Our Google Nightmare

Before I start this I’m not a natural born whinger or a pathological moaner and I don’t offer the below as a ‘get back’ at Google. Rather I offer our story as an opportunity for you and others to learn from our mistake and act accordingly. I should also point out that we are still members of the Adsense program and find it to be a very useful and easy to implement revenue generation tool. Want to sign-up with Google’s AdSense?

My gripe isn’t that one of our sites was barred from the Adsense program per se… despite having checked with google at the start of the development cycle that the project was acceptable and them confirming that it was! No, my gripe is Google’s perceived:

unwillingness to answer my questions
the apparent ease with which they seemed to change their stance to suit their decision (rather than the other way round) and
their implied policy of just blanking people that ask questions they don’t want to or are unable to answer.

I understand that Google need to manage their resources and that allowing or encouraging their support staff to engage in lengthy email debates with adsense members such as ourselves is a source of expense, but at what point should you draw the line between reducing costs and customer service? I guess I’m saying I’d move the line towards customer service, but hey, maybe that’s why I’ve not floated my business on the stock market! (Yet!). Anyway, you have a read and take your own lessons from our experience. (Note this saga concerns events that took place between google and the ‘Cash 4 Coursework’ project which has subsequently been rebranded ‘FreeCoursework.info’).

(21 Nov 2006)
Hello,

The ads on the site have been working fine for the past few weeks however since this morning it appears that no adsense ads are displayed on any of the site's pages. Site diagnostics do not list this domain… we would be very grateful for any help or suggestions you could give us in respect of rectifying this situation.

Kind regards,
Austen

(22 Nov 2006)
Hello Austen,

Thank you for your email and interest in the Google AdSense programme. I understand you wanted to know why your domain www.Cash4Coursework.com is not displaying Google ads anymore.

As your site was found to be in violation of our programme policies, it is no longer eligible for participation in the AdSense programme.

Your account remains active and you are welcome to place Google ads on other sites which comply with AdSense policies.

For additional questions, I suggest you visit our AdSense Support site at http://www.google.com/adsense_help. If you're unable to find an answer to your question on our site, please feel free to reply to this email and I'll be glad to assist you.

Sincerely,
Otilia
The Google AdSense Team

(22 Nov 2006)

Thank you for your email - would you kindly let me know which programme policies it violates as we were very careful to ensure we did not contravene what we understood by them.

thanks for your guidance,
Austen

(22 Nov 2006)
Hello Austen,

Thank you for your reply.
As stated in our programme policies, AdSense publishers are not permitted to place Google ads on sites with content that promotes illegal activity or infringes on the legal rights of others. Google ads may not be placed on sites that sell or distribute term papers, courseworks and similar papers.

Should you have additional questions, please visit our AdSense Support site at http://www.google.com/adsense_help. Alternatively, please feel free to reply to this email.

Sincerely,
Otilia
The Google AdSense Team

(22 Nov 2006)
Hi Otilia,

Thank you again for your reply.

I do not believe that we are doing anything illegal or that anyone's rights are being infringed as, according to our T's & C's, the coursework that is submitted has to be the original work of the person submitting the work and we are allowed to publish it as we see fit. I am confused, kindly clarify your position, thank you.

Secondly you say google ads may not be placed on sites that sell / distribute coursework etc… I did not and do not see this referenced anywhere and the fact that if i search google for "coursework" the top listing site is xxxxxxxxx that sells coursework and is also available in my adwords account for advertising on (i.e. they display adsense ads) confuses me further, again, kindly clarify.

I have attached an email thread in January this year when we were evaluating ideas asking for clarification about whether our idea was acceptable from your point of view and it was confirmed that it was. On the back of that we have invested, what is to us, a massive amount of time, money and effort to build this community site that allows students to research for free and generates money for the Water Aid charity. Please understand my requests for clarification and an urgent reevaluation of our status in the light of the above, thank you for your help.

thanks for your guidance,

Kind regards,
Austen

(23 Nov 2006)
Hello Austen,

Thank you for your detailed note.

Based on our review of your website, www.Cash4Coursework.com we determined that it does not meet AdSense programme requirements. Although your application was approved and your account is active, our review of www.Cash4Coursework.com is unchanged and our servers are still instructed not to serve Google ads to this site.

Google ads may not be placed on sites that sell or distribute student papers.

If you have other questions, you can visit our AdSense Support site at http://www.google.com/adsense_help or reply to this email.

Sincerely,
Otilia
The Google AdSense Team

(23 Nov 2006)
Hello Otilia,

Thanks for bearing with me… I assume that you are saying the site does not meet Adsense programme requirements as the site distributes student papers - if this is not the case then please expand on your statement. Assuming that this is the case then:

a where does it say that ads can't be placed on sites that distribute student papers? I can't find any reference anywhere in the help etc.

what are the grounds for disallowing ads on sites that distribute student papers if the papers that are being distributed are owned by the site that is publishing them (i.e. there are no copyright issues etc.)?

I think the context of our site is being misunderstood and would be grateful if you could address the points above and get back to me, thanks for your help.

Kind regards,
Austen

(24 Nov 2006)
Hello Austen,

Thank you for your message.

Please note that we do not encourage participation of the sites that sell or distribute term papers.

We have reviewed your case once again and we'll not be able to change our decision regarding re-enabling the ad serving on www.Cash4Coursework.com or answer any additional questions on the matter.

Sincerely,
Otilia
The Google AdSense Team

(24 Nov 2006)
Hello Otilia,

Thank you for your message. Being both a loyal AdWords and AdSense user I will be very disappointed if you cease to communicate further on this issue, given the importance of this issue to your customer (me!) and the unresolved nature of my enquiry with you it would not reflect well on the customer service function of your business to brush me off in this manner.

You said previously that sites selling / distributing student papers were not allowed to show AdSense ads and I pointed you at one (of quite a few) student paper sites that display your ads AND I asked for clarification as to why we are specifically being penalised (given our T's & C's that remove copyright issues) and these points have not been addressed. Your latest email now says that you "do not encourage" sites that distribute term papers to use AdSense… this is very different from "disallowing" and should therefore mean that we are eligible, but not encouraged, yes?

In either case I still do not know WHY the cash4coursework.com site has been stopped from displaying AdSense ads. Given the email from Google in January (attached to an earlier message) that OK'd the project and the fact that we have subsequently spent a number of months development and testing time building the site and invested significant amounts of money advertising the site (some through AdWords by the way!) I am sure that you understand why at the very least we think we are due a consistent and plausible explanation of the situation even if you still elect not to have our site display your ads. I don't think we are being unreasonable.

If you are unable to answer my questions then I urge you to pass this issue to your Departmental Manager. Thanks again for your help and prompt response.

Kind regards,
Austen

(27 Nov 2006)
Hello Google,

I have not had a response to the email below dated 24th November and wondered whether the issue had been escalated such that we can progress towards resolving it. Kindly advise and / or answer the questions in my email below.

Thanks for your help,
Austen

Our conclusions then from this experience are:

Google Adsense can be a great way to generate revenue from your website.
Google can be quite fickle and unpredictable about what barring sites from the Adsense program and there’s *nothing* you can do about this (don’t hold any notions of fair play, right to appeal etc., they don’t exist in this context!).
Make sure you have a plan B (and plan C) as you shouldn’t have all you eggs in one basket!

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