I don't mean the trademarked words as much (although I'd be fascinated to see them) or the swearing that may get through in adult ads but more the questionably legal ones.
While trying not to post an example, there's an affiliate program that I'm considering taking up. The site doesn't sell anything illegal, but has a lot of products that can only be used for smoking one thing.
I've used the same keyword in context when marketing Amsterdam travel sites and had it disapproved. However, it is a necessary keyword for the site and one I would like to buy (along with its variants) in Adwords.
Other self-help and detox sites are buying the word on Adwords so it's clearly possible and I was wondering what Google will and won't allow and if there is anywhere that deals specifically with their policy on keywords such as this?
Rachel
Does anyone know if there is a list of words Google has restricted or banned from use as keywords?
This was discussed in some detail awhile back. The short answer, though, is that there is not such a list published. This is because the list of 'sensitive' keywords is highly variable, and depends on daily news, current events, the status of trademark cases, and so on and so forth.
...The site doesn't sell anything illegal, but has a lot of products that can only be used for smoking one thing.I've used the same keyword in context when marketing Amsterdam travel sites and had it disapproved. However, it is a necessary keyword for the site and one I would like to buy (along with its variants) in Adwords.
This sort of keyword list/ad/site submission is handled on a case-by-case basis. The review is done by an actual human being, btw, and not by a robot as some folks imagine. I will say, however, that based on what you've said in your post I'd anticipate some approval problems. ;)
So my approach would be to invest minimal time, create a basic Ad Group for the product, use the keywords you wish to use, and send it along for review. And if the keywords and/or ads are disapproved you'll not have spent a lot of time on it.
Hope that helps a bit.
AWA
