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?

If you are making/spending that much and really want in you could pay $300 and start an LLC and just get a new account. I just got suspended for creating campaigns for landing pages that they found of poor quality. Whatever, I just use adcenter now.

Perhaps the best way to get google to wake up is to make the investment community aware of their management practices. Post a story about the growing trend of mismanagement and ineptness as google adwords division. Since adwords is the main profit center, the investment community would be very interested in how google is turning money away left and right. The stock will plunge, and then the google execs will walk down to the adwords division, open the door and start firing people.

If you guys want to teach Google a lesson, there is only one way to do this. That’s in the pocket. Google takes away your income…youcan take away their income.How? you ask. All those millions of ads up on google has a price attached to them if clicked. Just start clicking ads. and let them pay. If millions of persons do this, they must feel it down there. Give it a try. they will catch some but will spend an inordinate amount of money doing it. Remember man came before machine.

Shawn

Just wait till Google suspends you and then we’ll see who does and who does not “have a clue”.

I’m a former director of R&D of a major tech company and my start up website has just been banned from using AdWords as well. It’s the exact same story as all the above. My webmaster set-up the AdWords account for me and after only several days of advertising we were banned. We never got a warning, haven’t been told why we were banned except that we violated their TOS, haven’t been told whether or not its permanent, haven’t been told whether or not this affects future websites we’re considering, haven’t been told whether there’s anything we can do to fix the problem……bottom line is that we haven’t been told JACK except that we’re banned. We’ve sent emails, done live chat, made phone calls and get nowhere. In fact, our AdWords account still says it’s “Active” and gives no indication that there’s any problem whatsoever. It’s been more than a week and to date we have only received a single email from a real human being which was a one line email telling us we’re banned. I have never been treated so poorly by any company in my life.

So, after my experience and after reading everyone Else’s problems with Google, a thought occurred to me. Just because Google claims the right (in their Terms of Service) to justify their abysmal business practices does not in fact mean that their business practices are legal. They’ve very likely never been thoroughly tested in court. So, what if we all banned together, hired an attorney, have him do the “due diligence” to determine if we have a case, and if so, “JUST SUE THE BASTARDS”. I do not have the time or legal expertise to head up this endeavor but I’d sure be willing to help and donate time and a modest sum of money. From reading this blog and others like it regarding Google, it seems likely that there’s thousands of websites Google, in its supreme omnipotence, has squashed. Assuming that there’s thousands of others like me willing to donate some time and money, this could add up a whole lot of man hours and cash. Well more than enough to entice any attorney. I’d even be willing to wager that many attorney’s might do this “pro bono” or at cost just for the chance to take Google down a couple pegs. Nothing may come of this but, after what I’ve been through with Google, its sure fun to consider!

Hi
I have been using adwords for affiliate marketing for the past 4 years and whilst it is not my main business, I have spent around $150K to date, small fry to Google but not insignificant to people like me in the real world! My account has always been well managed and have concentrated on niche markets for the last couple of years. Well, you guessed it, my account was suspended yesterday without warning! I called google and was advisd that the reason was that I had advertised certain money making products that implied an affiliation with google. Google Money Tree was mentioned, when I pointed out that I had never advertised GMT, Rich Jerk and Adwords Confessions where mentioned. I then brought to their attention that I had not advertised these products for over 2 years (apparently my mistake being that I had not actually deleted these campaigns, only paused them. All my current campaigns were in niche products and squeaky clean. The repesentitive could see my point and said she would contact the “specialists” again but was not hopeful.
Sure enough I received an email advising that the specialists had advised that their decission was correct and would not be reversed.
Having read all the comments on this forum it seems that their is little I can do do get my account back online. I am stunned by their treatment of their customers and agree with other comments posted. My business had been suffering from the increased PPC costs and competition and I was in the process of moving away from adwords so may be a blessing in disguise but I am still furious!

