A couple of weeks ago one of my most profitable sites was hammered by Google.
I’ve told you more than a dozen times that my youth ministry site is driven by Adwords. BUT two weeks ago they shut down my account…
Notice the word PERMANENTLY.
That made me nervous. I did not want to lose the account. I’d worked too hard getting my CPC down. Starting over would mean paying roughly .60 a click more than I am paying right now.
So….
I clicked the “learn more” link. And….
That page also had a ton of links to explain exactly what their policies were. BUT that was too much to read. So I emailed them…
Please tell me EXACTLY what I did wrong so I can correct it.
Here was the response…
Within a day they told me three things that were wrong with the site…
- Needed to update my privacy policy
- Needed a direct link from my home page to any Adwords landing page
- Needed a clear support link.
Pretty easy fixes. Which I did, but I was STILL denied.
But I KNEW I had taken the right steps. So… I resubmitted through their contact form because I thought, “Maybe I will get someone who’s new to the case and won’t see a problem.”
That’s EXACTLY what happened. Shortly after resubmitting I got…
So….
#1 Do what Google wants. Duh!
#2 If they shut down your site or your Adwords keep working with them. Don’t get arrogant or stupid.
#3 Google isn’t evil or bad. They have policies and as long as we don’t ignore them, our sites remain listed and our ads run.
Success is NOT an Accident!
Paul
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Paul, you mentioned one of your ‘violations’ was an apparently outdated privacy policy. How did you remedy that?
I’ve started using the WP Legal Pages plugin on most of my sites, do you know if that is sufficient for the internet gods (Google)?
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Right timing here, Paul. I just had the same issue with them, and I am nearly there. They even thank me for being patient and working with them for good. As you say, be patient, and do not get arrogant.
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Big ‘hats off’ Paul for sticking with it and not getting frustrated and telling Google to stick it! LOL
You are right on with your recommendations – keep working with them and don’t get arrogant or stupid! A good lesson for us all!
Sherie Smith
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Well of course I have to say, “Well Done Paul”!
But how silly to ban you due to such trivial issues – their own bot could have given you the details in the beginning!
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“Google isn’t evil or bad.”
…unless, of course, they think they can get away with it. I see they have hired a prominent Republican in an attempt to appear less politically biased. Not to *be* less politically biased, just to appear so.
I am working on reducing Google’s footprint on my life (e.g., I use Bing as my main search engine because it gets better results). I have no plans to use AdWords, primarily because you have to dance to Google’s tune, and even an unintended misstep can get you cut off. I don’t even like the fact that Gmail can take over my life, and I am migrating away from that, too.
…and I am going through the required steps to get Google’s tracking reduced: http://lifehacker.com/5887310/how-to-remove-your-google-web-history-before-the-new-privacy-policy-change (deadline is Wednesday).
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Paul Evans :
Good thoughts.
As long as we all realize that in 90% of the cases choosing to ignore or not leverage Google will limit your income. But certainly there’s nothing wrong with choosing that approach.
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