Are you Adwords ads Under Review? I was in the midst of running a test between Yahoo and Google, comparing conversion numbers in multiple markets (I wrote about this earlier), when … I hit a stumbling block.
For me (and for many), the benefit of Adwords has always been the 15 minute gap between your ad creation, and the impressions starting to roll in. It was amazing, fun, and allowed you to instantly get results. For me, it’s the third greatest reason I use Adwords (apart from market share – ease of use).
Patience has never been my strongest virtue, and the ease of use of Adwords, coupled with it’s speed of showing you ads, made it a clear choice over Yahoo in my mind. But now – things are changing …
So, imagine my surprise when none of my latest adwords campaigns start running at all. In fact, they remain in a state of limbo. Every ad I place is “Under Review”. Hours pass, days pass … but no impressions. My ads are not approved (but not disapproved either). So, as my adwords as sit in a state of limbo, I’m left to wonder why. Yes, the Google explanation is kinda weak – they are reviewing my ads. But WHY? This never happened before. Is this happening to everyone?
After a small bit of research, I can say … Maybe? It’s definitely happening to some. But I make an ad in a different account, and it’s instantly running as normal. Uh – oh. So what is triggering my adwords ads to be under review in one account, and not in another? I don’t know! Is it an account based trigger? A keyword based trigger? Or, as google suggests, simply an ad based trigger, that I’ve run massively afoul of.
Regardless, my adwords ads aren’t running! The first approval process to two days, but now, it’s been 4 on this set of ads, and NOTHING. They still sit un-reviewed. Wow! That’s pretty impressive isn’t it. Another great feature of Google’s ad program … now toast.
So, with this new development, and google’s quality scoring out of control (not necessarily difficult, just have to go through the checklist of adwords specific quality score items), and slow ad review time, and higher costs per click … wow, I was joking about Yahoo before, but now I’m REALLY glad that I am trying to test the two against one another. Remember, I am not testing traffic (as Yahoo can still deliver quite a bit of that), but rather conversions (optins and sales).
Anyway, how disappointing that we can’t have the instant-on results of Google past. I’m very interested in hearing about other people’s experiences with Adwords placing ads under review, or not instantly starting your campaigns (as before). I’m guessing that my account has somehow been tagged – but will need further research. I’ve always been a little impatient … that’s why google has been the perfect partner in the past!
I mean, I don’t want to be a baby about this. We’ve had it SO good in the past. Yahoo has always had a waiting period for approval of campaigns – so this is nothing new to the space – simply to Google. This all came about months ago, but it’s the first time I’m actually experience it. How about you?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Actually its been like this for a few years. Yes its true that ads would appear within 5 minutes of submitting them but there were rare occasions that ads will go through a review process or sometimes it will appear for a few hours and then go offline. Strange but true. I guess now that there are more advertisers violating Google’s terms they are being more firm now and putting most ads through review first. It all depends I guess in relevancy of terms, titles and description of adverts and so forth. Who knows really but Google?
Yes, the same happening to me. None of my ads are running.. even the approved ones!i deleted everything and starting to post new ads. Is bing ok? Please let me know.