Just happened to me today after 5 years of having and adwords account! At the end of the day we all write ads that are unknowingly against their TOS sometimes and that’s why they have a system to disapprove them. To just cut off all my advertising because of well, I’m not sure exactly what, because as you say they won’t tell you and the decision makers are not answerable to their customers in any way. Great business and a great way to treat a 5 year customer google! My business is now on it’s knees overnight because I did depend on their traffic but I’m gonna do my best to rebuild without them. Be warned all!

I run a small e-commerce business selling beach accessories.

Last month Google suspended my Adwords account. I did some SEO work, I started publishing ads with Yahoo, Bing, Facebook etc. but my sales were still down 70%.

When i was looking for a solution how to advertise on Google again I cam across this ‘Get Adwords Unbanned’ eBook. I just followed the step by step guide and after two weeks my ads were live again. It worked for me.

http://getadwordsunbanned.com

Don, I’d be happy to team up with you and others at getting a lawsuit together. Ultimately I see Google needing to be broken up. Not sure if they have violated any antitrust laws yet. In the mean time I would recommend everyone use Yahoo or Bing and tell everyone they know to update their home page to one of these.

I’m still very new to AdWords. I’ve bought some books to learn it an all that good stuff. I’m amazed at the complete lack of interaction Google demonstrates with its AdWords advertisers. They hate Internet Marketers, period. They put everything in text, scattered across 600 different pages of legalese, and if you failed to read any one line, well then you’re banned with no recourse because you violated some term or condition.

I view AdWords as a necessary evil. I really hope Google’s shallow treatment of AdWords clientele breaks them down. There really aren’t many more appalling things in life than power mongers like Google stomping on people “because they can”.

My ads were put on hold today with the message, “Your ads are not running. Please contact us for support.” I have heard that this is Googlespeak for, “Your ass is about to get suspended.” I’ve had multiple low quality scores and have tried numerous methods to improve them, all to no avail. I’ve been told such nonsense as “you need to earn Google’s trust and you need to show them you’re a worthy customer.” I’m sorry, what?

I’m taking my business to other Search Engines and using my fat mouth to move people away from Google any way I can. Bottom line is, these guys are a bunch of nerds buried in algorithms and math up to their eyeballs. They haven’t learned the power of the speech yet.

My account is also suspended forever. When I contact them they just said please don’t contact us.

The strange part of the story is, I don’t know what I did wrong. When I asked them, they just said “we won’t tell”!

Hey guys,

Same story here. Yesterday I got warning from adwords that “Your Account is at risk of suspension because of multiple violations of adword terms and conditions”.

Instantly I asked them by sending the email that please let me know the mistake I committed so that I can rectify it. But instead of giving me reply today they sent me an email telling me that my account has been suspended.

Although my ads are still showing in google. I am using multiple accounts. Now I am not sure what will happen to other accounts.

For one of the other accounts I got the same email yesterday and I asked the same question but for that account they haven’t told me that the account is suspended, instead they have explained the reason, which I still not understand of. As this account wasn’t doing good business so I paused all my campaigns before writing email to adword team yesterday. May be this could be one of the reason that they didn’t suspend that account.

But as other people are telling on this blog that all the MCC accounts were suspended. I am waiting for the other 3 emails to receive telling me that my other 3 accounts have been suspended.
This was my bread and butter, sole business to feed my family and fund my other memberships to different tools of approx. $500 a month. No doubt its bit sad news. But no worries. This is life and this is business. And in business ups and downs are always there. So cheer up guys. Need to find other ways to earn living.

I’m also suspended 2-3 days ago without a warning. When I contacted them regarding my credit card problem I got mail that I’m suspended because of repeated submitting od diss. ads which I didn’t do. Didn’t touch ads at all, anything. I’m also super affiliate which do direct linkings. And I’m doing it since 2003 and I spend more then $130.000 on Adwords. Will try Bing and Yahoo these days and start from scratch.

