Hi guys, this is one of those posts you need to read, why? Because I just got banned by Google Adwords, for no other reason than I logged into someones account to help them out, and they were bidding on bad keywords.
So let me re-cap a sec… I spent the better part of today establishing a new adwords campaign in preparation for our major non-im product launch. Time well spent right, setting everything up properly, proper adgroup structure, keyword structure, and ad specific ad copy and so on.
Total of about 6 hours.
At 3pm, I receive an email, now I’m not going to post the exact email yet, but here is the major part of it:
“Please note that it has come to our attention that a related (bolded for emphasis) Google AdWords account of yours (bolded for emphasis) does not comply with our terms of service and advertising policies. You have repeatedly submitted ads that violated our Gambling policies in a related account.”
I’ve never in my adwords history EVER bid on anything gambling related.
Then I spoke to some mates about what it “could” have been, running through some scenarios.
One dude I really respect, who spends a lot through adwords, when I told him that we had logged into a persons account to help them with their adwords setup etc. and they had recently been banned for bidding on lottery keywords, he’s like, oh dude, that will be it, they’ll be tracking you through the IP you log into.
I thought to myself, ok maybe, but surely Google wouldn’t simply ban someone because they logged into an account that isn’t theirs one time only right? WRONG!
Since email was (and still is) a complete waste of time, I called Google, and spoke to someone there, basically running over the scenarios of what I thought it could be, where it could be wrong, when I got to the bit about me logging into the persons account to help them, he’s like, yep… that’s more than likely the problem.
So, not only does Google track by our name, address, credit card numbers etc. but they ALSO track you by your IP, and if you log into a suspect account, and log into your account from that same IP, you are GONE!
There was no warning email, no “please stop this, you have been warned”, simple “you are banned”.
The guy that I spoke to on the phone was a major help, he’s looking into the problem for me, but will I get my account back? I honestly don’t know.
One thing I have done is taken a video recording of my account displaying all adgroups/campaigns etc. to prove that there is no gambling related keywords, and kept copies of all emails and what not.
Will it do me any good? Probably not.
What’s the moral of the story here?
If Adwords is ever going to be a part of your business model, NEVER under ANY circumstance give your account details out, nor log into anyone elses account to help them out through the IP you log into your own account.
I should have been smarter in this, and known better, I guess I didn’t think Google would shoot first and ask questions later.
Mistakes are made to be learnt from, hopefully you will learn from mine 
Sincerely,
Daniel Turner
Popularity: 61% [?]
Daniel,
I’m wondering if it makes a difference if you logged into his account as him or if he granted you access as a third party?
This is why I’m starting to not like Google. That kind of treatment is downright unAmerican.
The shoot first and ask questions later Google behavior sounds very familiar as I’ve read of quite a few Adsense users who’ve been banned for “fraudulently clicking on their own sites” only to discover it was tracked to someone else in the the same building (same IP) who ignorantly clicked on an ad out of curiosity and got them closed down – no questions asked. Guilty until proven innocent.
Hope it works out for you, man, especially with the upcoming launch.
Hey Ray,
Not sure mate, logged in directly to their account, so maybe their assumption is that since it’s a direct login I must own the account.
Peter,
Yeah, the unfortunate part is there is very little you can do about it, most people get stuck at the email stage, I’m just fortunate enough to know people I can talk to by phone.
Hope it pans out ok, but it’s only one leg of the marketing strategy, there are 8 others
Daniel
And what happens to the Adsense account …
Damn…I am so sorry to hear that. Sometime Google is really taking things alittle to the extreme. Hope they restore your account mate.
Hi Daniel,
Wow! I’m very new at this. In fact I’m still at the starting gate. I feel badly for you and I thank you for sharing your experience. I know that it will serve me and other newbies in the future.
Yup I can relate to that. Like 7 yrs ago, same PC, I had an adwords acct but since it’s postpaid, I had like my last bill pending. I just created my account now, diff credit card, URL, everything but same PC. My adwords acct says active but apparently not showing my ads. I emailed them, got a canned response after 3 days saying the same thing “It has come to our attention that your Google AdWords accounts do not comply with our terms of service and advertising policies. As a result, your accounts have been suspended, and your ads will no longer run on Google.” Thing is…Im willing to pay for my previous balance but I forgot my login, and why dont they help me out on retrieving my previous login so that I can pay the pending bill? Unfortunately, they didnt give me a chance. So now Im thinking, I gotta have a new credit card, new IP, new URL, no everything. Im just wondering tho, do I need to have a completely different website look or can I just transfer my files to a new domain name? Or will that fucking google adwords still figure out that it’s yours. It’s too much time, it’s a lot of wasting to create a new website overall. damn!
Daniel
Since this one is a bit old, I wonder how you eventually got on.
I had the same thing happen with my adsense account. Had never earned a cent, so hard to imagine I had done too much wrong (otherwise you’d think I would have been earning something).
I did get an email answer saying they would look into my inquiry about why, then I got a further answer saying I had broken the rules (which rules? When? How? – who knows?), so the ruling remained – I’m banned – forever, it seems.
That’s worse than the penalty for murder in most Australian states.
The old saying about absolute power corrupting comes to mind.
Paul
I for one have given up on Google AdWords and AdSense. I find bidding in Yahoo and MSN to be just as lucrative (although the MSN interface really blows). Anyway, Google long ago turned from Hero status to Villian in my eyes. I try to avoid their products.