Given this substantial level of forum activity, and by way of being more clear as to why the disabling of accounts is occurring, I have been asked by my colleagues at Google to post the message below:
In keeping with our mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful, we spend a tremendous amount of time and effort monitoring the quality of our search and ad results. As we've stated many times before, Google's primary focus is on delivering the best possible search experience to our end users. To help further this goal, we work with our advertisers in a number of different ways to help them design and run the best ads possible.
Unfortunately, some online advertisers continue to promote services and websites that do not help, and in some cases could harm, our users. For instance, these advertisers may offer free services that bait users into accepting hidden fees. Or these advertisers may attempt to deliver malware to unsuspecting web citizens. Regardless of the practice, these types of campaigns do not benefit our users and we therefore take steps to enforce our policies [adwords.google.com] and prevent such advertisers from running ads through our systems.
Over the last decade Google has implemented a number of systems and processes to identify and disable ads that direct users to these offending websites. However, the ad disabling procedures have resulted in ongoingback and forth between us and these questionable advertisers as they try to outsmart our systems and processes. Therefore, we're being stricter with advertisers who deliver a bad user experience by permanently disabling AdWords accounts that engage in prohibited behavior.
Recently we began implementing this new account disabling. As a result, many advertisers who provide a poor user experience and have previously had their ads disabled will now have their accounts disabled.
We take our user, advertiser and publisher experiences very seriously, and remain dedicated to delivering only the highest quality advertising results to our users. We believe this new process of permanently disabling accounts will markedly improve the overall experience of our users, advertisers and publishers.
AWA
Because those companies are for the most part well known brands online and they would also be the kinds of companies that would spend enough with Adwords that if they started getting banned it would make a noticeable impact to Google's revenue.
Or you pay the right senator the right amount...(a-hem). Dirty birds.
How about the affiliate marketing company they bought? If they hate affiliate marketers, then you’d think they would stay far away from a company involved in that….
Yes, how about that? And Google runs its own affiliate network - I don't understand this blatant animosity toward affiliates. I can see banning those garbage sites where the page is totally useless and just a bunch of ads, absolutely, but if there's relevant content and good design, etc., what is so wrong about it? Or am I missing something here?
as they grow huge, if they behave like lawyers (finding contorted reasons to take the easy roads), the masses would turn on them. nobody likes a giant unwilling to stand up for what's right, like protecting others from scammers and shatware.
i still assert the problem with lifetime bans is this... there are many avenues to do wrong by people on the internet. once G bans someone, what would ever motivate them to behave as if they actually cared about people. you see, me, and you, and G, actually care about people - we see others as more "us" - we don't see others as someone to victimize. so... once you realize the worst scammers are without remorse, literal sociopaths who would set scam traps that trick their own mothers, you ask yourself (as a decent human being)... how can i motivate a greedy, sociopath to do the right thing? the answer is, make it in their own self-interest. make them modify their behavior by enticing them with the wonderful traffic that G offers. G holds the candy that can make sociopathic internet thieves behave like human beings - telling them they can never have any G candy again, means they won't ever stop misbehaving.
G, ban people for 3 months. tell them they'll auto start back up and if things aren't fixed, 1 hour later, bam, the 3 months starts again. motivate them to change, don't unleash them.
would be entirely automatic once implemented
Just like the existing banning one that has created this storm?
Plus, I don't believe any company has the right to fine people without clear specifics.
Well, I'd take a fine over an outright ban if I were in that situation. I think most people would too.
That's what Google has always been against - paid inclusion.
Google does not want stuff that is bad (per their measurements) and paying to stay would compromise them a lot.
As many acknowledged here - and I agree - Google's intentions were good - implementation poor - especially communication and justification part.
They rushed onto some people/organization that they MAYBE should not - that's all - and it's a big issue.
I get similar experience every time I send a support request via email. Front line people do everything to get you away and stop asking - by giving answers that many times are not really resolving an issue.
I have to push back as crazy until I penetrate further and get somebody else look into the case bit deeper.
I'll post about that as I have a question about particular content experience.
That's what Google has always been against - paid inclusion.
Eh? Google AdWords is the most successful paid inclusion program of all time...
Eh? Google AdWords is the most successful paid inclusion program of all time...
