Google Adwords –
join the independent wine merchant revolution and fight for our rights!
Yes that’s right, we’ve decided to take a stand and
initiate our very own revolution in support of the independent wine merchant!
Some time back (okay, well over a year ago if we’re being
totally honest!) we were contemplating the procurement some of Google’s premier
advertising space, commonly known as adwords.
For those of you not in the loop, the top search results on Google are
sponsored so every time you click on to it Google receives anywhere from a few
pence to a few pounds from the advertiser. Sounds simple enough eh?!
Exel Wines wanted to get this facility going for a
website promotion, so we set up our account, got some credit on it and designed
the ad. A couple of days later we were
baffled to hear that our ad had not been authorised because we had violated
Google’s terms!
Namely:
1.
We do not carry out age verification when
you land on our website – in short, we do not ask if you are over 18 every
single time you land on the site. Instead, we go for the commonly accepted
practice of doing this when you create an account and go to the checkout with
your wine – this way we do not need to collect cookies and all sorts of other
techy stuff. We like it this way, it’s simple and straightforward, and it
avoids people playing that favourite game of telling those age verification thingy’s
that they are 253 years old!
2.
We sell “Hard Liquor” – sorry, their
words not ours. This part we can
comprehend, everyone needs policies and, well, why should they promote a fine
Single Malt!
We didn’t even think to check that this was enforced upon
others at the time, but subsequently we happened upon an advert for a
supermarket promoting their whisky collection and this reminded us of Google’s
“Hard Liquor” policy. We got back in
touch with Google who confirmed that their policies had not changed and that we
must take our protest to their feedback centre, after which they would review
the ad’s and act accordingly.
So we did this – for every single ad we could readily
find. Most, but not all, were ads by big budget multiples which begs the
question as to why they could do what we couldn’t?
Several months down the road now and nothing seems to
have changed – Google’s policies are still the same yet we still see the same
ads from those selling “Hard Liquor” who do not ask you to confirm you were
born on the first of January in 1873 either!
So our plea is this, if you are as irked as we are by
this whole unfair treatment then please join our revolution and fight for the
rights of the independent wine merchant! When you come across any adwords for
wine and spirit companies that do not adhere to Google’s own policies please:
1.
Log onto Google’s feedback centre at https://support.google.com/adwords/contact/feedback?hl=en&origin=cluster&rd=2
2.
Enter the adword link (it explains how to do
this when you click the link saying “Your feedback is related to - Content of
the ad creative)
3.
Write a quick message something like this
a.
Selling hard liquor is exempt from being allowed
to use ad words and you must have age verification on your landing page. Imagine my annoyance when I saw this, one of
several violations. Your policy must apply the same rules to all?
Perhaps if everyone speaks up then Google might act.
Alternatively, simply ignore Google adverts and instead
visit us at www.exelwines.co.uk and
register your disgust through the purchase of some of our great wines and even
some “Hard Liquor” parading itself as fine Single Malt Whisky and Cognac!
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