Comments on: My AdWords Account Got Suspended: Lessons Learned the Hard Way

By: ronmartin05

ronmartin05 — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 07:36:54 +0000

Keyword relevancy is one of the keys to success with Google AdWords. While it may be tempting to include all sorts of keywords you can get your hands on, be aware that this is often the #1 mistake advertisers make when creating their first campaign. You only want prospects who “Need You Now” and are going to be motivated to contact your company, or purchase your services if they click your ad. People bid on the wrong keywords all the time and it hurts them big time. My company was losing an average of $0.67 per click until Simon over at RDM helped us get our ducks in a row with the campaign and now it makes $2.19 per click on average instead of -$0.67. He’s really helpful on the phone, his number is 256-398-3835.

By: Justin Mazza

Justin Mazza — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:35:33 +0000

It seems that Google is really strict and has a no nonsense policy about account violations. Better to be safe than sorry.

By: Sonya76

Sonya76 — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:53:30 +0000

Tough luck. Google take no prisoners and trying to get a response from them, let alone to unban an account, is nigh on impossible.

By: jmilliscr

jmilliscr — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:26:11 +0000

In reply to MarcBenda. @MarcBenda I think that's a model they (Google) need to consider in the future.

By: MarcBenda

MarcBenda — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:52:29 +0000

Thanks for Sharing Mark.

I can’t agree more with your ‘tip’ to only send traffic to those sites you actually control. It is shocking that Google just suspends your account for live, a bit arrogant and inhuman. I mean, we’re all human we all make mistakes… Wouldn’t it have been much better if they’d send you a warning mail to get your account cleaned up within 5 working days?

Glad to hear that it won’t be affecting your business!

Cheers, Marc

By: userabuser

userabuser — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 01:02:24 +0000

In reply to chazzbro. @chazzbro Exactly what's needed. Some kind of path to redeem yourself, to correct errors. They should be trying to proactively educate their clients instead of life-banning someone. This market needs a competitor who can rival them and bring balance and order to these methods of marketing i.e contextual ads and pay per click. What we currently have in the market place doesn't cut it and I don't see anyone loosening their stranglehold anytime soon.

By: KentFaver

KentFaver — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:07:30 +0000

Really sobering Mark. The frustrating issue to me is it seems Google is so inconsistent in their actions. I read bloggers who claim to be making 6 figures annually from Adsense that appear to be doing some really questionable backlinking maneuvers. Not to mention the risk associated with having such a large chunk of income in one stream that can be halted forever overnight.

By: jmilliscr

jmilliscr — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:33:56 +0000

I lost my adsense and adwords account and it was awful because I relied heavily on both services the adwords was similar to yours in which I pointed at a CB site and for the adsense I stacked advertising networks and I guess ads showed twice on the same page which I believed is against policy nevertheless the one thing that helped keep my traffic up was article marketing and banner advertising or advertising in general.

By: tomewer

tomewer — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 00:18:03 +0000

Hey Mark,

Interesting post this. What was most interesting was the way in which you objectively assessed Google’s behavior and came to a level-headed and logical conclusion that didn’t involve the words “Google are pure evil”. Are you sure you’re an internet marketer? 😉

Cheers,

Tom

By: cindybidar

cindybidar — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:54:45 +0000

This part concerns me: “They replied to me with a form letter and said basically once you point to any site that ever violates Google’s terms of service you’re done and have a nice day.” If I understand that right, what you’re saying is even if the site meets their TOS now, if it fails to do so in the future – either because of something the site owner does or because of a change in the TOS – you can lose your account. This seems quite narrow minded to me. I guess the takeaway is to never promote a site you don’t own.

By: masonworld

masonworld — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:28:43 +0000

In reply to chazzbro. @chazzbro I do agree with that. It's like they need a scalpel and all they have is a chainsaw.

By: chazzbro

chazzbro — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:52:48 +0000

I recognize that Google generally has the best interest of their visitors in mind. But I think they are too inflexible at times. It would seem logical to me that they provide some path to redemption, rather than just cutting someone off forever. I wish they had a better competitor to keep them a little more honest on these matters.