Adwords account suspended for talking about SEO. Why isn't Moz suspended, too?
-
First let me say that we don't care that much about Adwords. We were spending about 20 bucks a month and we never optimized it, tinkered with it, or cared that much. Business is booming for us just with organic search and referrals from happy customers. (We're a blog writing service called BlogMutt. Motto: We work like a dog to fill up your blog.)
But we just got suspended from Adwords. After multiple inquiries and multiple unhelpful responses, we got a note that said: "Please note that your website contains matter which states your site's SEO increases. Anything which relates to SEO is not allowed as per Google Policies. Please make appropriate changes to your website."
Now, we don't say your site's SEO increases with BlogMutt. What we do say is what everyone says, that blogging is a best practice for any modern marketing effort. We certainly are less clear about improving search rankings than, for example, moz.com. Why is it OK for Moz, but not for us?
Don't get me wrong. I think Moz should be able to continue advertising. I'm just wondering how we got into the Adwords crosshairs.
Any thoughts?
-
I wonder if that's it.
I forgot about that text, wrote it like two years ago. I'll scour through the site, see if I find any others like that.
I still wonder how this got on Google's radar. I just did a search for the offending phrase there "SEO improves" and I see a bunch of advertisers who are violating this rule on their home pages AND in the ad itself.
That is, how is it that I'm in trouble for two words on an inside page and another guy can advertise: "Guaranteed Page One SEO" and get the second ad spot?
-
I do see on this page https://www.blogmutt.com/pages/customer there is a How It Works with the following:
- We write a blog post on the suggested topic using the ideal number of keywords.
- You post the content to your blog.
- Your site's SEO improves.
- Through your blog, you will engage new customers.
Could it be that they feel this is a guarantee that you can't back? I'm not saying anything against you or your company here, but just trying to see where Google might find an issue with things. One of the conditions in Advertiser Claims is "All advertising claims must be factually supportable." https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1331529?hl=en&ref_topic=1310871
-
See images below. And thanks in advance for any insights.
-
OK, here are two images. One is just the notice that's at the top of my adwords screen when I'm logged in. The second is the note I got from Google after I requested an appeal.
It's really mysterious. The part about SEO is the most specific they've gotten with us, and it still doesn't really make sense.
Any ideas are most welcome! I don't belong to any PPC forums because it's such a small part of our overall efforts, so I'd much rather get an answer here.
6a00d8357e4fe369e201a73dd2f8b1970d-pi 6a00d8357e4fe369e201a73dd2f8ac970d-pi
-
OK, since you are the second person to ask, I will get some screen shots and post them here.
I guess that's kind of my question, but it's more like, "Why is it that we got singled out for doing something that lots of great and reputable companies -- such as Moz -- do every day?"
And thanks for looking at our site. I think the only place we mention SEO is in the video, so maybe that's what we need to change, but we make a claim that is much much milder than any of the SEO software providers or consultants.
-
I know! Something doesn't add up!
Yes, I'm 100 percent sure it's legit stuff from Google.
I think they reply to all requests for appeal, no matter the amount. I do think Google does not consider dollar amounts when deciding to suspend, and just goes off the rules.
And I understand that they don't want people gaming the system so they can't give advice that's too specific.
But I still just don't understand what's going on here.
-
I think a screen shot would be most helpful to understand the issue at hand - including who the email came from and the part that you've bolded "your site's seo increases." To me, this doesn't read as a full sentence. And, when I look at your site, your site doesn't actually say anything about SEO on the home page.
When you log into your account what do you see?
If AdWords traffic doesn't matter, then could you explain what type of resolution you are looking for in this Q&A? Is your question "why can other sites advertise on terms like 'SEO'?"
-
Something doesn't add up here. If you do a search for "SEO" the page is littered with ads for SEO companies. Are you sure that this email was from an Adwords representative? If you're spending $20 a month, I would be surprised if you could get a rep to respond.
-
Hmmm, I still don't know why your account would have gotten flagged simply for "being about SEO" so something is definitely up... I would suggest submitting your story to the big SEO/PPC news sites like searchenginewatch.com, searchengineland.com, searchenginejournal.com, etc. because people need to be aware of this and then maybe you will get a more detailed response from Google.
-
The ads were pretty generic. Our most used was: "Customized, weekly blog posts to help you connect with customers."
The violation was for our landing page, which is the same as our home page: https://www.blogmutt.com. There's nothing there about SEO. The video does say that blogging can help you get found by people searching on Google, but that's way less of a claim than Moz or any of the other content providers.
So, that's why I wonder why we got flagged. We've had to kick out some writers because they were rotten writers, and I wonder if one of them was so mad that he reported our ads to Google and that's why we got suspended. We'll probably never know that, but that's about the only theory I can come up with.
-
What did the ads say? And the landing pages? There are tons of AdWords advertisers that bid on SEO-related keywords, so this is the first time I've ever heard of anything like this.
-
That line is the only useful part of that email. The rest is just account details.
It is directly from Google as a response to our request for an appeal of our suspension.
And we do our own, we don't use an agency or third-party for our adwords.
