There are people on planet earth who believe the Holocaust is something that was just made up.
There are people on earth who considered one presidential candidate, shot in Viet Nam, a poseur even though his accuser was officially AWOL during that war – and re-elected president.
And there are people on earth who absolutely REFUSE to read what Google tells them and think it applies to them.
I don’t mean to pick on this dude – he’s simply one example of many I’ve seen.
Google dumped him like a hot-potato “with no explanation”.
Even though Google’s terms the following explicitly, he doesn’t see *his* sites as fitting under the definition.
Let’s look at the definition (sent to him by Google):
Landing pages advertised via AdWords must have relevant, original content, and must be transparent about the nature of the business being promoted. Further, advertising certain types of sites will lead to immediate account disabling. These types of sites include, but are not limited to:
Sites that charge users or collect personal information in exchange for a product that is never delivered
Sites that charge for “free” software
Sites that trick users into paying for fake or poor-quality content
Sites that charge users for information that makes unrealistic promises of financial or personal gain
Sites that install malware software on a visitor’s computer
I’ve said for YEARS that Google wants relevant and unique content.
We don’t know the keyword phrases he used to advertise his sites, so we can’t say for sure if he was relevant or not. But, unless an advertiser is ONLY running ads for his specific product then I think you’ll see issues with his landing pages.
Let’s start by picking apart site #1: http://deathofablogger.com
Let’s assume that he was bidding on “blogging advice” since he uses that prominently in his page title.
where’s the advice?
And if you have to give your name and email to get that “free” report, it’s not free. If he owned the Black Book DVDs and followed my advice he’d have known that 3 years ago. It’s OK to seek out leads, but you better offer value EVEN IF people do not want to trade you their information.
Basically, your landing pages need to look like landing pages you’d find in the organic listings. When was the last time you found an outright squeeze page there? Get it?
Next, how about “unrealistic claims” that show his screen shots of his Clickbank account. It might be realistic for 2-3% of all visitors to his site to make that – but it’s not even ballpark realistic for the vast majority who might be seeking “blogging advice”.
And we can probably guess, and this is a big one for me, that he *probably* wasn’t bidding in the top 1/3 of advertisers. The unspoken flag Google’s targeting in my humble opinion.
Next site: http://www.hostcommando.com/
I really don’t see any issue with this site. Looks good. Lots of information about the service he offers. And built on a blogging platform, which Google loves.
Third site: http://www.plrwpvideos.com
Tough to say what Google is going think about selling PLR materials. Not original and unique stuff. But again, he’s making income claims – and we’re looking at a sales letter. How many times do we see ourselves on a sales letter when visiting organic search results?
Just about never – unless looking for a product by name.
I know, these seem like thin reasons to have an account banned. And we really don’t KNOW the full story.
But, we can learn a lot by looking at what others are doing.
We can also learn a lot by setting aside our paradigms.
I had a hard time setting aside squeeze pages built on static HTML. But, I can do essentially the same thing on a Wordpress blog and accomplish the result.
This guy also says “The thing is, I wasn’t even promoting any affiliate stuff, just three of my own sites: Death of a Blogger, Host Commando and PLR WP Videos.”
“…I wasn’t even promoting any affiliate stuff…”
Sorry this had to happen to you dude, but I’ve also been saying “It’s not about affiliates – it’s about the status quo affiliate model.”
What is the “status quo affiliate model”?
Bid as cheap as you can, do as little work as possible – and adding value is up to the merchant.
That’s the recipe for death on Google. Has NOTHING to do with direct linking, being an affiliate or any other bogus crap information you’re being fed.
Thing is, he could easily have avoided all of this with by paying attention to the rules and using a modest bit of creativity.
Here’s a few things you can learn:
1. Considering FTC changes it’s no longer a smart idea to be making any income claims or including testimonials that focus on income. If you can’t guarantee the exact same success for EVERY visitor to that page (and you can’t) then leave it out. I’ve sold hundreds of thousands of my own “how to make money” products without making a single income claim.
2. Blogs. Put your sites up on Wordpress (self-hosted) blogs.
3. GIVE a little before asking for anything or attempting to sell anything. The “I’m paying for traffic, I’m a marketer, and I’ll do what I want” isn’t going to fly with Google. I’m glad I wised up to that a while back. You should too.
4. Keep your campaigns focused and start with buyer phrases.
I could go on and on but then why would you buy my products? 
There is NO more serious problem facing ADWORDS marketers right now (I stress Adwords and no affiliates). If you’re doing any of the above you need to make changing gears PRIORITY ONE-A.
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