I got banned because i logged into adwords on in a starbucks…..

that ip adresss was linked to a banned user,
so anyone who used adwords in that starbucks,

got banned, no questions asked,

i’ve sent 15+ emails no luck,
begging/pleding, nothing worked.

what you need to do to get another account:
switch your Internet provider/switch banks with new cc/new email; never login with old ip adress.

Ok, so I am one of the latest victims of this “cull” by Google…no idea why really, I guess they are slowly but surely getting rid of low-worth advertisers.

Considering becoming a member of “Replace Myself” but now questioning it because of having no Adwords account. Is there any point in persuing my IM career without the “mighty” Adwords?

I was banned yesterday for using multiple vouchers on different accounts pointing towards the same main site. I didn’t read terms or conditions either.

My plan: I’m going to use satellite webpages linking to the main site. These i will use on adwords by registering under a new bank account and diff address. Ie google won’t know it’s me. I’ll obviously have to disguise the satellite pages so they look unrelated.

Do u think it’ll work?

I ran an ad for a fish oil supplement, using one single keyword. This received a good ctr but did not convert well. So I used another single keyword which was more of a buyers type. My ad was approved and also my bid price. The ad never ran at all.

After a week i contacted support only to be informed that my account had been suspended for multiple violations according to terms of services.

I too was greatly shocked and intend to report google to the UK office of fair trading standards officer.

I intend to inform google of this and to tell them if they have no idea what the uk office of fair trading is, then go and ‘Bing’ it and find out!

@Todd – Absolutely! There are tons of other ways to drive traffic to a website besides google adwords.

Plus, getting another adwords account isn’t that difficult. Lots of people who have commented on this post have done it (including myself).

John

My google adwords account got banned today ! I have the account for over 5 years and all I was running recently were some affiliate offers – via proper landing pages using Wordpress Blog – all very good. Till the account was banned Google was giving me 10/10 for my Landing Page Quality scores ! And now they say I have had an egregious violation of their TOS – Incredible ! No warnings, nothing – just abruptly terminate my account. And of course, the mighly google thinks that the offense you have comitted warrants that YOU ARE BANNED FOR LIFE ! That is the most incredible part – even hardened criminals get a second chance and parole – but hey if your landing page violated Google’s sensibilities they dont think you EVER can change ! This is totally insane and must be stopped – Google is out of control, out of touch with reality. I suggest that ALL google Adwords customers who have been banned, come together and FILE A HUGE class action suit against this 800 pound gorilla.

Here’s the suspension letter I got today. I hadn’t run any traffic in 4 months or more (though I did have some CPA offers on pause). No explanation. No warnings. You would think that since they know what you’re running, they would simply tell you to change whatever they have a problem with, but no. No mercy.

Dear advertiser,

We are writing to let you know that your Google AdWords account has been disabled due to one or more serious violations of our advertising policies related to Landing Page and Site Quality. As a result, your ads will no longer run through the Google AdWords system and we are unable to accept advertising from you in the future. Please note that future accounts you open will also be disabled.

As part of our commitment to making the AdWords experience safe and effective for our users and our advertisers, we routinely review the landing pages that our advertisers promote through our search and content networks. If we find that an advertiser has submitted a landing page that egregiously violates our policies, we reserve the right to take immediate account-level action.

Landing pages advertised via AdWords must have relevant, original content, and must be transparent about the nature of the business being promoted. Further, advertising certain types of sites will lead to immediate account disabling. These types of sites include, but are not limited to:

* Sites that charge users or collect personal information in exchange for a product that is never delivered
* Sites that charge for “free” software
* Sites that trick users into paying for fake or poor-quality content
* Sites that charge users for information that makes unrealistic promises of financial or personal gain
* Sites that install malware software on a visitor’s computer

Please note that this action is related to sites that have recently been advertised through your account. In a review of your account history, we found that your account had submitted a least one site that egregiously violated our advertising policies. Although you may have removed these sites since our latest review, advertisers that have a history of promoting these types of sites are still subject to account-level disabling.

