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AdWords - Appealing the appeal, that is appealing, that is ........ ongoing

by gruss
8 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Sitting here thinking about a problem that I have almost given up on, but thought, hey there are experts here, let's ask them.

Got Slapped by Big G over 12 months ago for posting an AdWords campaign for a new site I launched, which was built using a template.

It had 100% unique content, complied with all the requirements for AdSense and everything else was done by the book, however the template had some code in it they didn't like.

With encouragement from the AdWords team (I was told if I made it comply, there was a chance of getting the account reactivated), I spent nearly $2,000 trying to make the site compliant.

In the end I stripped the site back to a basic WordPress blog, with the article content only and the site got approved.

Expecting that this was the end of it all, I wrote to them asking for reinstatement of the account.

The response was not good, they wanted to pick on a previous site I had promoted for 24 hours only, nearly 2 years prior.

In a moment of stupidity, I joined an MLM company that sells domain names ending in .ws.

I promoted them using Adwords for about 24 hours only and got a warning from Google, which stopped that campaign (no Google slap, just a warning).

Immediately after getting the warning I stopped promoting the service, cancelled my membership with the company and deregistered the .ws domain name.

I wanted nothing to do with something that was going to get me in trouble with Google.

Anyway, nearly two years later and after getting everything else back in order, Google is picking on this one moment in time and a domain name I no longer have control over.

They said that if I can get the content in the domain name that I no longer own or have access to, to comply, they will consider reinstating the account.

I don't own the domain, can't modify the content and have no means of doing so.

So after all that, here is the question

Is there any channel that anyone here knows of, that could have this site removed from being associated with my account, so the account falls back into compliance.

This is their very last response, which was nearly 12 months ago

Thank you for your email. I apologize for the inconvenience you may have faced. I've tried my best to find a possibility for you to continue advertising with AdWords, however, per our policies unless the violating websites are not corrected, your account will remain suspended.

BTW: Their people do not write very well. There is a contradiction in their statement, because the violating website is already, not corrected.

Prepared to take up the battle one more time, if anyone has suggestions.

BTW: I am not looking for ideas like opening another account, I want to do this by the book or not at all. I do Adwords campaigns for my clients and all I want to do is be able to log onto their accounts and my account from the same PC and connection, without having to worry about having their accounts terminated.
#adwords #appeal #appealing #ongoing
  • Profile picture of the author FrankTheTank
    I don't have any advice to offer. If it makes you feel better I am in the same position as you. After I found out about my ban I wrote to Google. They told me if I make major changes to site "X" they would re-evaluate it. I spent several weeks writing unique content and creating a new site from scratch. I submitted site "X" to Google and they changed my ban from a "landing page" violation to an "advertising violation" which is even worse. Now I am out several weeks of my time and and still have a permanent ban. This is all from some questionable sites I had a campaign for several years ago. I am a big believer that everyone deserves a second chance and I with they would give me that chance.
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    • Profile picture of the author gruss
      Originally Posted by FrankTheTank View Post

      I don't have any advice to offer. If it makes you feel better I am in the same position as you. After I found out about my ban I wrote to Google. They told me if I make major changes to site "X" they would re-evaluate it. I spent several weeks writing unique content and creating a new site from scratch. I submitted site "X" to Google and they changed my ban from a "landing page" violation to an "advertising violation" which is even worse. Now I am out several weeks of my time and and still have a permanent ban. This is all from some questionable sites I had a campaign for several years ago. I am a big believer that everyone deserves a second chance and I with they would give me that chance.

      Thanks Frank,

      I don't think we are alone.
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  • Profile picture of the author lovboa
    Banned
    Do they not just ban the domain name? I had a website that was under violation, and I didn't want to change the content on the page so I just told them I wouldn't use adwords for that site. The site is still banned, but my account is still active for use on other sites.

