Microsoft adCenter has to be one of those “scratch your head” deals. Maybe, it’s just me. For some reason, I’ve never been able to get an ad or a keyword approved. I’m not using the standard “pornography”, “drugs”, “weapons”, “assault”, “satanic”, “Nigerian Retirement Fund”, “Free Credit Report for $99/month” keywords. Some samples would include “Want to Quit 2009?”, or “Want to Leave 2009?”.
Yea, those were disapproved. Hey, at least MS took the time to send me an email notifying me why. I got it nearly 24 hours after I submitted the ads (which were never shown). The obligatory email stated:
As part of the editorial review process, we have reviewed your ads and keywords. Unfortunately, we were unable to approve some of them. We have attached a document that can help you make changes to the disapproved items so that they can be approved.
They were also very kind enough to send me an attachment. Since the email itself didn’t mention exactly why I was disapproved, I figured the HTML attachment would:
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It’s truncated, but you get the drift.
This helps tremendously, MS; muchas gracias!
The thing is: These are the exact same ads running on Google and Yahoo at this very moment. I’ve had Yahoo and Google ban some ads; but, at least it was easy to figure out (usually Trademark restrictions – Yahoo hates when you use their name as a keyword or in your ad). But, from adCenter? Nothing.
Before you go on about how I should read the help section about why my ad was disapproved, I did:
- Adult Content? No
- Unspecified Calls to Action? No
- Defamatory? No
- Hate? No
- Illegal? No
- Political? (hell) No
- Profanity? No
- Religious? No
- Unsubstantiated Claim? No
- Violence? No
Last several times I’ve been down this road I’ve never received a definitive answer from support. Instead, all I’ve received is reference to the above. Then, after they don’t solve my problems or answer my questions, I get three or four emails from the same dude asking if they solved my problems or answered my questions. It’s like annoyingly-polite spam.
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Follow-Up: I just rcvd reply from adCenter CSR that my ads shouldn’t have been disapproved and a appeal has been filed. Unfortunately, appeals can take up to 48 hrs so I’m stuck until Tues. Who knows how many potential sales that could’ve costed. Water under the bridge…