Ouch! :)
Ok, paid inclusion for something they don't want to show. If they say "No" with low QS, we know they don't want the money from that particular advertiser.
Now, what's in a background of that decision, well... questionable in some (or many) cases.
yell at me
No way - all well said. Keep doing good and hard work. Think a lot. Don't cheat (too much).
adapt
There's that book... "Who moved my cheese?" Read if not already...
No response from them so far.
I call them today and associate told me that response is sent before 5 days: ) We didn't received anything so I ask her to read that email and she told me it is the same as first one when our account is disabled:)))
I doubt that they even looked in our account at first place. And probably this email will arrive in 10 days as we still receiving emails from them regarding ads like that our account is not disabled.
Thoughts?
I am not a lawyer but I think that google lawyers protected them very well as probably they know that they can do whatever they want and that any law action will not have any result.
Why does every conversation about Google policy always degrade into a ridiculous, uninformed discussion about class action law suits?
@Getreal... Get real.
Easy big-boy, take a deep breath...
Just thinking out loud about what seems to be the apparent careless nature of the account suspensions and how these suspensions affect many legitimate players. Players that do probably have some sort of right to use Google…...that's all...
GR
The only chance would be either:
- a court action determines that Adwords is a utility
- you sue Google, based on your right to access to a utility, and they settle out of court to avoid being labelled a utility
Given their near-monopoly, the lack of competitors on the horizon, and the massive growth in businesses that depend on PPC advertising, it wouldn't surprise me if Adwords was declared a utility by a court...
... but you can be damn sure Google already has plans in place to make sure that cannot happen.
Given their near-monopoly, the lack of competitors on the horizon, and the massive growth in businesses that depend on PPC advertising, it wouldn't surprise me if Adwords was declared a utility by a court...
Not in the US it won't be.
We tried and explain that we will remove all our affiliate ads and keep only our merchant sites, but they won't listen.
GR
You tried?
Also, are there examples that google adwords account is disabled and that google adsense is not ?
Also, are there examples that google adwords account is disabled and that google adsense is not ?My Adwords account is disabled but Adsense is still working. I think those are not linked to eachother.
I also have a couple of accounts in my clients center that I manage for some companies and those are not banned. So it looks like the ban that I received is on an account level.
[edited by: buckworks at 4:35 am (utc) on Nov. 26, 2009]
[edit reason] Please avoid personal attacks [/edit]
I tried to point this out without sounding like a total smart ass, but it's hard when you have to point out to a multi billion dollar company that the guidelines they tell me to follow have been updated with new ones.
Of course, they haven't gotten back to me since then. Must have been an autoresponder they forgot to update :-)
<paraphrase email: the acquaintance has had his AdWords account reactivated>
Change of heart on Google's part? Strange to say the least.
[edited by: buckworks at 2:26 am (utc) on Nov. 30, 2009]
[edit reason] No emails, no exceptions: See TOS [/edit]
Sorry but your "politically-correct" reply is lame at best.
No one disagrees with Google's desire to ban spammers off its advertising.
HOWEVER, it's clear your implementation of this initiative is simply ineffective as you are taking down probably thousands of advertisers that are 'not guilty' in their intent to spam but do cross and violate some of your policies unintentionally and without malice. You should re-visit your policies guide. It's long, arduous and not easy to follow. It leaves a lot for personal interpretation which makes it easy to violate unintentionally.
And the worse part, once you've been banned - you are banned for life? this is totally lubricious and has the sound of communism from the prior USSR. Even criminals get a 2nd and 3rd chance! Are you above that?
Your process and systems needs a serious overhaul to do right by many of your goodwill customers!
this is totally lubricious
I'm not sure this is the word I'd use in reference to Google.
NOW..they disabled our entire account. No warning...no reason except some 'possible' canned reasons and none of them apply to us as far as we know. I mean we advertise a book and send them to the correct page. Same for our digital downloads and our new software site.
They won't answer our email cries for help and we are completely blindsided here. We are not crooks and run a very reputable business for a very long time on the internet and we can't get the courtesy of being told what they consider to be wrong or allow us to fix the issue...if there really is one.
Ad Advisor...Can you please help us? Sticky me please if you can. This is so unfair and I'm in total shock. This is something that we think a competitor might be behind. We do not want to be in violation but after going over everything today's we can't find a single ad or landing page in default.
HELP PLEASE
