Suspended From Google Adwords

Sounds horrible, what exactly did you do wrong?

Hi John,
You are not alone! Offcourse you knew that but I just wanted to offer you a friendly assurance that others have been railroaded by google too.. I am lucky enought to have 1st page results for keywords they wouldn’t let me advertise using PPC so that gives me great satisfaction!! It is infuriating tho when, as was my case, 2 perfectly legit and healthy accounts get terminated due to a 3rd account violating their terms…
We can still make a great living without google adwords…

Best of luck

Andy

This happened to me in 2006 (different circumstances, same outcome). Since adwords weren’t my bread-and-butter I considered it a blessing also, as I was spending too much time on it and should have been focusing on other parts of my business model.

But there is nothing you can do about it. Google says they “do no evil” but this is pretty rotten.

If you are dealing with companies like adwords you MUST always follow their terms and conditions to the letter!

No trying to be smart or a wise guy, you seem to be that sort of person.

With you slagging other peoples products off I think what happened was inevitable.

I’m not saying your reviews are not correct, but pissing off your competitors saying their products are crap etc is never a clever idea if you want to survive in business, they will eventually retaliate, dog eat dog remember!

They may well have complained to adwords about your copyright violations to get revenge on you.

They only investigate trademark/copyright violations if there are complaints!

I run a successful 6 figure business in a non marketing niche, one thing I never do is attack my competitors - suicidal. I know some of them are selling crap, but I mind my own business.

Hi John,

Something similar happened to me a little over a year ago. I’m an Internet Marketer also. Sure seems like they are upsetting the wrong people.

I fixed it the same way you are going to– new cc, new url, new site, new everything and it worked.

Sorry to hear that you’re going through this. I know that gut-wrenching feeling. Just remember this–even the Roman empire fell eventually. Empires fall.

If Google keeps this up, they’ll eventually tick off too many IMs. IMs who make their business marketing to IMs. They really don’t want to do that.

I’m looking forward to meeting you in person in Dallas for the Leap Year Day conference!

Hey–how’s THAT for a name!

-Scott (the other Scott, the nada-Boulch)

John,

Do you still endorse their key word tools?

Jim

Google has some good products, but in my opinion their customer support sucks. Although not as bad as your experience, I’ve had many bad experiences with Google myself.

@James - I wrote the post about keyword research after I was suspended from Adwords.

Right now all the other keyword research tools stink. I still use the google tool, even though it’s quality seems to be going downhill recently, just like all the other keyword research tools. The last few days they haven’t been showing search volume in their tool. Oh well.

Hi John,
It’s a pain to redo all your ads, but a new CC, email and another $5.00 bill should get you back in. I did that to take advantage of a free $50 in clicks that was only good for new accounts.

Get one of those coupons(I could send you one) and your first $50 in clicks is on them!

Scott

Hey John:

here is a link to a UK financial times story about google’s sagging earnings.. maybe they should have more respect or advertisers…

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article3287055.ece

Wow.

Same exact thing happened me, man. I got in contact with a big wig up there. I got the # from a ceo friend of a large network. Listen, there is just some dumbass pencil neck back there who didn’t get girls in high school and now uses his omnipotent legislative power to screw hard working internet marketers. Sad.

I was dis’d for mobile subscription after 1 warning. a simple mistake. It has to be one of the largest I have ever made.

Now, I cannot start a new account to save my life (and I have tried all the ideas above).

They are a bastard of a company and I hope their days are very short. Google provide 0 accountablity to those who pay them Millions a year.

Sad.

Good Luck Guys!

I have just had the same thing happen to me. The only exception is that I put it on all of my blogs, including blogger their product. I am a cancer patient and I was just trying to turn my school units into some money for support, not a huge business. I had no idea and I have been getting the same run around, except now reading this I am going to ask the local consumer reporters in the Boston area to do a piece on it. thanks for your site

You didn’t know using a trademark in ads is not allowed ?

Play with fire, get burnt.

Next time think twice before breaking the rules.

Wish you best of luck.

