Google Ads suspended me and turned a deaf ear

Good luck getting a straight, specific answer from anyone at Google regarding supposed problems that violate one of their vaguely worded policies. Some of the stuff flagged by their automated systems are laughable - one that comes to mind is an ad promoting genealogy research that was blocked for promoting birth control.

Not that the other platforms are much better. A nonfiction book publisher once told me her Amazon detail page on a book about surviving breast cancer was rejected for promoting sexual content. Besides the description containing the word "breast", the word "therapist" in the description was interpreted by Amazon's "AI" as being about rape.

Re: Google Ads suspended me and turned a deaf ear

#5

Post by mtgx » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 10:29 PM UTC

There needs to be some kind of law that mandates that a company MUST reply to customers and/or users within a given time and offer a proper redress process.

I remember years ago FB would block your site and they would give you NO OPTION to contact them - like AT ALL (they used to hide the support chat button, and I think they still do from some people).

I also knew a company that got its own IG account indefinitely suspended because malicious competitors accused it of cloning their names, even though they were the ones doing that. There are even some articles on Google about being able to pay people to do this for you for like $50.

And they could never get that account back after months of trying to talk to FB about it or send documentation to the recommended appeal links (all apparently useless).

This is unacceptable from any company where you are a customer/user, let alone multi-billion dollar companies that definitely have all the money they need for proper support.

If your support is this poor/non-existent, you shouldn't get to talk about your "record-breaking multi-billion dollar profits" quarter after quarter.

This is something we as a society can decide upon, whether or not these companies like that (of course they wouldn't).

Re: Google Ads suspended me and turned a deaf ear

#6

Post by Induane » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 10:31 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #4

Good luck getting a straight, specific answer from anyone at Google regarding supposed problems that violate one of their vaguely worded policies. Some of the stuff flagged by their automated systems are laughable - one that comes to mind is an ad promoting genealogy research that was blocked for promoting birth control. Not that the other platforms are much better. A nonfiction book publisher once told me her Amazon…

Makes me think of SNL's celebrity Jeopardy.

Re: Google Ads suspended me and turned a deaf ear

#7

Post by ajsnigrutin » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 10:31 PM UTC

ilamont wrote: post #4

Good luck getting a straight, specific answer from anyone at Google regarding supposed problems that violate one of their vaguely worded policies. Some of the stuff flagged by their automated systems are laughable - one that comes to mind is an ad promoting genealogy research that was blocked for promoting birth control. Not that the other platforms are much better. A nonfiction book publisher once told me her Amazon…

https://i.imgflip.com/4600cy.jpg

Re: Google Ads suspended me and turned a deaf ear

#8

Post by J5892 » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 10:42 PM UTC

tragictrash wrote: post #2

Google is not your friend and must be treated as an adversary.

This applies to literally any public corporation.

Re: Google Ads suspended me and turned a deaf ear

#9

Post by dsl » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 10:45 PM UTC

Welcome to the world of blackhat SEO. If someone starts driving up the price of ads for a targeted keyword, you generate a massive amount of abuse and pay people to write complaints to Google.

From Google's perspective, they look at your account and see activity that indicates you are doing terrible things.

Coupons are an extremely competitive and hostile market to be in. Not saying what happened to OP is fair or acceptable, but things aren't always as obvious looking at them from the other side.

Re: Google Ads suspended me and turned a deaf ear

#10

Post by george0812 » Fri, Mar 04, 2022, 10:47 PM UTC

If your business relies heavily on Google to get customers (Adwords) or for generating revenue (Adsense, youtube, extensions, search, …) You are doomed. Google will/has terminated accounts on a whim with no recourse: one day you wake up and your business is destroyed, all you have is a vague, automated email and no way to contact a human being.

"Oh you spent 4 years working on this extension and have thousands of paying customers? We removed it because, well… we can't tell you! And, no we won't bring it back."

"Oh sorry we have to suspend your Adsense account AND keep all the money because… well, we can't tell you!"

"Oh you composed an original song for your youtube video? we're going to suspend your channel with 3 million subscribers because our system wrongly flagged your song as copyright infringement. And, no, we won't bring your channel back! ever!"

"Oh you use our PAID email service for your company paying us thousands every month? Oops, you're locked out because we falsely flagged you. We might give you access again in 2 months, we'll see… In the meantime use pigeons to send messages"

To Google you are just a number, a statistic. They absolutely don't care about you or your business because they have market power.

This company is the worst partner you can ask for, a true monopoly abusing customers and users alike.

STAY AWAY from Alphabet!