

Google AdWords bans use of hyperlinks - DougN7
http://successfulsoftware.net/2015/03/04/google-bans-hyperlinks/

======
cordite
> There was no detail about what I had done wrong. As far as I was aware, I
> complied with their policies.

This seems to be an excessively common trend with Google and sometimes Apple.
Most cases that seem to be posted about say that they did not even get human
contact and usually will be banned for life because they resubmitted but
apparently didn't fix that one magical thing Google or others cared about.

~~~
hermitcrab
"Computer says no"

~~~
hermitcrab
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n_Ty_72Qds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n_Ty_72Qds)

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qeorge
Off topic: OP mentions the AdWords Expert, Aaron Weiner of Software
Promotions[1], who was finally able to get it all resolved.

If you have an AdWords campaign and its underperforming, HIRE THIS MAN. I had
the opportunity to work with Aaron about 5 years ago, through a client, and I
could not have possibly been more impressed. He took an absolute dog of a
marketing campaign [2], and made it work. Unreal.

Anyway - I don't do this often, but he's that good. Hire him / Software
Promotions if you need help with AdWords - you will not regret it.

[1] [http://www.softwarepromotions.com/](http://www.softwarepromotions.com/)

[2] previously managed, quite unsuccessfully, by yours truly

~~~
shiftpgdn
Before I waste anyone's time do you know what their budget minimums were/are?

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ttctciyf
So tl;dr is: google employ people who can't distinguish between a hyperlink
and a redirect to enforce their adWords policy?

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libria
The people red-flagging for domain redirection are the Ads Quality Raters who
are contractors not FTEs. They work remotely, rarely collaborate, and follow
whatever's written in the rulebook for good/bad ratings.

Running ads to a landing page with little content other than a redirect to
another domain is forbidden and rightly receives poor ratings. As stated in
the article, this was not the case. The rulebook was pretty specific about
this, so I don't know how this got so badly interpreted. The AQRs do have a
forum they can appeal edge cases on, so I'm surprised this got past a
supervisor. I got in so many online arguments with the other AQRs who were not
able to interpret the intention behind some of the rules.

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sjs382
There is no ban on hyperlinks. So while your case may be ridiculous, it's not
as ridiculous as you imply.

Adwords Policy prohibits something called "low value content", which includes:

    
    
      Landing pages that are solely designed to send users elsewhere
      Examples: Bridge, doorway, gateway, or other intermediate pages
    

Adwords clearly (but mistakenly, I guess?) interpreted your page as a gateway
page, with the sole purpose being to drive users to your Amazon listing page
(on a different site, obviously).

~~~
hermitcrab
From the article:

The review page isn’t a landing page. It isn’t linked directly from any of any
of my Google ads. To get to it the user has to: 1\. click on the ad 2\. click
on ‘customers’ in the navigation bar 3\. select ‘review’ 4\. click on the
Amazon.com hyperlink (there is no automatic redirect)

Also I am only linking to that page so they can read independent reviews of my
product. I don’t [want] them to buy it from Amazon!

~~~
sjs382
I'm not saying that I agree with their assessment. Note the last line of my
comment. Emphasis added:

> Adwords clearly ( _but mistakenly, I guess?_ ) interpreted your page as a
> gateway page, with the sole purpose being to drive users to your Amazon
> listing page (on a different site, obviously).

I'm just saying that your headline does a particularly bad job of
characterizing the issue.

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austerity
Google customer support is designed to discourage you from using using
customer support. I guess that's true for many companies, but Google is
excelling at making it a torture.

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aruggirello
I went through a similar adventure last summer, when Google abruptly suspended
my Merchant Center feed (BTW we are AdWords customers since 2006). After ~1
month, I eventually succeeded in talking to someone who apologised and
immediately restored it. Thousands of clicks forever lost because _someone_
misinterprets a policy!

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compbio

      These [no malware] requirements apply to software hosted 
      on your site or linked to from your site.
    

Perhaps it started with this? You linked (or let a reviewing user link) to a
hacked site. I can understand Adwords taking action in that case (even when it
is a simple hyperlink, it is dangerous to users of the ad network).

The support was just bad. I can not defend that. Good on you for keeping your
cool.

~~~
thefreeman
I believe this was in reference to not having "Uninstall" instructions on his
site.

~~~
compbio
Could be part of it.

 _1\. Add a link to the uninstall instructions on my download page. I told him
that my uninstall was completely standard for the platforms I support (Windows
and Mac). But he insisted._

I looked at point two: _2\. Remove some links that were ‘redirections’ from my
reviews page._

and was wondering what that was originally all about. Could be linking to
malware, but I also do know that Google has become stricter in attacking
linking practices where money could have exchanged hands. When you run an
affiliate program with Amazon for instance, it is a good idea to "nofollow"
these links, to make sure you don't run afoul of these rules.

Then again, it seems a lot of things just went wrong in this case. Having just
received a warning that a 5-year-old 960.gs fixed width site of mine was
delisted from Mobile search for being "not friendly to mobile users" I can now
better sympathize.

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empressplay
Are you unable to escalate? Seems a bit odd to have no appeal against the
decision of a low-level support worker...

~~~
davidw
HN is how you escalate Google support problems (see patio11's comment)

[https://twitter.com/successfulsw/status/570892454339186688](https://twitter.com/successfulsw/status/570892454339186688)

~~~
DanielBMarkham
I've been watching the "How to start a startup" series on YouTube from YC
(Highly recommended, BTW).

Interesting to compare how those founders talk about treating their customers
and industry partners with how Google is treating those same kinds of folks.

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ccvannorman
>It shakes my faith in Google

Only just now?

~~~
hermitcrab
Previously they seemed indifferent, but competent. Now they seem indifferent
and incompetent.

~~~
dsleno
Lol! Too true.

At least the kind Indian person on the telephone assures me otherwise. It's
too bad that Google doesn't share the sentiment of their Indian employees who
are at least feigning helpfulness.

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zuck9
So according to the employee if Google itself wishes to continue using AdWords
(and not get banned) for creating ads linking to its search results, it has to
remove all clickable links from google.com

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dsleno
Wow. This could be my story, right down to being a customer for 10 years.
Adwords has been hugely frustrating for me.