You can review our Advertising Policies, including our Landing Page and Site Quality guidelines, by visiting: http://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=guidelines.cs
You may also review the complete AdWords Terms & Conditions here: https://adwords.google.com/select/tsandcsfinder
In addition, our FAQ about Account Disablings can be found here: https://adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=164786

If you have additional questions or concerns not addressed by our policies or help center, you can contact support by replying to this email.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords team

I feel the pain on here too! I like the attitude you had when you wrote this. I not only got my account banned but was using a management account for other large business and doing $1,000 a day in PPC. Banned! Wait, it gets better, all my clients accounts and business got banned! I was shocked. I was a certified google account manager. I am currently try to get everything up again but it is a nightmare. Feel free to email me if you are having trouble. I am working ferverently on a solution. And yes, do diversify your marketing. I don’t know what I would do if I did nothing but PPC. My business would have croked.

Here’s how to get a new account:

1. Get a new credit card (call up Amex, give them a new name (someone you know…or just a made up one…they don’t care, and get another card on your account)
2. Get a new address (change the billing address on the new amex card to a PO box)
3. Get a new IP address. I use a windows virtual server with remote desktop access from 1 and 1.
4. Don’t ever login to your new account from anywhere but that remote server. Don’t login to any other google services from that remote server.

I don’t think you need to get a new website or a new business (I did both, but don’t think it mattered). I am now promoting my old site with the new account and don’t have any problems.

John

4. Don’t ever login to your new account from anywhere but that remote server. Don’t login to any other google services from that remote server.

question 1: the reason to not login to your new account from anywhere but the remote server is to prevent from accidentally logging in from a ip that was used by a banned account?

question 2: Why can’t you login to any other google services from that remote server? Do you mean any other google services that were associated with the banned account? What if I was managing client’s adwords using the banned ip, can i login to their adwords later with the remote server after I get the virtual server?

Guys..Listen..if you are still banned, it is because you choose to be still banned..I know where you are, I was there also..but there is a way to get a 2nd chance to operate your business according to Google Guidelines, but first you have to, get your business back up and running, contact me ok?my heart is heavy for you all.

@john:
question 1: yes, you’re right.
question 2: yes, I mean other services that were associated. I think you’ll be fine logging into clients accounts…but I don’t know this for sure, I haven’t done it.

I was doing a bit more reading on this subject and came across the idea of using a virtual credit card (VCC) to fund your account and using a Proxy or a DSL service which can provide dynamic IPs.

Well here’s the url that explains it: (I am not their affiliate)

http://www.buckdat.com/2009/11/google-adwords-suspended-again-best.html

What a hassle Google puts people through that make honest mistakes or are just colateral damage in their crusade to provde quality user experience.

thanks for the response Jonas!

I’ve done everything outlined expect remote server. I used a friends IP and computer. He pays for the IP and is as cleans as a whistle and knows nothing about internet marketing. My CC went though upon sign up. Everything seems fine but my account is under review. No impresssions yet. I ran ad for a whitehat photography site as a test about 24 hours ago.

How long does it take to get your first ads approved with a fresh account?
Also, I moved my old affiliate site to a new domain and used fresh content but haven’t run any ads. However, my AFF IDs can be tracked. Does google match affiliate publisher IDS and do you need to get new AFF account ids? Thanks guys.

Anyone can recommend a good way of changing your IP?

Is there a good software I can buy?

What about cookies? Do you diable all cookies from Google?

Thanks for your responses.

Know how you feel.
I was banned and I never ran an ad.
I signed up, paid my $5.00 registration and was banned 3 days later.
No recourse what so ever.
All i can figure is that it’s got to be a blessing.
Now I don’t have to hassle with all Googles STUPID rules and regulations.

