Let me be quite clear about this – in the UK a lot of respectable people gamble, drink whiskey and play bingo & poker. Some parts of the world frown on these activities but in the UK they are normal activities.
Why does Google feel it can force US laws and stigmas on people in the UK? Why can’t we click ads for perfectly legal companies if we want to?
I can understand that no ads show up for prostitutes but escorts are technically legal and have no ads and yet london escorts are allowed to advertise.
I can also understand why drugs can’t be advertised (although they should let drugs charities and drug awareness sites advertise) but Google is happy to show ads for heroin and crack cocaine
Miracle cures are specifically not allowed and yet Google allows advertisers. Why?
Don’t promote miracle cures.
Advertising is not permitted for the promotion of miracle cures, such as “Cure cancer overnight!”
Firework adverts are also banned and yet we still see adverts for them.
Google also says “Don’t promote automated ad clicking” – can you guess what ads show up when you search for “automated ad clicking”?
Google says “Advertising is not permitted for anabolic steroids, muscle-enhancing stacks and cycles, bodybuilding steroid supplements” and yet they are quite happy to show ads for the term “bodybuilding steroid supplements” Why?
The whole thing is a mess of half hearted and badly enforced rules that are full of loopholes. If Google is doing this so it can’t be seen to profit from these industries then why not give ad revenue from ads to gambling and alcohol addiction charities?
Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Leeds based digital & SEO agency Branded3. Patrick also runs Blogstorm.You can get our blog posts delivered for free by email every day - simply add your email address to the box below or alternatively grab the RSS feed.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I couldn’t agree with you more. They could unlock millions of pounds of revenue a month by allowing gambling ads. Instead they muck around with trademarks which just pisses everyone off but probably doesn’t earn them that much extra.
If you try to buy AdWords for medical terms (pills etc) Google halts your campaign set up until you fill out a form.
Surely they could use similar technology to earmark certain keywords so that they go to someone at Google for manual approval. That’s so stupid if that’s true that charities can’t bid on their related keywords.
Good call Patrick. This has been driving me mad for years, even more so now we see so many gambling-related ads on TV.
Google is once again applying American law and morality on the rest of the world and escort services are now banned from advertising even in countries where they are legal.
This is from the Google Policy Content Page: “Advertising is not permitted for sites promoting escort services or related content.”
However Google is applying policy very selectively and many escort Ads are still being displayed while others have been disapproved. EG: “escorts london high class” has several escort Ads running….maybe they were the highest bidders!
I totally agree with you I find that Google are so contradictory that run some ads and ban others!
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