Just Started Adwords - Campaigns Deleted

I just started an Adwords account and I noticed that over the weekend many of my ad groups were deleted. It says Ad Status: Deleted; although it also says Ad Group Status: Active.

The keywords I chose are very rarely searched for so I'm assuming it has something to do with this. We also only got 3 clicks since the campaign went live on Friday. That seems pretty bad But I guess it's to be expected with such unpopular words.

If you could shed any light as to what is going on here that would be helpful. Thanks.

That vertical are you trying to get ads for? Often, with select verticals, the system puts the ads live immediately, but shortly there after a human reviews them for compliance with the Adwords Terms of Service. if the ads are for something that isn't allowed, the ads are deleted.

Other than that, it usually takes a little while for them to see the stats before they start removing ads based on performance - low search volume on a term doesn't automatically means an ad targeting that keyword/phrase is removed - in fact, it'd likely be better off as the click rates would be theoretically higher on lower volume/targeted phrases/ads.

is it possible someone else may have logged in and turned off an ad?

...or that, if you are new to the system yourself, you may have inadvertently done this? (Not saying you did, just posing the thought.)

No I haven't looked at them all weekend so I definitely didn't turn any ads off. I'm really stumped. I think they purposely make it so confusing that people need to hire a consultant or get training. We can't even get the Google Analytics tracking code to be verified. I really want to get training - I think it's imperative actually. I have a feeling this is the new battle - convincing management to get training. Without it we are flying blind and will not be able to set up or even understand Google Analytics.

Are you using the AdWords Editor program? I've seen some strange things in accounts lately - both those where I use that program and where I don't. It looks like Google has network and/or programming bugs. I have seen many strange messages lately that I've never seen before.

I'm not even sure what the AdWords Editor program is. Do you know who I can contact over there to understand what is going on. I have three campaigns running with 2-3 adgroups under each one. And then I have 4 different ad variations. Most of these ads have been deleted and I cannot understand why or what to do about it. We are getting practically no activity for our account. I think we've had a total of 11 clicks since Friday. That seems really low.

So I'm searching for my terms in google and my ads aren't showing up. I don't understand what is going on and why it's so complicated. No other ads show up at all so why am I not there? I really hate adwords

I've never had Google delete ads in my accounts. They may disapprove them and they don't run but they don't delete them for me. That is quite unusual for any account I have ever seen.

Since Duane (SportsGuy) has seen that and he used to run ads for a gambling related business before they "outlawed" them we have to assume that Google believes you're trying to advertise something they don't allow.

Check the list of Subjects Prohibited from Advertising at Google and see if any of those may apply to your ads. If they don't then it is likely that either Google's system or a Google Rep mistakenly thinks they do.

You can reach a Google AdWords Rep by calling Google at (866) 246-6453 and select the option that you have an existing account during business hours Monday through Friday. Their recording will prompt you to enter your Customer ID number (found in the top right corner of your account on most pages).

Advertisers' experience with Google's system varies dramatically depending on what you're trying to advertise - and sometimes that really means "trying" - and whether others have advertised it before or not.

No ads for a given search does not necessarily mean no advertisers want those positions - it can mean Google's system won't let anyone advertise. I consider that a flaw that Google would want to change; however, Google may not see it that way.

Since it is their system sometimes we just have to accept that it won't do what we wish it would and hope they'll eventually change it.

[ Message was edited by: flyingrose 08/22/2007 12:27 pm ]

I'm going to call them because our ads are about technical training.

Sometimes the issue is their "synonym" matching. This causes strange associations that a human would probably realize were false but a computer program doesn't recognize as false. Hopefully if you speak with them on the phone they can get your ads running for you.

If you find out anything new about them deleting ads instead of just disapproving them I hope you'll share that with us here.

Ok so I found out that Google tags an ad as deleted even if it's simply edited.

For example, my original ad said www.mysite.com and I switched it to www.Mysite.com. Since I modified the original, Google tagged it as deleted. This is where the confusion was.

To fix this, I went to Reports->Create Report->Ad Status->Advanced Setting->Filter Your Results->Ad Status->Active->Create Report

Oh, I should have thought of that. Yes, edit in Google AdWords is really delete and create a new ad. I didn't realize that was what you meant. I'll make a note to comment on that in a blog post.

Whenever possible do not edit the only approved ad in any ad group. When you do you'll lose the impressions the original ad was receiving until the new ad is manually approved and that can take several hours, days, and sometimes much longer. It can also increase your CPC.

The safest way is to add new ads and then delete the originals once the new ones start getting impressions.