AdWords

[nitramladybug]

I am new at the affiliate thing, so I may be completely wrong about all of this, but I just thought I would let you know what just happened to me. I read SAH about a year and a half ago, have spent the time since getting my music review site ready. Just contacted Google and they say my site violates copyright and they do not allow review sites of any kind to advertise on their site anymore. I asked them what the difference was between my site and the other ten that are already there and they told me thank you for alerting them to the error and hung up on me. I argued with them for a couple hours as to why it was copyright violation to link to sites where I have permission, especially when I have no products myself (because at first they said it was because my ad promoted the products, not the reviews, but then they turned me down again when I changed my ENTIRE site and the ad to promote only the reviews). To which they replied that it encouraged people to engage in illegal behavior. I can only imagine they are referring to possible illegal downloading of music. So I asked them if that was the case and if they thought iTunes or Rhapsody were illegal and they would not answer me. So finally, I went with Yahoo, who was WONDERFUL, and had my site up in a few moments. I just thought this was absolutely terrible to affiliates and that more people should know what I just encountered and the door that was slammed in my face after so much hard work. Not to mention the vendors I have that I cannot advertise for on Google now.
Again, I am new to this and I may be completely in the wrong, but Yahoo was fine with my site so I cannot imagine how in the world what they are doing is okay.
Thanks,
Laura Martin

[Griff Grumbein]

Hi Nitramladybug, and welcome to the forum!

WOW! Not a good start with Google, huh? I've got to be missing something here as there are TONS of review sites on Google.

Remember, Google is KING so whether they're wrong or right, tact and diplomacy will go a LONG way with them to get answers and get things straightened out. As I didn't see either of your sites, I can only surmise that Google feels you have violated their TOS in some way, shape or form. If you have not been banned from there, I would recommend a careful review of their TOS and your site.

Before I go on, did Google ban you from their system or did they just reject just your site? The answer to this question will help to proceed further.

Sorry to hear of your experience with them, but glad to hear Yahoo is an option for you. Keep us posted on how it goes!

Regards!

[nitramladybug]

Thanks for the reply!

No, they didn't ban me. The first person I spoke with told me to change my ad to say that we were a review site and that would satisfy their copyright rules because I would no longer be promoting the products, but the actual reviews. So, I changed the ad, and in fact changed my entire site to make sure I wasn't doing that anywhere. I made sure I don't say anywhere on my site that you can "download music" on my site, but that you can read reviews to help you make decisions blah blah blah because they scared me into thinking I was misleading people. Then I resubmitted the ad. It came back the same way, violation of copyright.

So, I spoke with another person and this persaon told me that Adwords no longer allows review sites to advertise because it encourages "people" to engage in illegal behavior, and that is where the rest of the above mentioned conversation comes in. She told me though that if there are other review sites on Adwords they will be taken down eventually. Like I said, I don't know how they can do this, and to the best of my knowledge I am doing nothing wrong. Infact there are some sites I have gone to that are in the same genre as mine that have one page only and there are nothing but affiliate links and they are in Adwords. But my page has articles and reviews and so forth. So, I don't know why mine would be banned.

Anyhow, thank you for the welcome. I just wanted to warn anyone that may be in the path!

[nitramladybug]

I contacted Google again, not because I have any marketing money left to spend with them, but because I want to really understand this issue. I spoke with another person and they escalated the issue to their specialist team. They told me that any download review sites are against the TOS. I honestly feel that this is an injustice to those of us affiliates that are trying to earn an honest living in this genre. You know-one bad apple spoils the bunch kind of thing. I completely understand the idea of linking to sites that might allow illegal downloads, but NOT allowing any site to advertise because one site might do that seems completely unfair to the rest of us. I have an article at the top of my page that explains how to tell the difference between the illegal and legal sites. It really just upsets me that I am being blocked from a huge market because someone else might use it illegally. For that matter anyone could use any site in the wrong way, why stop there? Google itself allows access to books that are arguably allowable without permission from copyright holders. Anyhow, I am sure it will go nowhere, but I just like to know all the facts. I am sure at this point though that it has absolutely nothing to do with my site and everything to do with just a blanket statement about no download review sites. As far as the ones that are already up on Adwords...I wish you luck!

[Griff Grumbein]

Hi Laura,

Well I'm glad to hear you weren''t banned and that only your site was rejected. Maybe when all the dust settles, you can use Google a different way and monetize on it.

In the meantime, while Google may be the top dog, they're not the ONLY dog. There are LOTS of other avenues that can be utilized in Google's stead, you've already locked on to Yahoo, and many of the others can be used as easily as Yahoo.

Thanks for posting a follow-up report! I find it a little baffling that they would not quote you book, chapter and verse as to where you allegedly broke their TOS. (Now THAT would have been good support from Google.)

Best of luck in your persuits!

[Rosalind Gardner]

Hi Laura,

Like Griff, I'm glad to hear that you had better luck with Yahoo! and I TOTALLY understand your frustration with Google Adwords.

They seem to have a lot of rules, many of which they don't bother to follow themselves.

In my case, I'm constantly on the mat with them about relevancy.

For example, there are a ton of sites that advertise my name as a keyword and then promote products that have nothing to do with me.. or even mention my name on the landing page.

It's people like you though that are willing to go to the mat that will slowly but surely change things for the better.

Keep up the good fight!

Cheers,
Ros