Comments on: When My Google AdWords Ad Went POOF!

By: sem4u

sem4u — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:59:45 +0000

I have loads of display URLs that don’t actually exist and are just shorterned versions of the actual long URL

e.g. example.com/satnav

Never had a problem with them. I once saw someone using a phone number after the / in the display URL and this was OK with Google.

By: Judith 'deCabbit' Lewis

Judith 'deCabbit' Lewis — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 09:44:31 +0000

I know – the error I got in my account was that it was disapproved because the display URL violated the guidelines. I didn’t screenshot it though.

I just tried to make it break again by switching it back and… it didn’t trip the same filter. Could be because I used the AdWords editor.

I’ll keep testing!

By: Lisa Ditlefsen

Lisa Ditlefsen — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 07:28:36 +0000

that is so odd! I have been using non excistent URLs for my display URL for donkeys years. And my lovely Google AdWords Optimised rep Mark always does as well (hmm although I love the Irish accent so much I dont actually listen to what he is saying..) But I see no reason why they should suddenly should have changed the? I would call your rep!

By: Julie Joyce

Julie Joyce — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 23:48:03 +0000

The issue is the DISPLAY url, correct? So technically it should not matter whether it 404s or not. If it’s only for display, I can’t see why’d they disapprove it. Have you contacted them about it?

By: g1smd

g1smd — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 22:25:14 +0000

I don’t do PPC, but my programmatic solution would have simply been a line in the .htaccess file that sends a 301 redirect from the short URL to the long URL.

That doesn’t break any web standards and does exactly what it says on the tin. I would have assumed that Google would have suppressed ads that lead to 404 pages.

My .02 :shrug:

By: Jane

Jane — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:48:05 +0000

404ing URLs are serving as display URLs as far as I can tell. ProposalPortal.com are bidding on “seo tools.” Their display URL is http://www.proposalportal.com/PPC, which 404s. KCHut.com is bidding on “seo guide” and their display ULR, http://www.kchut.com/seobook goes nowhere, either.

What reasons did you get for the rejection? Just that it 404ed?

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 18:46:27 +0000

I think this is something Google should fix before they approve the URL, otherwise it just wastes time and causes confusion like this.

By: Judith 'deCabbit' Lewis

Judith 'deCabbit' Lewis — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 17:07:46 +0000

And curiously why did my Google AdWords person use that URL structure if it was going to be rejected…?

By: Julie Joyce

Julie Joyce — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 16:19:10 +0000

I’ve only done this with a valid page that contains a redirect. It’s an interesting problem though…

Comments on: When My Google AdWords Ad Went *POOF*!

By: sem4u

By: Judith 'deCabbit' Lewis

By: Lisa Ditlefsen

By: Julie Joyce

By: g1smd

By: Jane

By: Stephanie

By: Judith 'deCabbit' Lewis

By: Julie Joyce

Comments on: When My Google AdWords Ad Went POOF!