Penalised for advertising on adwords

been running fine for 11 months...

[theleveller]

Hi,

Today i received notification that our adwords campaigns have been suspended due to content that is offensive. Novemeber 02 we launched our funny/offensive widget site and used adwords to start the ball rolling. (to date over £4000 worth of ads)

After several emails to support regarding little problems we have enjoyed a nice response from our ads which thankfully fuelled our visitor numbers in the first few months.

Our site is very tongue in cheek, aimed at being funny. Our content is funny and you cannot mistake it as promoting violence, hate, etc towards anyone, for one its run by a two dead people! how tongue in cheek can you get?

So now after 11 months of adwords they have cut us off!, giving no real explanation of why now of all times our content is now considered offensive, when for the last 11 months it has been reviewed several times by google staff.

It looks like some staff at google are more inclined to stop ads to give them something to do, what would be the complaint procedure and has anyone ever turned a desicion like this over.

Cheers

(looks like overture is getting a large part of the pot now)

[Brett_Tabke]

Few reports of decisions reversed have been mentioned here. The problem is, that when you do get a reversal, who would want to talk about it? So we really don't know.

On the other hand, Google is quite adament about their policies. Having just been fined in France, I'm sure passions in the AdWords offices are running quite high towards the better safe than sorry end of things.

[martinibuster]

giving no real explanation of why now of all times our content is now considered offensive...

Did you talk to them at all?

[theleveller]

I did voice my concerns to them, but got a reply regarding unacceptable content. Checking the Adword terms & conditions i find no mention for the points made by the email.

To tell you the truth, at the moment our site can live without the need of google adwords, but to rip the carpet from under a businesses feet for no reason other than someones dislike of our content is beyond me.

Cheers Ears

[edited by: Shak at 2:22 pm (utc) on Oct. 21, 2003]

Opps, Soz

[edited by: theleveller at 3:17 pm (utc) on Oct. 21, 2003]

[martinibuster]

Sounds like they gave you a real explanation to me. Probably not an acceptable explanation to you, but it's a real explanation.

Good luck.

[theleveller]

True, im sure i wont get them to budge...Hopefully my other PPC suppliers will pick up the traffic lost..

I think we will continue to build on the content, as we have gained a few position over the last few months..

Content, Content & Content, the only way to go...

Thanks all..

[AdWordsAdvisor]

theleveller, has anything changed on your site since the your previous approvals?

If yes, then that change is likely to be the source of the problem.

If not, then I hope that you'll reply to your most recent email from AdWords support on the subject.

In your email, calmly provide the details: that your ad has been approved and running for nearly a year, that the site is the same as when it was previously approved, and so forth.

Then, having made your case, ask that the ad & site be reviewed by a policy team manager for a top-level opinion.

We really do try to be fair and consistent, and are happy to run your ad if it (and the site it leads to) are within our policy guidelines.

[theleveller]

Thanks will do, still awaiting a reply to my emails though, ill keep trying..