[jonprobably]

If, on a whim, google blocks your name or business, what do you do? I found out by accident, and I think they have too much control.

Earlier this year, Google suspended my ad words account. I don't know why but think it was their mistake. The sites and ads were ethical and well within their terms. Still, I’ve sent emails and letters without progress.

It's frustrating not having an avenue to resolve the issue. Even more so because I'm in tech and though I understood these things. More so because I worked at google for a long time.

In the suspension dialog they warn all accounts under my name or the domain names linked to the ad words account will be blocked.

I don't depend on ad words. If I did, I would be completely out of luck. I'm not aware of an alternative ads network or search engine.

[Hamuko]

>How do you survive on the web if google, on a whim, blocks your name, or business?

What, as an individual?

[sova]

OP likely means "as a company reliant on web discovery for clients"

[na85]

>Google’s a monster. If they don’t want you on the net, there’s nothing you can do.

That's hyperbole. I'm on the net and Google can't stop me by any white-hat means. I have a website hosted on non-Google infrastructure on a domain name registered with a non-Google registrar, and I don't rely on advertising to pay the bills.

Have you considered a more ethical revenue stream that doesn't involve advertising and surveillance? There is life after AdWords.

[speeder]

I own a shop that sells industrial parts, many clients of ours praised us for giving critical help, being able to find parts they needed urgently to keep their also critical factory working.

thing is, people find out we exist solely because Google search, when something goes wrong on the factory, they google for the solution, and finds us... whenever Google changes SEO in a bad direction, or ban our ads by mistake (happened more than once) our revenue tanks hard.

To be honest it feels terrible, I have no idea how to fix this situation.

Note: just so you understand how ethical and important the business are, some of the products our clients make and needed our emergency help: cheap bread, medicine, medical equipment, beverages, work vehicles, etc...

One of our most lucrative sales that came from a google search: a truck factory was having countless accidents because a clamping tool kept failing and injuring the workers, they were desperate for another supplier that knew how to fix that issue, instead of just selling replacements we actually sent someone to the factory and figured out a way to do a certain step during production differently, in a safer way.

[julienb_sea]

Google is a double edged sword. Their search engine is good enough most people, in enterprise or otherwise, will rely on it when they need answers. This results in a centralized system where it is super high value for you to work with and ensure you are taking full advantage of.

That does leave you at the whims of said centralized system. There is no centralized system that can avoid this. If such a centralized system did not exist and people searched on a wide landscape of competing smaller search networks, it would be dramatically more difficult for you to ensure you were well positioned to be found on all those smaller networks.

[forgotmypw17]

Here is something you can do:

Get a domain name you can hold on to.

Put a big search box on it which works well.

Put that address big front and center on all your literature, equipment, parts, boxes, etc.

Write, "for help, please visit: or call:"

Also, put your searchable text articles on the big social networks. Paste the entire text into your subreddit, facebook, instagram. Put your site URL in the profile.

It's a sad state of things, and will probably get better soon with meta-search or some other kind of new search paradigm.

[YetAnotherNick]

There are 100s of millions of domain. How do I know which domain to open if I can't find it with some search engine or with advertisement. I don't think this is limited to Google. Every search engine/social network have automated process for blacklisting sites, and there is no human to contact if they blocks your domain. I am yet to see large search engine/scale social network which provides reason for low views to the owners/posters.

[IndexPointer]

>Whenever Google changes SEO in a bad direction What do you mean by Google changing SEO?

[jonprobably]

If you are banned from AdWords, it affects your ranking in search.

[tk75x]

>ethical revenue stream You can also be on the net and not have a revenue stream.

[jonprobably]

The comment implies ads are unethical. I disagree.