Serious bug in ads today!

Ads leads to 500 server error page

[johannes]

This morning my adwords ads doesn't work. If you click my ads you will come to a "500 Server Error" page.

Something is very wrong at google.

When you click on an adwords ad, the normal url looks like this:
www.google.se/url?sa=l&ai=[long code]&num=4&q=http://www.destinationpage.com

Today everything past q= is deleted in my ads. So my ads leads to an error page.

I will pause my campaigns and contact Google, but I guess they're asleep right now (I'm in Sweden).

[cellularnews]

Cant log into the Google web site either - get a "system error" message.

[johannes]

Thanks cellularnews, I doubt it's related.

It seems that this is happening "only" in my account?

Anyone knows how to reach swedish adwords support by phone? Or anyone at adwords during usa sleeping time?

[Julia from germany]

Hi Johannes,

we have the same problem here in Germany - everything is alright with the links in our ad (tried it in the campagne), but on the Google search site our ads produce the same error. Funnily enough, not the ads from others?!?

Greetings from Germany,
Julia

[johannes]

Thanks Julia! I also checked other ads and they seemed to be ok. But now I know I wasn't the only one with this problem.

Actually right now the ads seem to be back to normal!

We'll see how Google will explain this...

[Calc Richmond]

I had the same problem here in the UK - wonder how long it was down for and what happened? Think they will try and charge for the click activity?

[Julia from germany]

Our ads seem to work again here in Germany.

@Calc Do you mean if they charge for the clicks that ended on the 500-error? Trouble is how could we trace those clicks?

[jovato]

Hey there,

I am having the exact same problem. All of my ads result in the generic 500 Server Error on the google site. This cost me quite a bit of money! Does anyone know what is going on? I am sending an email to google.

[venrooy]

I'm having a similar problem, but when I click on my ads, it goes to this page: [googleadservices.com...]

I wonder if we are still being charged for clicks?

[venrooy]

It does seem questionably strange that no other ads on the page have this glitch. No matter which of my adwords I put in to google - only my ads have the glitch.

I'm one of those paranoid types - that wonder if google may have code set up to only run my ads constantly when my i.p. is doing the search, and may not run them constantly in other parts of the region.

[chrisuk]

I have noticed that my paid traffic is way down today but the clicks are still being charged for but it doesn't look like the visitors are getting sent through in all cases.

Weird

[Sweezely]

I noticed this on a couple of competitors ads. It might be a widespread problem. I'm off to check my ads, just in case.

[stepper]

I'm getting the same thing - I have a link tracker on my destination pages they're showing only about 5% of the clicks that are being reported in adwords - something is amiss!

[toddb]

getting the same thing. Also cannot see my own ads at all. Other people around the country show my ads but I do not. Then when they do they get a 404 error so not sure what is better. :)

[Calc Richmond]

This is odd for Google not have responded to anyone - has any heard anything? I'm unsure as to put my ads up or take them down :S

[AdWordsAdvisor]

Hi all,

Thanks for the heads up. I have pinged the correct teams, and will post again when I know more.

I'm in meetings for the next three hours, so it will be awhile before I am able to post again.

AWA

[chrisuk]

I called them in the UK having seenand they said they were aware of it and it would be fixed in due course. I explained that clicks were being charged but not delivered and they said their engineers would assess that also.

Seems to be only certain campaigns and ads, others are fine.

[cellularnews]

Still no reply from Google as to this :(

[johannes]

I got a response from support. They're aware of the problem and are working on it. Nothing more.

[AdWordsAdvisor]

I called them in the UK having seenand they said they were aware of it and it would be fixed in due course. I explained that clicks were being charged but not delivered and they said their engineers would assess that also.

Seems to be only certain campaigns and ads, others are fine.

chrisuk has nicely summed up the current state of things, and I will add more when I am able. As I understand it, a resolution is near to hand (and may already be in place for some).

And, my apology to those who have been effected.

AWA

[wedouglas]

Wonder how they are going to credit people. I noticed one campaign specifically which had way more clicks than recorded.

Some worked, some did not. Some worked for a period of time, and then went down.

[cellularnews]

*cries*

[Stormer]

Same thing happened with me...Google reports that I got 275 clicks and when i checked my weblogs the total visits comes to 53! And when i wrote to them they sent me their standard reply about their policy on INVALID clicks...I've explained to them that I am talking about a technical error on their side.

Any chance that google will not charge for the clicks which didn't land on my page?

[Calc Richmond]

Apparently so - this was the response I got from Google...

'I understand that you have received an error message when clicking on your AdWords ads. Please be assured that our engineers are aware of this issue and are currently working to solve the problem. They hope to reach a resolution shortly. I have also spoken to our technical specialists and would like to explain that they are currently working on a system to credit for these clicks.'

Calc.

[wedouglas]

I got an email that said they know there was a problem during a period of the day and i would be credited for clicks during that period. no idea how many that means though. Not sure how they will determinethat. probably a type of average unless you prove more.

[johndenver]

I am having problems with Adwords too, since a few days, but of a different kind than the ones described.
For 3 different client accounts there has been no activity since Wednesday 11 jan. All activity until the 11th was normal. When I am logged in, all measures are on '0', as if no ads have been shown and clicked on.

I have mailed Google yesterday, but no reply yet.

Since it's three different accounts I'm ruling out that a competitor has blown me away. I have the suspicion it's due to whatever has caused your ads to behave strange too.

Anybody having the same problem?

[Stormer]

Yeah..I got a reply from google saying they will give me credit for the un-fruitful clicks..Are they actually going to do that?..Has anybody been refunded for the same?

[deep_alley]

Well I seem to be having a problem similar to 'johndenver'. My ads are not being served at all. Wrote to google but no reply yet. The ad diagnostic tool says that I have exceeded my daily budget, which is not the case. I even increased my daily budget 4 time, just to see if the ads start running and its not working.

[johndenver]

Hmmm. I tried the Ad Diagnostic tool just now myself.
It says the keywords I give in are simply not in my campaign! How's that? It all really does not make any sense and I cannot believe Google has gotten back to me yet.

[deep_alley]

Well I don't have a reply yet, but its the weekend, so going to wait till tomorrow to see what they have to say.
I copied all my keywords and ads into another account and everything seems to be running fine now.