Google Ads for Convertri Users: Best Practices and Compliance

Introduction

Marketing your own offers or affiliate products through Google Ads can be a fun and profitable endeavor – but it’s crucial to get it right.

If you’re currently experiencing issues with your Google Ads, or if your account has been penalized, it’s important to review your offer and messaging. Google changes its policies fairly regularly, and news of important updates doesn’t always reach everyone.

It’s vital that you understand the platform's policies, best practices, and potential pitfalls to maximize your success without risking account suspension or flagged offers. Here’s what you need to know starting out:

Google is cracking down on spam. This includes what it considers as “spammy” offers and misleading or deceptive practices. It’s not clear whether Google decides this for itself, or bases what it considers spam on reports.
Your Convertri pages work fine. If there was a platform error causing issues with Google Ads, you would not be seeing any Convertri pages – ours or other users’ – in Google search engine results. We use Google Ads to promote Convertri, and couldn’t make sales if there was something wrong on our end.
You need to promote trustworthy offers in transparent ways. Always make sure that the product or service you’re promoting makes no misleading or exaggerated claims, that your sales copy is truthful, and that you don’t employ “bait and switch” tactics such as taking users to another website to complete their purchase.

We appreciate the fallout from the latest Google Ads update has caused frustration for many of our users. That’s why we’ve put together this guide which we hope will help you navigate the world of online advertising so you can keep using Convertri and Google Ads effectively.

Understanding Google Ads Policies

First of all, let’s start with the basics. Google Ads has strict policies governing what you can and cannot promote, from fairly obvious prohibited content such as weapons to tricky territory such as crypto and weight loss. Violating these policies can result in account suspension or termination.

Here are key points to keep in mind:

1. Prohibited Content

Illegal products or services: Avoid promoting anything that is illegal or encourages illegal activities.
Dangerous products or services: This includes weapons, explosives, tobacco, recreational drugs, etc.
Inappropriate content: Google prohibits ads promoting adult content, hate speech, violence, etc.

2. Misleading Claims

False promises: Ads must not make false promises or guarantees, such as "get rich quick" schemes or unrealistic weight loss claims.
Misleading information: Ensure that your ads provide accurate information about the product or service being promoted.

3. Restricted Content

Financial products and services: Certain financial products like payday loans, bail bonds, and cryptocurrencies have specific restrictions.
Healthcare-related products and services: Ads promoting pharmaceuticals, supplements, and medical procedures are subject to strict regulations.

4. Landing Page Quality

Ensure that your landing pages provide valuable and relevant content to users.
Avoid using deceptive tactics such as cloaking or misleading redirects.

Choosing Products and Affiliate Offers

When selecting affiliate offers to promote on Google Ads, consider the following factors:

1. Relevance

Choose offers that are relevant to your target audience and align with the content of your ads and landing pages. Avoid “bait and switch” tactics, and keep your marketing messaging consistent throughout to reassure users.

2. Legitimacy

Only promote offers from reputable affiliate programs and networks. Minimize the risk of promoting fraudulent or low-quality products by trying the products or services yourself first, if possible.

3. Compliance

Verify that the offers comply with Google Ads policies to avoid getting flagged or suspended. Make sure you’re using the most up to date information.

Do’s and Don’ts

Do’s	Don’ts
DO ensure your customers can complete their purchase safely on the same URL.	DON’T use cloaking or other deceptive practices to show different content to Google's crawlers than to users.
DO make sure your offers give you useful affiliate content along with full permission to use it to promote their products.	DON’T use trademarked terms in your ad copy or keywords unless you have explicit permission to do so.
DO use verifiable and realistic claims provided by your vendor (even better if you’ve tested the product yourself).	DON’T use unverifiable or exaggerated claims in your ads, such as "best product ever" or "lose ALL your excess weight".
DO ensure that your ads, landing pages, and website content provide valuable and relevant information to users.	DON’T use bridge pages that exist solely to direct users to another site without providing value.
DO regularly review Google Ads policies to ensure that your campaigns comply with the latest guidelines and regulations.	DON’T fall into the trap of thinking what worked in 2020 will work now – regulations and policies are regularly updated.

Terms and Useful Links from Google

If you want to read more about Google’s specific policies, here’s a list of our sources:

Destination requirements - about the importance of making sure the URL people click on is their final destination point.

Circumventing systems - actions aimed at tricking or bypassing Google's rules or automated systems to gain unfair advantages or manipulate ad performance.

Compromised sites - injecting scripts or code that transmits user data without consent, e.g. a credit card skimmer, malware, or some pop-up ads that cannot be easily closed, or redirecting users to other websites.

Unfair advantage - this includes promoting the same or similar content from multiple accounts on the same or similar queries, trying to show more than one ad at a time for your business, app, or site.

Everything else - check the Google Ads policies site for more information.

Conclusion

Google Ads can be a powerful platform for affiliates and other marketers when used correctly. As long as you understand and adhere to Google's policies, select the right affiliate offers, and implement best practices in your campaigns, you can drive targeted traffic to your offers and maximize your earnings while maintaining a compliant and reputable presence on the platform.

When you use Convertri to promote your offers, you should always prioritize providing value to your audience and delivering on your promises to build trust and long-term success in affiliate marketing through Google Ads. Best of luck!