Thanks Google,

I’m doing just fine without you.

John Ballenger

JJ,

I’d like to know did you even write an ad though. In other words could Google’s system or a human have read an ad you wrote that didn’t run and been lead to a landing page?

I’m assuming you were banned for low quality landing page but I was wondering of Google knew your landing page.

If your Google account was suspended, either adsense or adwords, there is a solution!

Visit http://www.GoogleStealth.com for a complete guide on getting a new account safely and legally!

No more account linking and closings for your new accounts you create. 100 percent verified Google account with the Google Stealth eBook!

Try them out! I did and couldn’t thank them enough!

I intend to start a blog where we victims of google can assemble and plan a class action.
will let you all know when it’s ready.

I purchased GOOGLE STEALTH last week. It does not work. All information inside the book is discussed here, nothing new.

hi there, I would use http://doovpn.com/, this solution to change the IP address works great for me. I got banned from Google as well last year, with my new IP address they were not able to link the old banned account with my new one.

The Link above that Elky shared is great to get back on google. http://www.buckdat.com/2009/11/google-adwords-suspended-again-best.html. But see this adword video Even though Google KILLED thousands of Adwords accounts! http://bit.ly/87sGeJ

Along with these other people i have had the same thing happen to me all my ads stopped for no reason as to wondering why google adwords will not go into details all i can think of was some ads not all were under review and instead of just ended them ads they just ceased all ads running, what i am interested in is a few comments stating google adwords is not all there is to advertise so what is there what even comes close to gaining such traffic to a website so far i have checked yahoo and msn and bidvertiser and nothing is in the same category as google ads so what is a person to do any help is greatly appreciated if account has been suspended which is the best way to start a new account (need tips on opening a new account without them fidning out its linked to my previously suspended account) is it all to do with IP Address, as mine is a random ip addrss, could it be credit card being in the same name and address???
Please Help someone!

I’m curious if it works!

My wife, who is a highly successful, 6 figure,internet marketing trainer got shut down by Adwords the other day and tried using my business debit card on that account. Now my card will not even work on my own accounts as they somehow see them as linked. She since has used various other strategies to get away from Adwords and has become even more successfull with less cost involved. She teaches these simple methods to others at -http://www.topfortuneinternetbusiness.com and they work! Google watch out.

So what can you do for a banned advertiser?

This is so messed up. Its sad to see google can operate a business like this and get away with it. I created my adwords account 2 days ago and my ad wasn't even published and I was banned. I asked them for a reason and they could not give me a reason except they have a terminate at will policy. Here is the email

Hello Derek,

Thank you for your email. Please note that I have reconsulted the
specialist team about your account suspension, and have confirmed that our
team's decision is correct and final. Your ads will no longer run on
Google. This policy will apply to all accounts you have created. As noted
in our Terms and Conditions, Google reserves the right to terminate
advertisements for any reason. To view our Terms and Conditions, please
visit https://adwords.google.com/select/tsandcsfinder.

Our support team is unable to provide any further information. Please do
not contact us again. For questions about other Google products, please
visit http://www.google.com/support. We appreciate your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Hitesh Kalra
The Google AdWords Team

I had the same problem folks until I came across this book and learned how to do it another way.
This guy teaches you how to promote a campaign cheaper, more profitable, and without the need of google. Read the book that is taking the internet by storm since googles recent adword ban at .http://rogue.profit-smart.com/

My account was suspended without warning. I have an online store, and my ads and keywords were of no violation to Googles Terms and Conditions. I read everything before beginning my campaign. When I created my ads, they were never reviewed. Someone from customer service said we were set and should be appearing in Google search. After a month of our ads being under review, I emailed Google Adwords and they replied with an email pretty much saying "Oops, well, your account is suspended. Sorry we did not tell you." After sending emails to different people, they emailed back and said they did not have to tell me why my account was suspended, and to never contant them again. I did not understand. I still do not understand. I will never attempt to work with Google in the future, and are looking toward other advertising companies.

