Adwords account suspended for talking about SEO. Why isn't Moz suspended, too?

[scodtt]

First let me say that we don't care that much about Adwords. We were spending about 20 bucks a month and we never optimized it, tinkered with it, or cared that much. Business is booming for us just with organic search and referrals from happy customers. (We're a blog writing service called BlogMutt. Motto: We work like a dog to fill up your blog.)

But we just got suspended from Adwords. After multiple inquiries and multiple unhelpful responses, we got a note that said: "Please note that your website contains matter which states your site's SEO increases. Anything which relates to SEO is not allowed as per Google Policies. Please make appropriate changes to your website."

Now, we don't say your site's SEO increases with BlogMutt. What we do say is what everyone says, that blogging is a best practice for any modern marketing effort. We certainly are less clear about improving search rankings than, for example, moz.com. Why is it OK for Moz, but not for us?

Don't get me wrong. I think Moz should be able to continue advertising. I'm just wondering how we got into the Adwords crosshairs.

Any thoughts?

[artdivision]

hi Scott,

Is it possible to grab a screenshot of that note? Is it from Google? Or some other SEO agency/advertiser you got that message?

[scodtt]

That line is the only useful part of that email. The rest is just account details.

It is directly from Google as a response to our request for an appeal of our suspension.

And we do our own, we don't use an agency or third-party for our adwords.

[StreamlineMetrics]

What did the ads say? And the landing pages? There are tons of AdWords advertisers that bid on SEO-related keywords, so this is the first time I've ever heard of anything like this.

[scodtt]

The ads were pretty generic. Our most used was: "Customized, weekly blog posts to help you connect with customers."

The violation was for our landing page, which is the same as our home page: https://www.blogmutt.com. There's nothing there about SEO. The video does say that blogging can help you get found by people searching on Google, but that's way less of a claim than Moz or any of the other content providers.

So, that's why I wonder why we got flagged. We've had to kick out some writers because they were rotten writers, and I wonder if one of them was so mad that he reported our ads to Google and that's why we got suspended. We'll probably never know that, but that's about the only theory I can come up with.

[StreamlineMetrics]

Hmmm, I still don't know why your account would have gotten flagged simply for "being about SEO" so something is definitely up... I would suggest submitting your story to the big SEO/PPC news sites like searchenginewatch.com, searchengineland.com, searchenginejournal.com, etc. because people need to be aware of this and then maybe you will get a more detailed response from Google.

[MarieHaynes]

Something doesn't add up here.  If you do a search for "SEO" the page is littered with ads for SEO companies.  Are you sure that this email was from an Adwords representative?  If you're spending $20 a month, I would be surprised if you could get a rep to respond.

[JasmineA]

I think a screen shot would be most helpful to understand the issue at hand - including who the email came from and the part that you've bolded "your site's seo increases." To me, this doesn't read as a full sentence. And, when I look at your site, your site doesn't actually say anything about SEO on the home page.

When you log into your account what do you see?

If AdWords traffic doesn't matter, then could you explain what type of resolution you are looking for in this Q&A? Is your question "why can other sites advertise on terms like 'SEO'?"

[scodtt]

I know! Something doesn't add up!

Yes, I'm 100 percent sure it's legit stuff from Google.

I think they reply to all requests for appeal, no matter the amount. I do think Google does not consider dollar amounts when deciding to suspend, and just goes off the rules.

And I understand that they don't want people gaming the system so they can't give advice that's too specific.

But I still just don't understand what's going on here.

[scodtt]

OK, since you are the second person to ask, I will get some screen shots and post them here.

I guess that's kind of my question, but it's more like, "Why is it that we got singled out for doing something that lots of great and reputable companies -- such as Moz -- do every day?"

And thanks for looking at our site. I think the only place we mention SEO is in the video, so maybe that's what we need to change, but we make a claim that is much much milder than any of the SEO software providers or consultants.

[scodtt]

OK, here are two images. One is just the notice that's at the top of my adwords screen when I'm logged in. The second is the note I got from Google after I requested an appeal.

It's really mysterious. The part about SEO is the most specific they've gotten with us, and it still doesn't really make sense.

Any ideas are most welcome! I don't belong to any PPC forums because it's such a small part of our overall efforts, so I'd much rather get an answer here.

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[scodtt]

See images below. And thanks in advance for any insights.

[KeriMorgret]

I do see on this page https://www.blogmutt.com/pages/customer there is a How It Works with the following:

1. We write a blog post on the suggested topic using the ideal number of keywords.
2. You post the content to your blog.
3. Your site's SEO improves.
4. Through your blog, you will engage new customers.

Could it be that they feel this is a guarantee that you can't back? I'm not saying anything against you or your company here, but just trying to see where Google might find an issue with things. One of the conditions in Advertiser Claims is "All advertising claims must be factually supportable." https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1331529?hl=en&ref_topic=1310871

[scodtt]

I wonder if that's it.

I forgot about that text, wrote it like two years ago. I'll scour through the site, see if I find any others like that.

I still wonder how this got on Google's radar. I just did a search for the offending phrase there "SEO improves" and I see a bunch of advertisers who are violating this rule on their home pages AND in the ad itself.

That is, how is it that I'm in trouble for two words on an inside page and another guy can advertise: "Guaranteed Page One SEO‎" and get the second ad spot?