the landing and the Clickbank website.

    Since the Clickbank website has already been banned from Adwords as I described, and if every add is revised manually, I think I'll stick with just the Opt-in.

    I am thinking if they weren't pleased with their users ending up on my CB website, they're not gonna like the same thing happening, even if it's through a third website.

    I didn't know that every add is still manually checked, didn't do Adwords for over 3 years.

    Thanks for the insights.
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  • Profile picture of the author jan roos
    Go ahead and try it again. After Google lost so much revenue from closing down advertisers their Directors told them to get the advertisers back and now they are a lot more lenient.

    Cheers
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    • Profile picture of the author Eoon
      Originally Posted by jan roos View Post

      Go ahead and try it again. After Google lost so much revenue from closing down advertisers their Directors told them to get the advertisers back and now they are a lot more lenient.

      Cheers
      You mean trying it with sending people to the previously blacklisted website?

      Sounds risky, especially 'cause I share the account with a partner and he has some of his things there, wouldn't want to be responsible for the account getting banned because I was reckless...
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  • Profile picture of the author LucidWebMarketing
    The problem is not that it's ClickBank. It's that the landing page is in violation of one or more of the policies. If you own that page as you say, fix the issue. That's all Google is asking and then they will gladly unsuspend your account.
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    • Profile picture of the author Eoon
      Originally Posted by LucidWebMarketing View Post

      The problem is not that it's ClickBank. It's that the landing page is in violation of one or more of the policies. If you own that page as you say, fix the issue. That's all Google is asking and then they will gladly unsuspend your account.
      Catch 22...

      First: They don't tell you the issue precisely, but they say they frown upon the "business model'.

      SECOND: anything page would NOT be in "violation" would KILL conversions

      So, it's kind of a moot point.
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  • Profile picture of the author ChrisBa
    Anything with affiliate offers is frowned upon, the way around it is if you have a fully built out website, you can normally get away with it. But if you direct link or just have a small landing page, you will likely have problems
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  • Profile picture of the author LucidWebMarketing
    I think they are better at telling you more what the problem is than they used to. But the responsibility is on you, the advertiser, to know the rules and abide by them. You are given the privilege to use use the system. Google wants you to understand what they want and what their approach is, if you are not willing to do so, they don't want you as an advertiser.

    I don't see anything in their policies that would kill conversions. That's not what the policies are intended for. It would not help them if that were the case. I think most policies when followed would help increase conversions.
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    • Profile picture of the author Eoon
      Originally Posted by LucidWebMarketing View Post

      I don't see anything in their policies that would kill conversions. That's not what the policies are intended for. It would not help them if that were the case. I think most policies when followed would help increase conversions.
      Of course that it's not their policy to "kill conversions" but it is my experience that if you are sending traffic to the sales page and you try to adjust the page to meet their policies the conversions naturally go down.

      And I think that you are simply wrong when you say that "following the policies" will increase conversions. Let me re-phrase that - I know it from experience.

      In my case it was a digital book and here's what happened:
      • breaking the long sales page into chunks, adding a top menu and what I named a knowledgebase distracted people from the offer and cut my conversions IN HALF
      I think it dilutes the focus. They might get more out of that page, but it turned more of them into the kind of visitors that say "later" and we all know what "later" means in IM...

      I do get your point, but it's just not what I saw and I would like to see an example that would prove me wrong.


      That is, I'd like to see an example of a page that was:
      1. Disapproved for poor quality or whatever phrasing they use
      2. Changed to meet their policies and re-approved
      3. Increased conversion in the process
      It might be possible in some industries, but if you are selling an information product, I would honestly be shocked to see this...
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  • Profile picture of the author svetod
    As long as you don't use links to redirect customers to Clickbank and everything happens within your website, you should be fine.
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    • Profile picture of the author Eoon
      Originally Posted by svetod View Post

      As long as you don't use links to redirect customers to Clickbank and everything happens within your website, you should be fine.
      That is exactly what I'll be doing, just collecting emails.
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      • Profile picture of the author ppcmanager
        Originally Posted by Eoon View Post

        That is exactly what I'll be doing, just collecting emails.
        This is a better strategy, but make sure you keep an eye on their information harvesting policy as well.

        Email Capture pages usually gets flagged because of this policy.
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        • Profile picture of the author Eoon
          Originally Posted by ppcmanager View Post

          This is a better strategy, but make sure you keep an eye on their information harvesting policy as well.

          Email Capture pages usually gets flagged because of this policy.
          Any examples of DOs and DON'Ts.
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  • Profile picture of the author LucidWebMarketing
    I don't have any examples for you. Any would probably be considered heresay.

    My clients don't have problems of that nature. I do have a potential one however who is selling one product containing ephadrine and all he has to do is remove it from his site but he refuses.

    It depends on the infraction too. If it's about terminology ("cure diabetes" for example), a change may help or hinder conversions but I think in general a good sales page will increase conversions.

    Your experience may be that you made too many changes. You mention drastically cutting the sales message, adding things. On the other hand, it may just be a coincidence. Has the change in rate been long-term? I think maybe it was just too many changes at once and diluting your sales message.

    As someone else mentioned, there are policies about information harvesting. Sounds like that's what you do. I believe a sales message will do the best job. The page should not be just there to collect emails. Yes, add it but as part of the sales message. So a don't is, don't have a page with no information where you are only gathering emails.
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  • Profile picture of the author Eoon
    The changes that I made were was mentioned to be missing by a Google representative and yes, the drop in conversion was long term.

    But as I said, selling information product is very specific and most of buying triggers are hard to implement while staying on Google's good side...
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