Couple weeks ago, I saw the impressions and clicks were always maxed out, met daily budget all the time, but inquiries and actual REAL prospects dropped to alarming numbers. E-mailed Google, and they wanted me to increase the budget more to solve the problem. Right. Spend more money on them, and get a decreasing number of customers. Real good. I asked what they had in place to ensure no one was running up my impressions and clichs fraudulently, and they would not really specify, but magically, the next day, the ad returned and ran find daily as it always had been, and has not yet met the daily budget the last week or so. Talk about the most amazing coincidences.
Yesterday, I went and upped the CPC on the top leading KW on this campaign. Now today, they decide my ad is no good, and they suspended it. (its never changed since Jan) They say I am offering Free shipping on my product, and claim the actual site no where makes this easy to find. Of course there is text on every table on every page for this product saying "Price (shipping included in the USA)" - Additionally, when you check out, there is no shipping added. So I emailed Google a really nasty E-mail because they just suspend you at the drop of a hat, and dont treat you like a valued customer. I also let them know that WE as customers can do whatever we want to Google too, and wont bother asking. Whatever happened to the concept of being grateful to have customers, and treating them with some respect? I mean this is a slow time in general for my product, but this big brother crap they pull makes me feel like I wasted my time , and ought to have read the writing on the wall when the snow jobbed me about Googlebot.
I don't think you should have wrote them a nasty email about this problem. Honey will get you better results. When this happened to us, I just replied to the email they sent about the ad, explained why I thought the reviewer was wrong and they approved the ad again within 4 hours of me sending the email. They sent a nice email of apology for their reviewers mistake and said they are always working with them to make the right decisions in these matters.
I hope you find a good result in your situation, too.
While the omni-presence of Google seems to make them a huge entity on the net, one [i]person will be reading your email. One person made the call that your ad didn't match your website.
While this is frustrating, a few kind emails and words with the people at Google will result in better long term treatment. People have a tendency to respond to understanding and kindness rather than harsh words.
A reply, as suggested above (or a phone call) as to where the free shipping is mentioned on your page, usually results in a quick change to approve your ads on Google's part.
Tips for contacting Google:
[webmasterworld.com...]
Thanks for these responses. We are living in a great age to have the opportunity present before us - the internet. I get very angry when I see people take it for granted like Google seems to do at times. I am a small business, but that dont mean someone like Google can turn around, and discredit me and what my business is offering, plus not even give a warning with ample time to make a change if deemed to do so. To me, my business is a very personal thing, and I take it very seriously when someone makes false accusations like this. Google was the last entity I expected to act in this manner. I told them I thought this was a very immature approach, and not very business savvy at all. They did not even pose as a potential customer, which if they did, they would see no freight is added to the cart. In my view, this is Free shipping. Whats next? Are we suppose to alter our websites to suit Google, when Google is the only one complaining? If a site is hard to navigate, or if the customer is convinced the site is a lot of bull, they will leave - case closed. I dont believe I would be having moderate success if I had a totally bogus site running. I am still PO'd , and I had a hard time getting to sleep last night because of this bull....and I was just getting back on a regular sleep pattern after putting hours and hours into updating my sites content, then its a waste because someone at Google needs new glasses or a vacation. I work damn hard for the little revenue I get from my site, but little did I know I have a silent partner in Google who decided after 4 months Its time to jerk me around, and without warning, remove my best ad. Takes a lot of nerve and arrogance, and I have a good mind to take matters into my own hands and screw around with them in the same damn way. I am not evben 1% as big as Google, but I treat my customers with a lot more dignity and appreciation then they treat theirs. Plus when you send them an E-mail, and they respond, they sound like automated robots, not humans. Thanks for letting me vent!
Whats next? Are we suppose to alter our websites to suit Google, when Google is the only one complaining?
Yes, if we want to be successful. It's not just Google. I've had to alter web sites for Internet Explorer, too when MS had over 90% share. There were things I could do in Netscape that didn't look good in IE, so I changed to fit what was hot at the time.
I know you're angry, but getting mad at Google isn't a solution. You'll just end up with an ulcer. We don't make the rules. The best we can do is try to learn the rules of the day and make them work to our advantage.
There is an old saying which is very true:
"He who has the gold makes the rules". I think about that statement often.
Mark
Just because someone has more money than you, does not mean they are always automaticly right. Its also not a free pass to distort the truth about someone else by creating a false or malicious impression without further research or at least discussing the matter with whoever you have the problem with. You cant buy the truth if no one is selling it, so money does have limitations weather people realize it or not.
I am more than happy to change some pages on my website if there is a complaint someone is having problems viewing them or whatever, but Google FORCING me to change my company policy in that they dont believe I am offering Free shipping. Its way over the line at an alarming concern. They are not even purchasing the product, and dont even know what it is, and dont care. All the other ads to websites from my competitors dont even direct to specific content the ad is focused on, but they are not having their chops broken because they are shelling out more money. So its not about who is doing a better job at satisfying the customer, which ought to always be the primary goal for every business, its about someone internal to Google wanting to try and boss around someone smaller than they are and teach them a lesson. There is no one else complaining to me about my ad or my site except Google, and they are not even a customer. False advertising is many times open for misinterpretation. I can refer Google to many customers who have been grateful to find a site like mine , and provide the service or product offered. They would have gladly even paid for shipping as additional cost if it were required, but I am not looking to promote deception. This problem is a big waste of my time....and I now feel disgusted and sick to have to explain common business sense to the whole world. Google has helped me expand my buisiness a great deal, now they are telling me how to run my business. I am still pissed off big time at their ungrateful outlook on all this.
Just got an Email from Google, they are running the ad again:
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<email removed>
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I hope this is the end of being jerked around and they take my comments I submitted seriously, and treat people with a little more dignity before they just penalize and imply someone is doing false advertising like this. Sometimes I really get tired of policing other peoples work and jobs. Thats why I guess I will be a single person Business for a long time. Thanks again to those who responded here.
[edited by: eWhisper at 6:15 pm (utc) on April 30, 2005]
[edit reason] No email excerpts, please see TOS #9 [/edit]
Since they rebroadcasted the Ad, I have had the ad blown out and reach max budget about the same time every day, with about 90% less actual business resulting from spending more and more money. I called (2) more times, and they shoveled the problem back on to me as a smoke amd mirror trick. So , canceling the ad in error is ok, and its up to me to resurrect the dead with absolutely NO help from them whatsoever. Unfortunately, I am targeting a very specialized crowd with my ad, and losing 1-2 days of rythm by not showing the ad, did more damage than they believe. One of the reasons is I broke made a duplicate campaign while the other one was put on hold by them. so not I have data on keywords distributed through about 3 diffferent campaigns, and the damage they caused is making the new campaign look ineffective. Nice Job Google , really showing me how useless a college degree can be without doing some old school common sense things , like listening to your customer, and putting them first.