I am new to Internet marketing and I am having a similar experience now with Google Adwords for a few weeks. At this point, I simply want to START advertising my 2 Websites using Adwords. Google suspended my Adwords account before an ad had even run. There are hundreds of international dating Websites on the Internet, and many of them use Google Adwords for sure, because I’ve seen these Adword ads run by my much larger competitors dozens of times. I haven’t given up hope yet on this since I anticipate Google Adwords to be a significant part of my marketing. Can anyone offer some useful advice? I offer here a factual description…

About 1 month ago I started Internet marketing of my international dating Website, http://www.YourLatinDreamGirl.com. I am an American living in Barranquilla, Colombia, married to a Colombian girl. The objective of my Website is help men from outside Colombia find a Colombian wife or girlfriend, especially a younger wife or girlfriend. There is nothing vulgar or offensive on my Website in my opinion. My Website has men’s and women’s profiles in a typical style for this type of international dating Website, and contains photos of many (but not all) of the registered clients on my Website.
I’m 50, my Colombian wife is 27, and I’d like to share my success by showing others how to do it, and run a successful dating business in the process. Our baby daughter, Nicole, was born here in Colombia on February 5, 2008. Pretty tame stuff I think…I refuse even to accept photos of female clients even in normal bikinis…it’s a dating Website to meet your significant other, NOT an adult site…

I set up my FIRST Adwords account…I’ve never advertised ANY business previous on Google…got my credit card approved by Google, no problem…got my bank account in the United States approved by Google, no problem…then, after 3 weeks (about 1 week ago…today is March 3, 2008), still my first Adwords ad had NOT yet appeared on Google, so I e-mailed Google customer support…it took several days to get an answer, but finally the answer was to the effect of, Your Adwords Account has been SUSPENDED and your ads will no longer run on Google, because your ads violate Adwords policy. (Remember, of course, that up to now NEVER have ANY ads of mine for ANY business of mine been advertised using Google.)
The Adwords ad I tried to run was this…
“I’m 50. My Sexy Wife 27. Wanna hot younger wife/girlfriend? U deserve it! Here’s how (photos).”
(Now, if somehow this ad violates Google’s policies, which would be somewhat amazing to me, okay, Google can tell me this, and I can rewrite the ad. BUT DON’T BAN ME FOREVER FROM GOOGLE. What kind of a business treats its customers like that?!)

So I emailed them back, asking why, because there is nothing contrary to Adwords policy on my Website, and why do you permit dozens of my larger competitors to advertise on Google Adwords and not me from the get-go?
This was about 1 week ago and I have no answer yet.

6 days ago, February 26, 2008, I was ready to begin using Google adwords for a totally different line of business and Website, promoting health and beauty products. So I opened another Adwords account to do this, but when I tried to verify my bank account, Google’s computers blocked the registration of this same bank account I had gotten approved by them previously…

so I contacted Google customer support via their live chat service, got prompt service (within about 3 minutes), got a helpful friendly lady, but all she would say is that my account was under further investigation, that she needed to check with her Adwords Specialist Team, and e-mail me back when she had more information, and that it might “take some time” to research this. I said okay…that was 6 days ago…today I again live chatted with another Google Adwords rep, a man this time, who promptly and politely told me that the lady from 6 days ago was still researching my account and that he would contact her immediately to give me an update. I said that is fine for now, but that if I hadn’t heard back by later today I might contact them via live chat tonight or tomorrow morning, because I am losing potential customers in my health business website by this delay. My strategy right now is to focus on getting approval, at a minimum, on the health Website because it’s a totally different business than my international dating Website.

If Google doesn’t like my international dating Website, I think they have an obligation to accept at a minimum my adwords ads for health and beauty products, because on the Internet via Google search right now, there are DOZENS of others Distributors of the SAME health products (not similar, but EXACTLY THE SAME) from which sponsored ads from these dozens of other Websites, Google accepts with no problem.

Seems to me that if Google says to me, in effect, that for now and forever into the future I may NEVER advertise ANY business of mine using Google Adwords, they may be committing an illegal act…an Antitrust Violation…actionable by an aggressive attorney…it’s illegal under US Antitrust Law to treat the other Distributors of health products so differently from me so as to deny me access totally when my ads for health products and Website are nearly the same as dozens of competing Distributors of the same health and beauty products…however, this is NOT what I want…I simply want to advertise on Adwords, in normal fashion, with normal types of ads…and then, later on, I can address further with Google Adwords the subject of my international dating Website.

Does anyone have any advice or comments?
Waiting for a little while longer might work, but do the weeks stretch into months and the months into years, in this type of situation with Google Adwords?

HEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLP!!!

John C.