John, thanks so much for those clear detailed steps. I have an AMEX Platinum which is quite handy for business and adwords in particular, and obviously didn't need 2, forgot about that spare card feature!

I think Google Bans will give a run for the money with the IRS Audits on being the biggest headache over getting teeth drilled. They are equally tied with obfuscated terms.

I logged intoo my Adwords account last night in a long time, added some ads. Came back a few hours later and they still hadn't had any impressions, which surprised me.

Sending in a support request, I got the autoresponse you got. Like Hunh? When did this happen?

The reply kinda amazed me. Since I've worked in the tech space, with legaleze before, I also wonder how many 100's of drafts between legal, customer service and marketing, it took to make the language so vague and unactionable, yet dulled and emotional neutral, from it's intent. It's passive aggressive. Trying to present zero front to either give scammers a clue on how to hack it, or be legally sued on. It's not even clear as to what suspended means. Being again passive aggressive, feeling like you have a 2 week ban, when it really means, whereever you go, whatever you do, we will hunt you down , kill your pet bunny friends, and make sure you never see the light of google paid traffic again.

Even if the hate me, they should at least make it clear that the account has been suspended so I'm not wasting their time adding ads, and asking for support I'll never get.

They demand that advertisers are transparent and accountable. Where is there's? I don't know what and when triggered it. My Best guess is a G**** Cash Detective promotion last year, but I didn't run it that long. Google accepted the ads, with decent quality scores, to go back after and say they changed their mind, your banned seems a bit unfair, especially as I didn't name the product.

I just started a PPC campaign, and after 1 day I was suspended (1 click). My website is only 2 weeks old. I was encouraged about some posters learning what they did wrong. But I don't have a clue and Google won't tell me anything. No point starting a new website and registering again–lots of costs and no assurance I wouldn't make the same mistake (whatever it was)

How did some of you learn what your "transgression" was? I'm willing to correct ours (whatever it was) but I can't get any feedback on what it was.

I had the same problem. Account suspended, they said not to contact us again.

Tried so many way to get back in.

I wrote a guide on doing it:http://adwordsunbanned.com

It's free, hope it helps some of you.

I will also be happy to team up. I experienced the same thing today. I still do not know why my Adwords got suspended and i do not care. They offer a very poor service and without any warning they banned my Adwords Ads for no reason. We do not have any Google agency in Norway. Google Ireland handles Norway's services and they provide a very poor service. I don't care about my Adwords got banned. I worry about my money in there. I deposited a lot of money. I asked for refund and i understand i have to wait 3 weeks and i don' t have time to wait. I will glady join the lawsuit against Google Adwords and Google Adsense as there have been a lot of click fraud in Adsense as well. I have no interest in Google Adwords and I have also gathered materials that proves their dishonest Adsense payment.

George, Thank you for writing the free guide. I appreciate that, however, it did not work for me.

I was banned again within 5 days. I think there must be something you overlooked with your guide, as Google was able to suspend me again.

Just had my account suspended. They said it's permanent. and they've refused to refund my Prepay balance. about $721 or so. Who can help me on this

I'd be willing to join that lawsuit too – i just got banned and cant get a straight answer. I've been told my account is 'associated' with another account that has violated policies… funny thing is that I have no other accounts, nor does anyone is my house. They will never know if they've made a mistake because no one will look into it. They wont call me, they just say 'please do not contact support as they cannot help you with this issue'…. no recourse? really? I am so fed up. I've not spent the kind of money that some ofyouhave, for me, a stay at home mom, 1k – 2K a month is a lot to spend, but I was seeing a good return on the investment and I've been able to stay home an raise my daughter. I guess she's off to daycare now so I can go get a job.

Hello. I write from Italy and I had the same your problem, not with copryright but I got the exact same treatment.
Except that I unfortunately work only online, and Google has left me in the middle of a road.

