Rejected due to "slow site"

First steps into Overture are disappointing

[pmkpmk]

OK, we run AdWords very successfully for more than a year now. Now the first competition shows up, so I decided to explore the second option (while not abandoning the first one though), namely Overture.

The signup seemed easy enough. A bit archaic compared to AdWords, but quite OK.

Now today I got the message that ALL my keywords/ads were rejected due to "slow site". Which is kinda funny since only 2 weeks ago we tripled the bandwidth available to our server (it now has a 3 MBit pipe).

After searching long and hard I found an email address for Overture, so I emailed them (the rejection mail talked about a feedback form which I was too dumb to find). I got an email back, saying I should call them on their (toll-free) phone number instead.

I'm going to call tomorrow. Any suggestions, tips or background information on that "slow site" issue?

And - hey - their own backend is not what I consider "fast"...

[dregs33]

Hi

I have to laugh at Overture complaining about a slow site, their site would fail this test. :)

dregs33

[pmkpmk]

Called them today, got instantly connected. The callcenter-Lady was a bit surprised because she never heard of that rejection reason before, checked the URL manually and found it working. She put me on hold while she called the editor internally, then told me that obviously whatever had happened at editing time was not the case anymore. She told me she resubmitted the entries.

About half an hour later, I had the next entries from Overture in my logs. They checked 2 URL's and then logged off again. That was 5mins ago.

No change in the Direct Traffic Centre so far though.

Funny side note: the clerk on the phone had to wait quite a long time too to get my account-dates on her screen. Seems they use the Direct Traffic Center too :-)

[redzone]

Slow site response is a common problem we have encountered beginning in November, '04. Our rep. explained to us that if the automatic function of Overture's editorial process, can't connect within "x" amount of time, the keywords will be auto rejected. The client we had it occur on, had an internal redirect in their Network. I won't even go into the duplicate listings problems we've encountered over the past 60 days.

[pmkpmk]

No changes so far. Nothing happened since then. So let's wait for Monday.

[freeflight2]

that sounds pretty insane... "slowness" of a site is always relative to the observer, i.e. depends on the networks and routers between client and server... even Y and G can be slow if something in between breaks. (because of that it's best to choose a datacenter with a bunch of different networks)

[pmkpmk]

Guess what...

The nice rep - Eva - reissued the keywords. And on Monday they got REJECTED AGAIN! Reason: slow site.

Since I had the day off on Monday I called them again today. By chance (or low personnell count) I got Eva again, and she was very puzzled. She tried to contact the editor but he was off for a training today. She promised me a callback for tomorrow.

*sigh*

AdWords - in comparison - was sooooo easy to get started with...

[clinyi]

Pmkpmk, can you tell me their customer service phone number? I can never dind it. Thank you.

[pmkpmk]

Unless you are located in Austria, Germany or Switzerland, these numbers are not useful to you. But here you go:

Gebührenfreie Telefonnummer für Deutschland: (0 800) 101 0144
Gebührenfreie Telefonnummer für Österreich: (0 800) 293469
Gebührenfreie Telefonnummer für die Schweiz: (0 800) 83 4924
Geschäftszeiten: montags bis freitags 9.00 bis 17.30 Uhr

Current status on my issue: pending, awaiting the editor's callback.

[clinyi]

I'm in the States. Thank you anyway. Hope your problem will be solved soon...

[sem4u]

How long does it take for a page from your site to download on a dial up account? It can't be that slow surely?

As for the DTC, it will be down for 17 hours this weekend for a system upgrade, so it may be faster on Monday...

[pmkpmk]

An online-speedtest reported the following (for a page containing a flash film):

56K 21.08 seconds
ISDN 128K 6.46 seconds
T1 1.44Mbps 0.56 seconds

Another page in question:

56K 19.24 seconds
ISDN 128K 5.89 seconds
T1 1.44Mbps 0.51 seconds

[pmkpmk]

Arrrrrghhhhhllllll!

I just got the promised callback from Eva. Guess what it was?

On the specific page I have a small Flash animation. I have noticed occasional problems with that before - on some systems it just don't displays.

Since it is not essential, and since simply a whitespace is displayed if the Flash fails, I have not cared about it much. However, when you look at it in Internet Explorer, the progress indicator in the status bar stops at 50% and says "page #*$! being opened" forever! The page as such is fully functional (except for the Flash) - only this progress bar is there. In Firefox, page loading is completed.

And this is actually what the editor found out, and why he rejected this page!

So they were - in a way - right after all.

[pmkpmk]

I thought I made it. However Overture has found new obstacles to throw into my way.

Continued here: [webmasterworld.com...]