The Google monolith is all about money and power. They have lost sight of the bigger picture and the fact that it is all of us who have helped make them rich. So, when I got banned from the adsense program without any known cause or recourse, I decided that the world needed to know just what google has become. That is why I started the Google Horror Stories website at http://www.googlehorrorstories.net. Here you can post your Google horror story or share alternatives that you have discovered. I invite all of you who have been burned by google to come and share your story, truthfully and honestly. There is nothing wrong with that and it just may someday make a difference. Also feel free to post my link.. I am not counting on Google search traffic.. Rather real organic traffic from real sites to share the bad news about google.. Your help would be greatly appreciated.. Post your article today. Thanks

If someone creates an add with somthing like http://www.joebloggs.com that would be illegal as Fred would be “passing off” on Joes trademark.

John C.

You asked for advice? How about stop encouraging old men to take advantage of their power and/or skin colour/ and or national privilege by marrying young desperate women and girls from other countries?

How’s that.

PS:

Jonas…. sorry to hear about your troubles. What is your next plan? Moving away from PPC perhaps??

Just as a follow-up, yes, I got a new account. I did all the things I mentioned in my post.

And, Yes, I have moved away from PPC somewhat. I still do it, because it is the single most effective way of bringing traffic to your website that I know of, but I am also concentrating on learning other traffic strategies.

John

Response to Michael:

I respectfully disagree with you that marrying a younger lady and having a baby girl with her is “taking advantage” of the girl. That’s what I personally have done.

It’s called “creating a family” and is the most beautiful thing on earth.

John C.

I was thrown off Ebay if it helps you out. I like that you call them Nazis. I do not agree with it maybe because I was not thrown off Google not yet. It just is very funny the way you put it. Ebay of course is a different story I asked what I did wrong and well they would not tell me. It is just terrible.

Charles Pisano

I, too, just got “suspended” from AdWords, and my story is much the same as everyone elses. Ihave never tried to run objectionable material. A couple of my ads a long time ago were disapproved. They gave a reason, and I never bothered with them again — or anything like them. I tried using “starbucks” as a keyword on one ad (not in the ad itself)and was told that was a copyright infringement. That was many months ago, and I never did it again. I have been running a few campaigns now for mostly my own web sites which are anything but objectionable. On May 1st, Google decided to “suspend” my account. Of course, my traffic dropped by 1/3.

From everything I’ve been reading, there is nothing that can be done. It doesn’t pay me to try to get a new account for my own web sites since they will pick up on the URL and “suspend” my new account.

I have in no way been a flagrant offender. Anything I did was unknowingly and unintentional. They suspended my account without warning. When I asked they why, they said I had repeatedly vilated their terms and conditions. Am I mad? You bet!!!

It’s strange, however, that I can still access my account. I just can’t advertise. I am also besides myself, because that is where I make a part of my living.

I really don’t know what to do.

I hear you I am going though the same thing John. The only difference is that. I had 3 accounts

personal@finleyinternational.com
webmaster@finleyinternational.com

And a client account which I won’t post here but you can contact me on the side at my email for more details

Basicly 3 accounts were being managed under one google login .

Google cancled all the accounts hurting my client big time. He owns a funeral home and I might as well join him in those caskets he has. LOL Basicly they said that they account violated TOS. Not just personal@finleyinternational.com but even webmaster@finleyinternational.com and my poor client who hadn’t done anything his account was also banned.

They gave me the standard email and crap that you experience. I have asked them why my client accounts has to suffer because of a mistake on one.

And all this came about because I couldnt’ add money to personal@finleyinternational.com one day and I spoke with them in chat and they said there specialist would look into it. Well the next day they cancled all the accounts.

Make sence.
Not to me why make my client suffer. Now I have to figure out a way to get his account reinstated it wasn’t his fault. And not to mention I don’t even know why my account was cancled in the first place I am not really concerned about that is the fact that they are hanging my client because of anouther accounts mistake.

Oh I am so feed up
and as you experenced can’t get answers ..

Seeking a lawyer to help me with the matter.

Please contact me via messenger so to discuss. I need help and maybe you can help me

AIM finleyproduction or yahoo finleyproduction

Anyone who has some helpfull infomation for me contact me I need help fight back with google

I remember having this sort of treatment from Pay Pal, I here they have moved forward now so it’s only a matter of time, I hope before google sort themselves out as I have an adsense account and I am very nervous about the banning they do on these accounts too.

Anyone have luck getting a new AdWords account with a new IP adress etc? I got banned 3 days ago and I want something that will work. Pleaase respond with a solution, I relyi on Google AdWords to feed my family and now I an screwed because Google has no compassion for silly mistakes.

