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Marcomguy
05-06-2009, 06:22 PM
I set up a couple of Adwords campaigns for a client last week. The ads ran for a couple of days, then on Sunday or Monday Google stopped serving them.

And I just cannot figure out why. Their Ad Diagnostic Tool says my keywords aren't linked to any ads, but all my keywords are shown as Active, my quality scores are 7/10 or higher, the ads and website are 100% clean, and as far as I can tell, I haven't violated any of Google's terms.

Can anyone tell me what I may be missing?

I'm not the only one with this problem. The AdWords help forums have several advertisers whose ads were stopped for no apparent reason. I sent Google an email on Monday, never heard back, and just sent them another.

Is there some other way I should be approaching this problem? :confused:

vangogh
05-06-2009, 11:45 PM
If it happened to several people it could be a glitch on Google's end. Not that knowing that helps you. You should be able to contact an agent through AdWords and ask, though if it's something you did they probably aren't going to say what.

I'm assuming you didn't exhaust your budget in the first few days. That would stop the ads from showing.

Are you able to run new ads? Could you try bidding on a new keyword in a new campaign just to see if it runs? Might tell you if there's something with the whole account or just that particular campaign.

How popular are the keywords? Is it possible people simply haven't searched for them the last couple of days?

Could you accidentally have paused the campaign?

Hard to know without seeing the account and the campaign, but I would try experimenting a little to see if you can narrow down the problem. Try a new campaign, alter the ads on the campaign that isn't working. Try linking to a different page. Keep trying different things to hopefully eliminate what it isn't.

Marcomguy
05-07-2009, 07:47 AM
Good ideas, thanks, van. I was about to create a new campaign when Google started serving the ads again. They has stopped the ads because they were reviewing the account.

As they say in their terms and conditions, ads can be reviewed at any time. That 3-page t&c document causes a lot of grief (http://www.small-business-forum.net/internet-marketing/1182-apparently-you-can-sue-google-win.html).

I wasn't expecting a review because the ads had been running fine until then.

Anyway, I'm glad to know it wasn't some mysterious force in the universe. Just a mysterious force in Google.

vangogh
05-07-2009, 12:15 PM
Good to know the ads are working again. For some reason I had thought they only checked new ads. Simple explanation, though it would have been nice for Google to let you know.

billbenson
05-07-2009, 01:50 PM
Probably a competitor complaint. I've had ads stopped because of that. Once on a trademark issue as well. A word was a generic term in my industry but a trademark in a different industry. I sent G an email and they started the ads running again.

Marcomguy
05-09-2009, 10:19 AM
Yeah, could be a competitor complaint. Let's see if there are more.

"I can't see my ad" seems to be a common AdWords customer complaint. Google would easily nip these complaints in the bud if they only told customers why their campaigns were suspended.

SearchDarren
07-14-2009, 03:25 PM
An an ex-Google account manager of 4 years, I think I know what happened.

When you start an AdWords account, Google will provide you with a number of impressions in good faith, before their editorial team check that your campaigns apply to the rules. If that number of impressions is reached prior to the editorial process taking place, the campaign will either slow down or stop entirely. Once the account has been approved by a member of the editorial team, the impressions will start again.

From what you have said, I'm fairly certain that this was the case. In any way, I'm pleased that the account in back up and running.

If I can be of any further help, please let me know.

vangogh
07-14-2009, 06:54 PM
That makes sense. And I think Marcom did mention something like that happening. I knew Google reviewed accounts, but I wasn't sure how soon or late after starting a new campaign. One of the tips I've seen over the years is to start your ads that push the envelope a little more than usual on a Friday night, since the ads likely won't be reviewed until after the weekend. That way you can at least test them for a few days if they don't make the cut.