-
hi Scott,
Is it possible to grab a screenshot of that note? Is it from Google? Or some other SEO agency/advertiser you got that message?
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Adwords Express Vs Adwords for small business
Hi there I specialise in helping Local businesses with their online visibility through SEO. More recently I have been thinking about delving into Google AdWords so i can offer an additional service to my small business owner but was wondering what the best approach would be.
Paid Search Marketing | | coolhandluc
Should I use Google AdWords express or just Google AdWords? Should I set up individual accounts for each of my clients so they are somehow "portable" or should they all sit under the same master account? As you can see my knowledge is somehow limited and any help would be welcome. If you can point me in some easy to follow tutorial directly aimed at PPC for small businesses that would be awesome. Many thanks0 -
AdWords Device-Level Bid Adjustments for Tablet not working for me
Yesterday Wordstream announced that AdWords rolled out device-level bid adjustments for tablet for everyone, but when I go into my campaign settings, it's the way it's always been, with no ability to adjust for tablet. I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this, or is there perhaps some kind of setting I have to turn on? http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2016/07/26/device-level-bid-adjustments I am so excited about this change, seeing as our cost-per-conversion on tablets is always twice what it is on desktop, and not having control over it was maddening.
Paid Search Marketing | | UnderRugSwept0 -
Privacy Policy in Adwords
Does anyone have direct experience regarding the impact on quality score by ensuring there is a privacy policy in place on the landing page? I am aware of the legal requirement but I have heard anecdotal evidence there could be an impact on quality score if one is missing.
Paid Search Marketing | | MickEdwards0 -
AdWords Sitelinks Disapproved
Hello,
Paid Search Marketing | | Instabill
I cannot find a justifiable reason as to why Google AdWords has disapproved my sitelinks. 1. My link text is descriptive of each page. For instance, I use the link text "Merchant Accounts" for the URL http://www.instabill.com/services/merchant-accounts/ 2. I have four extensions within one campaign. Each have 5 sitelinks with all the same link text and destination URLs. However, only two of the "Merchant Accounts" sitelinks were disapproved from two out of the four extensions. Two "High Risk Accounts" linking to our High Risk Merchant Accounts page were disapproved out of my four extensions, one "Industries We Serve" to our eCommerce Industries page was disapproved, and one "Offshore Accounts to our Offshore Merchant Accounts page was disapproved. Why are some disapproved and not all? 3. I use Daddy Analytics to generate my destination URLs for tracking purposes, but I do not see this as being an issue since the URL still begins with the URL in bullet point 1. After reading a few threads within the AdWords community and reading the AdWords Sitelinks Guidelines, I feel as if I have followed the guidelines. Any helpful advice would be appreciated.0 -
Google Adwords
Hi, Is there any tool that tells you if a domain has paid results in Google? I need to find out if a certain domain is showing in the paid search results for any keyword. I tried to from the question clear enough, I don't know how to explain it better.
Paid Search Marketing | | cvissi0 -
Adding nyc to a keyword in Google Adwords
Hello. If I have a keyword in Google Adwords that is using phrase match ("keyword"), could it be useful to add the keyword phrase "keyword nyc"? Even if I did not add the second keyword phrase, my ad would be triggered if someone searched for "keyword nyc." So would it be redundant to add the second keyword phrase? Thank you!
Paid Search Marketing | | nyc-seo0 -
Adwords campaign and adgroup ideas
When it comes to SEO, I can do that. When it comes to adwords I tend to scratch my head. No idea why, I just do. Anyways I want to get some ideas of how I can setup a killer campaign and structure it and target relevant keywords. Here is my description of my business We are a private christian school providing preschool, elementary and highschool. We are located in Henderson, NV but service Las Vegas, NV as well. We have some of the highest scores and accolades in Nevada so we pride ourselves with those and feel we should target that. So far when it comes to structure I have come up with this setup Campaigns Henderson adgroups Preschool Top Keywords preschool Example Keywords preschools in henderson, nv preschools in henderson nevada preschool henderson nv preschool henderson nevada top rated Example Keywords top rated preschools in henderson nv top rates preschools in henderson nevada best Example Keywords best preschool in henderson nv best preschool in henderson nevada Elementary Top Keywords private school Example Keywords Elementary private schools in henderson nv Elementary private schools in henderson nevada Elementary private school in henderson nv Elementary private school in henderson nevada top rated Example Keywords top rated elementary private school in henderson nv top rated elementary private school in henderson nevada best Example Keywords best elementary private school in henderson nv High School Top Keywords private school top rated best Las Vegas adgroups Preschool Elementary High School I didn't finish the rest because you should get the point. I don't know if these are exact keywords, I just know that private school, top rated and best tend to be what people type. Then each adgroup will get a relevant ad pertaining to those keywords. Am I going overbaord? or is this a good start?
Paid Search Marketing | | cbielich0 -
How much does Google adwords cost increase year to year?
I am trying to find about how much the cost of Pay-Per-Click increases year to year? If anyone can point me to some data/study that speaks to this I would appreciate it very much.
Paid Search Marketing | | JerrodDavid0