Has anyone ever heard of anyone getting back? You see those threads pop up in the adwords forums from time to time, would be interesting to hear a "1 year later" story...
I have never heard of someone getting their account back after being banned. It's for life. Follow the TOS and if you get ads disapproved, don't submit the same ad or resubmit with the same offense. That's the sort of thing that gets you banned. If you don't know what you did wrong, find out. I know some of those disapproval reasons can be rather vague but resubmitting the same or similar ad is just asking for trouble.
He must have been kidding. I doubt it is a 5 strikes and your out thing. I am sure it is on a case by case basis.
He wasn't joking, it was a response to a direct question. But I'm positive that the bans are not automatic - it probably just automatically flags your account and then someone takes a look at it (so it's still case by case). But from what he said they at least have a "5 strikes" rule of thumb.
First, the ban is not automatic.
Secondly, it's often 5 strikes regarding ads that are trying to get around trademarks.
Third, it's often less strikes for more nefarious items.
Fourth, the 'five strike adwords rule' or '3 strike google kill' is what it's called in adwords circles. The 3 and 5 strike items are what people commonly see before they are either warned that their account will be shut down, or before there accounts are just shut down.
These rules are not Google policy.
Lastly, if you are a legitimate business going about your daily routine, who is not opening multiple accounts, constantly trying to use trademarked keywords in usual ways (iP0D, iPot, i-Pod, or lpod anyone?), and aren't thinking about how to get away with things - then the vast majority of times you won't have any issues at all.
And yes, there have been customers who have been let back in again; but usually with restrictions.
The 3 and 5 strike items are what people commonly see before they are either warned that their account will be shut down, or before there accounts are just shut down
Thanks for the reply. Could you clarify the statement above a bit? What do you mean that people "see" the 3 and 5 strike items before they're warned/banned?
Usually, when someone gets banned for trademark abuse, they have received at least one warning email; and sometimes up to five times before they get the axe. Therefore, these people usually know its coming. They have been warned, they chose to ignore the warnings.
When someone gets banned for more nefarious items, they usually hear only 0-3 times from Google before being banned. If you don't hear from Google before being banned, it's usually because you really deserved it (website code injection, etc).
Therefore, the strikes usually refer to the number of contacts from Google it takes before they get banned.
