The Google Slap and Ban - Six Strategies to Keep Your Accounts in Good Standing

Recently a slew of Google accounts were disabled, and thousands of accounts were banned. Google has developed a bit of a bad reputation because of this, but for no good reason. Most banned accounts and slaps occur because the advertisers are not behaving in ways that are consistent with proper marketing methods, and therefore are doing things that no marketer should do. Even if a first time advertiser on Google gets slapped, or banned, they cannot plead ignorance, since Google provides an entire tutorial on how to use their system and avoid these occurrences.

Here is an overview of Google’s demands. The good news is that their demands match a properly organized and executed campaign that follows the best marketing procedures and business practices. The bad news is that it requires effort, conscientious application of correct marketing practices, and diligence to check on things on a regular basis. In reality this is bad news only if one intends to be careless and sloppy when advertising on Google, or running their business in general.

1. Quality Score: This is at its highest when keywords in the ad match keywords on the landing page, and they BOTH match the offer. The worst practice is using unrelated keywords that get a high response to advertise an unrelated offer. Not only will Google ban this type of advertiser, this type of practice is unethical and deceitful and has no place in a legitimate business.

2. A landing page needs to be well developed, load quickly, and get a decent click-through rate. Poor performing ads are slapped with higher prices for the same keywords and, if this continues, eventually a banning may occur. Professional pages that look good, convey a message that gets a good response, and match keywords to offer are very easy to create. There is no excuse not to have this in place before beginning a PPC campaign.

3. Avoid the tendency of many marketers to place multiple ads on a single page. When we get spam we can see this practice in action. Some marketers fill an e-mail with numerous links hoping we will be generous and either pick one that sounds good or be kind and click all of them. In reality, almost no one ever clicks any of them. This is true of landing pages. One simple rule applies: One offer per page that matches the keywords in the ad.

4. Never use a bait and switch tactic! This will result in a ban faster than anything else. Google (and almost every buyer) frowns on this practice and for good reason. It is blatantly deceptive, similar to using unrelated keywords to drive traffic, and extremely frustrating to a person who clicks on an ad looking for one thing but ends up somewhere unrelated. This angers a buyer, often severely, and the results of this are invariably undesirable. Not only will this get an advertiser banned, it can ruin their reputation permanently.

5. The landing page needs to have original content that matches keywords and offer. Included should also be a privacy disclaimer, information about the website owner, and a level of transparency regarding how we conduct business. We want to avoid acting like a thief in the night. We want a website that is professional, business-like, and trustworthy. PPC requires KLT (know-like-trust) just as any other form of marketing does.

6. When in doubt read and follow all of Google’s guidelines. We must make sure to check our ad performance on a regular basis, make sure our payment information is always up to date, and ensure that our ads are converting well. If not, we need to take the time to tweak them and improve their performance, otherwise we will get slapped and eventually banned.

If we follow Google’s rules, and conduct ourselves ethically and professionally, marketing in ways that are above board and acceptable by everyone, we will have no trouble with Google, or any other PPC advertising system. And, if something does happen, behaving this way will make the resolution much faster and easier. If in doubt, as always, research the best methods of marketing through the resources available on Google’s AdWords website.

Hello my friends, I’m Dave Cleinman. Google PPC is the most lucrative advertising resource on the planet, but requires some tender loving care and a great deal of vigilance, effort, and due diligence. To learn more about PPC, and many other network marketing resources, visit my blog Steps to Success and sign up for my newsletter, Step by Step.