Adwords trouble

[baff]

Hey folks, has anyone been able to advertise with Adwords in the UK? They seem to ask for certification and when you go to do this you are required to provide a “Letter explaining link between AdWords advertiser & gambling licensee”. I tried to get some answers from them but they were less than helpful! I see other affiliates are advertising so I am not sure how they have managed it

[sakisarv]

Advertising is not permitted in google adwords for the gambling industry, only companies that have official - state certification

[baff]

I'm not quite sure how other affiliates are managing to advertise on Google UK then as getting a gambling license here costs a crazy amount of money

[eenzoo]

Use the search function here. You´ll find some useful info!

[Alex RB]

That advertising with Google is not permitted is not true. For some countries for sure, it's not allowed, but in UK it is not a problem.
Just apply for an aggregator license.

I cannot post links yet but if you add "support" in front of this it should work .google.com/adwords/troubleshooter/2893932?hl=en#ts=2893940

[fanjuego]

Hey folks, has anyone been able to advertise with Adwords in the UK? They seem to ask for certification and when you go to do this you are required to provide a “Letter explaining link between AdWords advertiser & gambling licensee”. I tried to get some answers from them but they were less than helpful! I see other affiliates are advertising so I am not sure how they have managed it

You will need a UK gambling license in order to get approved, for affiliates it is usually not worth the hassle, it is quite expensive and complicated due to compliance reasons.

[Alex RB]

You will need a UK gambling license in order to get approved, for affiliates it is usually not worth the hassle, it is quite expensive and complicated due to compliance reasons.

This is simply not true. As for the "letter explaining link between AdWords advertiser & gambling licensee" this is when you pick the operator option, which you are not (99% of the time). Pick aggregator instead.

[Pking]

How do you deal with the Adwords employees who aren't aware of the rules re: aggregators?

I gave up on trying to get ads approved as it was the same thing every single time - I would upload an ad, I would get a call from somebody who barely spoke English informing me that I would need to send them my "license". After 10 emails back and forth, I would finally get my ad approved and then the process would repeat itself when I tried to upload another.

Is there a way to get a site whitelisted? Is there a good contact at Adwords? People don't seem to know the rules there.

[fanjuego]

This is simply not true. As for the "letter explaining link between AdWords advertiser & gambling licensee" this is when you pick the operator option, which you are not (99% of the time). Pick aggregator instead.

Aha good to know, I misread that sentence before.
But as confirmed by "Pking" the adwords support staff themselves barely knows this. Did you have any success with it? If so, how long was the process? And what exactly did you have to state in order to explain the link between "AdWords advertiser & gambling licensee" when you are an affiliate?

[Alex RB]

Aha good to know, I misread that sentence before.
But as confirmed by "Pking" the adwords support staff themselves barely knows this. Did you have any success with it? If so, how long was the process? And what exactly did you have to state in order to explain the link between "AdWords advertiser & gambling licensee" when you are an affiliate?

To try too be clear. Getting the gambling license is not the hard part as an affiliate. In UK all you have to do is to apply for a single country license as an aggregator and skip the "letter explaining... ". Please note that themself state that "in some cases". Never ever have I been requested to state this. Ofc you need to have everything in order on your page with links to the gambling authority, +18 badge and so on.

What your problem WILL be is the bridge page policy, copyright policy, low value content policy, no tips policy or whatever other annoying policy they might come up with. This is where it can become really problematic, and as stated before, if you are unlucky and run into 3rd level support you are in for a "joy-ride". If you have the option to chat with Google support through your AdWords account, your chances or reaching someone somewhat more skilled increases (no promises however).

And trying to state that Google themself is THE biggest bridge page in the world, who's sole purpose is to direct users off their page (this is the definition they themself use for bridge page), won't help your case

As said, the gambling policy is the easy part. and I think I have given all the advice I can there, it's just about doing it. The other part however, sorry, cant help much there, that one is down to chance as far as I experienced it :/

[PokerXtra]

I have applied using the link given by Alex RB (thanks), had first phone call saying it will be forwarded to the department.
Then got second call today to say I was missing the Gamble Aware link, which I already had at top of my site, so I told her it was already present on site, so she checked and told me she will get approved within a few hours... Still not approved yet, but hopefully it will be
But from what i can tell you then need to put the disapproved adverts into review to get them approved.
I will keep you all posted
BTW am in the UK and am targeting adverts on Adwords to the UK.

Also I had previously contacted the UK Gambling Commission to get in writing that I do not require any license for my site, so I have that to show Google if I have to.

Hopefully will get approved and get some adverts running.... But yes I can see the bridge issue coming up if that is in Google policy... But maybe there are ways around it like having a landing page that is focused on collecting leads/newsletters/subscriptions/reviews etc... and having bonuses below... Not that it would convert like having the top 10 casinos in a nice list... but hey there are some ways to not be a bridge site...

[PokerXtra]

Thanks to this thread, I have now got a gaming cert from Adwords, and have ads running....
Now time to build a better landing page... Am getting an average of about 32p per click so am quite happy (I don't want to pay much more than that until earnings back up)
Also need to check for any extra negative keywords, have added all the main brands that are on my site, but sure there should be more, so will have to check T&C for each operator.

[DaveL]

Also need to check for any extra negative keywords, have added all the main brands that are on my site, but sure there should be more, so will have to check T&C for each operator.

Just so you know, I don't think there's a single one that will let you bid to show ads on their brand terms, as an affiliate.

[PokerXtra]

Just so you know, I don't think there's a single one that will let you bid to show ads on their brand terms, as an affiliate.

You don't need brand names, and always best practice to use brands as a negative keyword (very important).

Long time ago I lost my entire player base with PKR, due to not using negative keywords on their brand. And none of this was in their T&C so I disputed it and managed to get back with them after about 3-6 months of dispute. But they still stole my player base
It sucked but was a lesson learnt.
Most annoying part was 90% of my signups were natural, and I ran the PPC campaign on another tracker so they could have been nice and just wiped them off. But hey thats how it went, hope others can learn from my mistakes.

Some affiliate networks will allow brand keyword bidding, but not many. You can ask each network/brand to be sure.

Also you could hit brands that you are not affiliated with, then it would not be an issue.

[Toni]

Thanks to this thread, I have now got a gaming cert from Adwords, and have ads running....
Now time to build a better landing page... Am getting an average of about 32p per click so am quite happy (I don't want to pay much more than that until earnings back up)

Does the advertising work out for you ? I mean the google bids are very high, up to like 70$ per click for good keywords. I thought it wouldn't work our for affiliates....

[Triple7]

I had a hard time to go through the process in Belgium, but I finally made it.

You can apply as an affiliate for the certificate. In Belgium it was important that you have a Belgian company registration number (no idea if that's in line with European line), just legal links on your website and the 21+/play responsible thing...

And after that, cross your fingers, because usually they see affiliate sites as low quality sites.

[Former Member 14]

because usually they see affiliate sites as low quality sites.

The G support forums are anti gambling affiliates. Had some Level5 moron, rip me a new one a while back. Funny thing was, his site was keyword stuffed to max, then some. I don't think he appreciated me pointing that out

[getmyadsup]

Hey folks, has anyone been able to advertise with Adwords in the UK? They seem to ask for certification and when you go to do this you are required to provide a “Letter explaining link between AdWords advertiser & gambling licensee”. I tried to get some answers from them but they were less than helpful! I see other affiliates are advertising so I am not sure how they have managed it

It is because there is a way to advertise those without them noticing it. Especially with keywords and how you get around it. I have assist many affiliate marketing company and they don't have a license because it is too expensive just to do affiliate.