This is an account that has been around since the beginning, and AdWords is a considerable revenue generator for the business. Suffice to say, my heart almost stopped. We've never had any problems, why would we be "cancelled" without notice?
I called support, and was put on hold for 10 minutes while the rep figured out what had happened. Turns out that the account was under a manual review, the rep promised to get back to me within 24 hours with any next steps that needed to be taken to put the account back in order.
Haven't heard back from the rep yet, but about 30 minutes ago all of the campaigns returned to normal. I'm guessing that we came through the review OK.
While its unfortunately to lose 2-1/2 days of traffic, I understand the need for manual reviews. However, doesn't Google realize the emotional stress that it places on advertisers when it places a bright red message stating "Cancelled"? I was experiencing raw terror for no good reason at all. If there had been a message stating that the account was paused for manual review, I wouldn't have thought twice about it. Any consideration for our nerves at the plex?
Some people pay good money for that kind of roller coaster ride.
All kidding aside though I know that feeling of pure dread and when you come to discover that it was all over nothing you are left feeling a little weird inside.
I am actually away from the office today (I couldn't help stopping by, even on a 'vacation' day! Is that a good thing or bad thing?) but when I get back tomorrow, I'll try to find the right person and pass your feedback along.
A quick question, please: did you see this in the new interface or old interface?
AWA
Maybe not as inconsequential as a manual review, but still a scary message to receive first thing in the morning.
It would not say canceled, but something like "payment failure" or even nothing.
I apologize for lack of memory.
Anyhow, it was causing me laying down onto the couch (or floor) when it happened for the first time.
After that, I was more comfortable with "manual reviews".
What gets me is the "need" to stop all campaigns from showing online.
Innocent until found guilty should be the approach:
- I understand that if something is suspicious - the account gets qualified to be on hold so no "junk" and/or "cheat" gets promoted through Google
- On another side, in most cases it turns to be "all right" - why "kill" nerves of people, why "kill" ads of regular campaigns, why "kill" relationships between businesses?
The last one about relationships is how do you explain to your customer(s) why your ads are not running?
It's more than enough to mention that your account(s) is(are) under review in order to raise concern in your customers' mind.
Everything but stopping ads from showing...
And, BTW, I have never found out why would any of accounts I run be put into that "review" bag.
I'd suggest to G that it'll help in ways untold. I've got a consulting client looking at payment methods and when I suggested they add Google Checkout, they balked. After much digging into the reasons with them, my conclusion is that they posses an honest fear that they could later be cut off without notice or any explanation. They won't make a time and infrastructure investment that would leave them in that position.
I know it's a pain (and offenders don't deserve an honest answer most of the time), but if G told bad actors exactly why they've been shut off, honest folks everywhere would have less fear. Imagine if our courts punished people but refused to discuss why - people wouldn't leave their homes. I know that's a overly dramatic comparison, but the fear I sense in some clients merits it.
Openness in policing isn't just about the person accused of wrongdoing.
I do want to add that there's an overabundance of scum on the Internet and I'm not criticizing G's policing, I think they do great stuff now to improve the user's experience and that they could go even farther in clamping down on junk. But I also think it's in G's self-interest to be generally a little more open about it's policing actions, for the sake of the non-pollutants.
