Policy violations. Back to the old ways :-(

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Policy violations. Back to the old ways :-(

csdude55

6:10 pm on Jun 10, 2023 (gmt 0)

A few years ago, Google said, "oh, don't worry about removing ads on violating pages. We'll recognize it and restrict ads for you."

Yesterday, I got a warning that I was at risk of losing my account entirely because of alleged "violations"! There was nothing under "Must Fix", but I had about 30,000 ad requests denied.

Why? The claim was "sexual content", but the pages had nothing sexual about them! One was a classified ad for a woman looking to clean houses!

I'm just at a loss. My CPC is down 64%, and I can only guess that I'm being punished for content that Google has decided it doesn't like. My business is quickly becoming an expensive hobby, but after 20 years I have no idea how else to make money.

CommandDork

12:08 pm on Jun 11, 2023 (gmt 0)

Support has admitted to me that the system DOES return false positives. I've been flagged for sexual content for years and it's never anything to do with that at all - even aviation stuff gets flagged. It usually clears up on its own but if you can, use the contact form in your account (I think you have to dig through the help questions to reach it). That's how I've been able to get someone to look at things in the past and get closure on things like this.

csdude55

5:50 pm on Jun 11, 2023 (gmt 0)

It just seems like I'm under attack, honestly. Constant violations for nothing coupled with a 64% drop in CPC certainly feels like I'm being ran off.

I desperately need an alternative. Something that's as good as Google was back in 2016.

freitasm

11:57 pm on Jun 11, 2023 (gmt 0)

I haven't received violation notices lately but I remember a couple of years back receiving some related to a "slur word" found in our pages.

It just happens that this "slur word" used to refer to illegal immigrants in the USA is also used as a noun for a type of low-pressure, water-based heater used in houses around Australia and New Zealand.

Never mind it. Automation can't understand this kind of thing. There's no context for them. There's no recourse.

phranque

1:37 am on Jun 12, 2023 (gmt 0)

..."slur word" used to refer to illegal immigrants in the USA...

fwiw i haven't heard that used in many years.
lots of other terminology these days but not that one...

SweetPotato

10:03 pm on Jul 3, 2023 (gmt 0)

@csdude55 let me know if you find anything.

csdude55

4:52 am on Jul 4, 2023 (gmt 0)

I'm afraid that I have nothing, @SweetPotato :-/ I get random reports with no context, I submit it for review and it's denied, but there's never any explanation and no opportunity for me to plead my case. I've been removing ads entirely from offending pages and then submitting it for review, and it's STILL denied! With no ads on it at all!

I asked on the Google Support Forum, but had no real help. They're all just volunteers, though, so they can't see anything on the backend.

The only logical explanation is that I'm being targeted.