I have tried reporting it many, many times over the past two months using the contact email form and even chatted with a specialist a few times who said they'd escalate it to the appropriate team but no action has been taken.
Your rules state:
Affiliate Policy
We allow affiliates to use AdWords advertising. Please note that we'll only display one ad for affiliates and parent companies sharing the same Display URL per search query. We also monitor and don't allow the following:
Redirect URLs: Ads that contain Display URLs that automatically redirect to the parent company.
Bridge Pages: Ads for webpages that act as an intermediary, whose sole purpose is to link or redirect traffic to the parent company.
Framing: Ads for webpages that replicate the look and feel of a parent site.
My competitors are clearly using redirect URLs.
What can I do about this?
Thank you so much for your help. This forum has been a fabulous learning tool.
My competitors are clearly using redirect URLs.
How do you know they are using redirects? Are you clicking on your competitors ads?
If they are using a redirect, that is clearly against the policy. I reported such in one instance, and I got a reply something like "it takes us a while to do our reviews - so people can slip through the cracks for a few days".
Sure enough, two days later that advertiser had stopped doing that.
Google basically said "don't bother us with this, because we always catch it in a few days". That's been my actual experience, so I haven't bothered them with it since.
If they have their own landing page, they can use the parent company's name to the right of the domain name, provided that the parent company allows that. (Google doesn't get involved in this. But it's prudent to make sure you are following the parent company's rules.)
Let me give you some examples:
myparentsite.tld OK, but only one of these will be displayed
myparentsite.tld/x This used to be a sneaky way to get around the policy, doesn't work any more. It's OK to do this, as long as "x" is a real web page, not a 404. But it doesn't buy you any double-serving. Sometimes it's useful if the parent company sells multiple product lines, to include the product line. It's debatable as to whether this might get you credit for an extra keyword.
myparentsitesothername.tld This is also OK. Also used to be a sneaky way around the policy. If you like some alternate name the parent company has registered, feel free to use it. Google seems to know about these, and will avoid double-serving, and also allow you to mix and match display URL and landing-page URL. But better not to press your luck, so best to make the domain names match.
myaffiliatesite.tld OK, will be double-served with myparentcompany.com on the same page. Must go to a landing page at myaffiliatesite.com. Can not redirect to myparentcompany.com.
myaffiliatesite.tld/myparentsite OK, but check your parent company's affiliate policy. Some affiliate programs allow this, some do not. Almost all will not permit you to use their name as part of your domain name, though.
In all of the above cases, the display URL has to have the same domain as the landing page. Doesn't have to land on the exact same page. Generally, the display URL will land on the home page.
somelinktrackingservice.tld, redirected to myparentsite.tld or myaffiliatesite.tld OK, as long as display URL accurately reflects the eventual landing page. somelinktrackingservice.tld could even be your own web site, myaffiliatesite.tld. The key is the display URL. Must match where the user ends-up.
myaffiliatesite.tld, redirected to myparentsite.tld. Nope, definate no-no.
myaffiliatesite.tld/myparentsite redirected to myparentsite.tld. Ditto.
Now, that said, I wouldn't sweat it. These guys are taking a lot less from you than you think they are, at least if you are working with a strongly-branded parent site.
Who would go to joeblow.tld to buy something when they can go to stronglybrandedparentsite.tld that they instantly recognize and trust.
You are already in top position and getting top CTR, at least among other affiliates of the same company. I can tell you that without knowing your details. You wouldn't be displayed otherwise. If the parent company has a strong brand, whoever gets that one direct link that's allowed is going to be on top.
Those joeblow.tld sites are just noise, which is largely filtered-out by buyers.
P.S. But please don't write those annoying generic n% off, great prices, buy now! ads. That's the one reason somebody would go to joeblow.tld to buy. :)
But, your other examples were really helpful and a good read. Thank you.
Are there any escalation procedures with AdWords or am I limited to an online email or specialist (I guess I'm small-scale for AdWords standards--my yearly spend is around $15,000)?
Thanks so much for the suggestions!