    Can't you just tell them that you will not be advertising to that domain anymore?
    It worked for me.
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    • Profile picture of the author gruss
      [QUOTE=lovboa;5950567]Do they not just ban the domain name? I had a website that was under violation, and I didn't want to change the content on the page so I just told them I wouldn't use adwords for that site. The site is still banned, but my account is still active for use on other sites.

      I wish it was that simple.

      I spent a lot of money modifying a template I purchased, so it would comply because I was told that even disposing of the domain name would not remove the violation (I had to make it comply first).

      At one stage I even paid an AdWords specialist to make the thing compliant and not even he could do it.

      In the end I deleted the template, installed a fresh version of the most basic 20/10 WordPress theme, filled it with the 20 pages of unique seed content I had created and 2 Ecourses and it finally passes.

      Lesson 1: Don't buy done for you niche templates, even if you are going to fill them with unique content. You have no idea what is embedded in them and you may end up spending more that you saved on the cheap template.

      I don't own the domain name that is causing this residual problem and have no control over it.

      I have e-mail, after e-mail stating that they are sorry, but cannot help me unless I make the website comply.

      Lesson 2: Don't use your AdWords account for any domain name you don't own or at least have control over.

      I have spent so much time on this in the past year and a half and even a supervisor in the AdWords office here in Australia couldn't get their overseas people to change their decision.

      They appear to understand my problem, but say their system will not allow my account to be re-enabled unless the domain I don't own has the offending content modified so that it is compliant.
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  • Profile picture of the author jwee
    It would be difficult to convince them that you are not able to make changes on sites that you don't own. Here's something you want to read:
    Adwords Landing Page Policy Violation Predicament
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    • Profile picture of the author gruss
      Originally Posted by jwee View Post

      It would be difficult to convince them that you are not able to make changes on sites that you don't own. Here's something you want to read:
      Adwords Landing Page Policy Violation Predicament

      Thanks jwee

      As serious as this is I couldn't help but kill myself laughing at that conversation description, mainly because I had a similar call with them 12 months ago.

      The domain name I am having this issue with is owned by a company that offers a self replicating website that you are meant to use to resell their domain names.

      The violation is based on the fact that the content is not unique.

      Think this conversation is about done, unless Google decides to have a policy change one day.

      Thanks for your input.
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  • Profile picture of the author FrankTheTank
    gruss, have you called Adwords? I was getting nowhere with emailing them because I think there was a language barrier.

    I called them last week and spoke with a really nice guy who spent a lot of time with me on the phone and reviewing my sites and my account. After about 15 minutes of review he told me that my sites all looked okay but based on my account history (from 7 years ago) it was not likely that my account could be unsuspended. He told me that Google gives you a two strike policy. You are supposed to know all of the Adwords policies and comply with them before you even place your first ad. If you are in violation than thats strike #1. If you have a second violation, that's strike #2. Anything more than that and you are risk to Google. I had about 5 "strikes" on my record since I didn't know what I was doing back than.

    I was mad that they wouldn't give me a 2nd chance but it was nice to be able to speak with a real person at Google and have them explain to me why my account could not get unsuspended. He felt bad for me and we joked a little about their strict policies but I got the impression there was nothing I could do.
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    • Profile picture of the author gruss
      [QUOTE=FrankTheTank;5972349]gruss, have you called Adwords? I was getting nowhere with emailing them because I think there was a language barrier.

      Hi Frank,

      Thanks for your input.

      I have called them and that was a wonderful experience.

      The conversation with them just keeps going around in circles, no matter how I have communicated with them.

      I think I will close this conversation, as it does seem to be a lost cause.

      About the only thing I think I can do is keep trying them every 6 month or so and see if I get lucky one day and find that their policy to implement moronic policy has changed.

      Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this conversation.

      If you want a laugh, have a look at the story in the link below, because this is almost exactly the same conversation I have with them.

      Adwords Landing Page Policy Violation Predicament

      Thanks for this link jwee

      Regards
      Gordon
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