Don…

I have been thinking about establishing some sort of CLASS ACTION law suit against Google for the same reason(s) mentioned by the above posters. Remember the 'McLible' Trial (http://www.mcspotlight.org/case/) against McDonalds? Basically David vs Goliath, and David won! I want to explore this possibility. Please email me to discuss googlegaga at evibbs dotcommmm.

Same thing happened to me today. When I saw there were no impressions for 2 days I sent them an email and I got the exact email you've received only the name was different. Great way to lose advertisers, I'm going to use yahoo search marketing from now on.

Contd …

I'm UK-based (although most of my clients are in the US) and one interesting thing a friend mentioned to me was the UK's Data Protection Act, which gives any individual a right of access to any and all personal data a company holds about them. If a company is sent a request under the Act they have 40 days to comply and return all the information. Such a request to Google might just reveal why the account was suspended. I presume the US has a similar such law(?)

When it comes to getting around the ban, the feedback I've had seems to indicate varying degrees of difficulty. Certainly you can *never* use the problematic domain again (assuming you know what it was) and I would suggest the domain's IP should be changed too.

One person wondered what rights Google has to retain your credit card information if they've suspended you and you request that the information is removed. But if they don't remove it you can obviously not use the same credit card.

Google will obviously log the IP address you log in from, so you probably should ask your ISP for a new one or switch ISPs. also, clear all your cookies, browser caches and anything that might indicate some connection to your old Adwords account.

In some cases that has been enough but in most cases you also probably need to change your name and address (set up a new company possibly, using the Co name and a postbox address).

In the interim get onto Bing and Yahoo, use SEO and natural positioning, use banners ads and look at a lot of the smaller PPC engines. You *can* compensate for the loss of Adwords although I don't deny that it's hard, time-consuming work to do so. Even though I've only had 'warnings' to date, it has made me branch out and made me strongly advise my clients to branch out too. Google is just too risky and unreliable now with their move from broadly understandable 'slaps' that stop adverts, keywords or campaigns running to baffling 'suspensions' that stop entire accounts running.

I'm sorry I cannot offer genuine solutions but I'm in the dark as much as everyone else. I did however want to share my 'reasearch' on the matter (such as it is).

I suspect Google will continue to get away with this until someone successfully sues (assuming that's possible). In the past I have been able to see why the Google Slaps were issued and agreed with them most times – this time it's different.

Google will ultimately pay the price for this of course (treating customers like crap always comes back to haunt companies eventually) but that's not much solace for those suffering suspension as it will take a long time for Google to pay that price whilst some poor users are suffering immediate and irrevocable bans.

It's a shame though. Google are great innovators and have en excellent advertising platforms. Indeed it has made them very rich, but I wonder how much richer they'd be if they genuinely partnered with their advertisers and provided top quality customer support rather than fostering what is often an adversarial relationship with them.

Hey John, I opened an ad-words account for the purpose of using one of their tools. I ran a bland ad that I did not care about. ($15 in the hosting market) FIgured it would be used up in a couple of clicks. 2 weeks later I found an item by accident in eBay. Was listed at number 3 for most popular. Saw a glitch in ad words. Said $.05 So not even knowing what this was (Living in the Philippines) I tried to put up an ad. My credit card was saying declined. I have a $60k limit so I called Amex. No charge had been submitted. I sent an email to Google then called them 6 days later. I was told the ad was a violation and I was banned. I asked the two people I talked to what I did wrong. Both said they did not know. They could see nothing wrong. But the "experts upstairs" knew and basically that was that. So without the first real ad I ever ran getting paid for or run – I was banned. At least for ppc guys there is the Microsoft and Yahoo options. When it happens at EPN they often steal your money and they have no competition.

Yes, you right, google customer support executives are not good to handle all queries.

This happend to me i can no longer advertise on google i being told the same

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