I created a adwords account only yesterday, to advertise printing services, i didnt use any competitors names, only keywords such as “litho printing” “digital printing” “brochure printing” and I got an email today saying my adwords account had breached there terms of service.

I called and the lady couldn’t tell me why I had been suspended, its absolutely outreagous the way they treat people, i was willing to spend around £10,000 a month with them but i think i’ll go spend that elsewhere.

It is apparent that Google Adwords is banning accounts even if you violate their terms (even unknowingly coz no one read their TOS & Policy) at the very first time. What Google is doing is, of course, not good for the healthy business practices.

Well, I would like to suggest to all fellow Google Adwords advertisers, including Cos that if you are banned from Google Adwords then only option could be possible is having new Credit Card on different name & address and new IP. I have a belief that Google can easily track the credit details you are using.

hello guys
I have copyrights reasons to disapproval of my ads . I have not my own website. Please tell me that what can I write in Display and Destination URLs in my PPC forms.
Thanks …….

Hi,
did you manage to reactivat you google account?

Those guys in the adwords section are bunch of idiots, too arrogant for any modern day businesman/employee.
They are actually seeing themselves as Lords over every advertiser.

[...] makes your home (or work, or media) computer always accessable. It’s convenient. It makes getting a new adwords account possible. It makes it easy to give an employee (maybe one in the Philippines) access to your softwares so [...]

I used to use google and put there advertisements on my site and bam canceled no warning or nothing its very aggravating!

Hi there!

I am just reading your story, and I wish I would have read it before! I have gone trough the SAME
Exactly the same!!!

This is sooo weird, how they doing business.
But you know what?
Google isn’t going to be the #1 forever! All the big companies fail eventually and they get killed by the fact that they got sooo greedy during the time they we’re an empire… Yahho and MSN and Facebook is the way to go!!

My account hasn’t been suspended yet, but three of my ads have been.

My sin? To use the words “Searching For Perfection” in the headline! Now how can those words possibly be trademarked? (I was actually drawing attention to an article I wrote and that is available on my site. And the article was titled - well, you’ve got it - “Searching For Perfection”).

Now, even if some big fat corporation has somehow managed to trademark that common phrase in some country or another - and not withstanding the concept of fair use (which, I understand, is why no-one can be taken to court for using the verb “hoover”) - I was under the impression that trademark infringement could only occur if the domains of use were similar - i.e. if my article is about the application of XML technologies, and the trademark pertains to a cooking utensil (or, as I’ve just found out, is the title of a pop song), then the domains of use are dissimilar and there is no infringement.

But I doubt anyone at Google would appreciate this.

I can only presume that some big fat scary corporate law firm has given Google a list of words or terms that their clients want for their own exclusive use, and that Google has simply done a sweep of the ads flagging (and suspending) those unlucky enough to contain those words, without any consideration given to the context of the ads whatsoever.

So much for “Don’t Be Evil”.

p.s. the funny thing is that i wasn’t even running my ads any more - i had paused the campaign years ago.

they suspended my account too, i don’t know why!
i never clicked on my ads, and i never did anything!

HELL this fu—-in company is really a big theft…………

It’s funny to read all of these so-called “horror stories” about Google. Almost all of these stories could have been easily avoided just by reading the Adwords TOS. For example, the lady that got suspended for bidding on the keyword “starbucks”. Come on, really? You really thought that was a legit business practice to bid on one of the most profitable companies in the world’s name? Get a clue. And the original poster complaining about trademark policies. You really think it’s a good idea to put someone elses product down? If you have or promote a good product, you will NEVER have to put down someone elses. In the end, you will come out ahead if your product is that much better than the competition. Google obviously doesn’t care about ANY of their Adwords customers when they are making billions of dollars a year. If you can’t play by the rules, get the hell out of the game.

Yes i have had sucess getting back on adwords. You have to change a few things and i all so found out how to run mutiple websites using google adwords.

Hi
My adword account got suspended because I opened 3 account by using different promotional coupons(I though that I can use one coupon for one website and I was wrong).
My question is can I still open or apply a new account(no coupon )? or am I refrained forever?
If I have to open a account by using another credit card(my girlfriends),what should i pay attention? do have to use the different IP,website landing page,bill address…?

Thx for your help.

I have 3 websites more than 7 years, 3 Adwards account, I combined the 3 Adwards account and use 1 credit card, now 3 websites are suspended by Google because google says one website has trademark problem. every month I pay google more than $200,000. I don’t know what can I do now. I need set up 3 new website?