Clearing Up AdWords Account Suspension vs. Suspended Website
Most people don’t know this, but there are two types of Google Adwords suspensions. One is a suspension of an AdWords account, and the other is a suspension of a website. They have important differences and you should be aware of them if you’re a Google AdWords user.
If you have a suspended website, this means that Google has found something it doesn’t like about it and has halted AdWords for that site. In certain cases, it may even de-list the website from their search results. However, the suspension doesn’t apply to the rest of the sites that are in an AdWords account. So if you’re running PPC services for a group of clients and one of the sites gets suspended, that doesn’t threaten the rest of your clients.
However, if an entire Adwords account gets suspended, then all PPC activity for the sites in that account will stop. This can have a major effect on your business. Even if you have other good sites in your account, Google might think you, the advertiser, aren’t legit and stop you from all advertising.
Which one is worse? It depends on your situation. The bottom line is that you have a violation somewhere and it needs to be fixed. Sometimes a fix is easy and you’ll be back in business in a couple of weeks. But if there are substantial problems, it can take quite a long time to get your account or website back.
Let’s Get It Sorted Out
What typically happens is that Google will first suspend a website and then do a further investigation to see if the entire account needs to be suspended. The biggest giveaway that you’ve been suspended is the Red Bar of Death. This is a red box you’ll see at the top of your website detailing the problem. If you can still access your AdWords account, work quickly to identify the problem and fix it before Google decides to suspend your account completely.
Getting a suspended website off of Google’s radar is pretty straightforward. First, you find the problems and fix them, then submit the suspended website for review. Their team will review the website and see if it complies. If the suspension is lifted, you’re safe. But a suspended account takes a lot more work.
If you have any Google AdWords accounts associated with your name, even if they were made long ago, and you get your account suspended, you’ll need to fix the problems in all of the old accounts and websites before you can get your account unlocked. Google is very good at finding old accounts and associating them with you. That old experiment you made back in 2005 with black-hat SEO techniques may come back to bite you!
How to Handle Adwords Suspensions?
Website suspensions in Adwords and account suspensions are actually handled by different teams. So, the best practice we recommend is this. First, get your old AdWords accounts and find all the websites associated with them. Go through them and fix any violations (don’t forget to check the billing infos) and submit them for approval. When you do get approval, take that information and apply for an account reinstatement. This will greatly increase the odds that the suspension will be lifted.
You’ll need to get all of the websites in your account approved because you need to prove to Google that you’re not a problematic advertiser. It’s not a fool-proof process either. If you’ve had suspension problems in the past or made an egregious error (like that black-hat experiment), they still might not trust you. In this case, you’ll need to get professional help to go through your sites with a fine-toothed comb and vouch for you.
I’ve also had some cases receive an unusual response. Google might give you specific instructions to move your site to a new AdWords account if the site is approved but the account is suspended. For some reason, Google sometimes just doesn’t want to remove suspensions on an account. I think this is risky, but there’s not much that can be done in this case. If there’s even the slightest slip-up, Google will be able to see that old suspended account and quickly suspend the new one. If Google gives you this sort of instruction and you get suspended again, send them a copy of the email so you can use it in your appeal.
Getting suspended is never fun. It’s harmful to your business and there’s a lot of red tape getting it fixed. Hiring a professional can help you figure out why your website or your account (or both) are getting suspended and what you can do to fix it. Many Google suspensions can be reversed. If you can’t figure out what’s causing the problem and you’re losing money, seek professional Google adwords suspension assistance.
