okay, Adcenter is pissing me off.
- Thread starter bizkiller
- Start date
I was going through almost the exact same bullshit today. I've been porting some old YSM campaigns to Adcenter and it is so fucking painful.
Half the time the interface doesn't work and tells me there's an error and I need to contact their support. Then when something does actually work (and all my ads/keywords/landing pages) get approved I still get no impressions.
Half the time the interface doesn't work and tells me there's an error and I need to contact their support. Then when something does actually work (and all my ads/keywords/landing pages) get approved I still get no impressions.
adCenter has outsourced their support. Believe it's PRC LLC in Tampa, FL based on caller id. I've been through the run around on one of my accounts that kept getting flagged for editorial issues.
Nothing was getting approved. Even campaigns that were getting decent traffic on YSM got flagged when migrated to MSN.
The adCenter rep was very persistent in trying to help, but at the end of the day, they are really clueless about how the system works. She was coming up with things like don't put a price in the ad text and URLs not-matching because I was using a tracking URL. The ones pulling the strings are the editorial team that actually work directly for MS and they aren't very accessible - even to their own reps.
I pretty much knew from the get-go that my account was perma-fucked, but I played along to see what the rep could dig up. She managed to get the editorial disapprovals removed, but I still could not get any impressions. Fortunately, I had an old inactive account that I was able to revive and get stuff running on.
I think what is happening is that some accounts are flagged, but the MS Illuminati refuse to admit this to anyone including their outsourced reps.
Nothing was getting approved. Even campaigns that were getting decent traffic on YSM got flagged when migrated to MSN.
The adCenter rep was very persistent in trying to help, but at the end of the day, they are really clueless about how the system works. She was coming up with things like don't put a price in the ad text and URLs not-matching because I was using a tracking URL. The ones pulling the strings are the editorial team that actually work directly for MS and they aren't very accessible - even to their own reps.
I pretty much knew from the get-go that my account was perma-fucked, but I played along to see what the rep could dig up. She managed to get the editorial disapprovals removed, but I still could not get any impressions. Fortunately, I had an old inactive account that I was able to revive and get stuff running on.
I think what is happening is that some accounts are flagged, but the MS Illuminati refuse to admit this to anyone including their outsourced reps.
The gap between the customer service and editorial teams is ridiculous. For example CS won't even know if an account is flagged low quality without submitting a trouble ticket and 10 day turnaround. Dunno who planned their system but its pretty fucked up.
Adcenter can bring in some decent $ in smaller volumes; but it really is an ongoing battle. A typical couple of weeks is pretty good money and traffic for a few days; then hey where did most of the traffic go... then bang, they stop your ads running for reasons you'll never understand. Change ads / urls and repeat.
Adcenter can bring in some decent $ in smaller volumes; but it really is an ongoing battle. A typical couple of weeks is pretty good money and traffic for a few days; then hey where did most of the traffic go... then bang, they stop your ads running for reasons you'll never understand. Change ads / urls and repeat.
Someone already told here that adcenter ads doesn't rely on CTR, how true is that ?
Based on Search Advertising Pricing it's true .... (
Based on Search Advertising Pricing it's true .... (
Hmm, didn't know they changed to PRC. I believe their reps back when they started AdCenter were based out of an outsourced company located up in WA, right near the actual Microsoft headquarters. I've met people who used to work for PRC in their Miami call center... No matter how good the training, they're far removed from actually making things happen, and far removed from any sort of general technical knowledge.
Even for large accounts, the Yahoo reps (who took over for MSN reps when the transition happened) have less insight into issues than the old direct MSN account reps, and Yahoo reps actually getting through to MSFT to fix things isn't exactly an efficient process yet.
The high bid prices are most likely from agencies trying to hit annual budgets for their clients. A lot of companies set a campaign budget and the agency is expected to spend all of it, if they fall short it's a negative thing. I'll find that out really soon here once jan. 2011 is ending and if my spend is still higher than normal.
As far as the approvals, it must be an account flag because I can get tracking redirects, shortened links, meta refreshes through.
As far as the approvals, it must be an account flag because I can get tracking redirects, shortened links, meta refreshes through.
I'm having the same issue. Here's the kicker though. My website is not an affiliate offer. Sure it contains links to affiliate offers, Adsense ads, etc. but it's by no means a 'one page wonder' bridge page. It has a shitload of unique content, SEO, the whole nine yards.
Adding to my frustration, I'm spending $1,000 - $1,500 a day on Google with EVERYTHING the same.
After the Holiday I'm going to resubmit using another domain with even more unique, high quality content. All adCenter tells us on the phone is to 'up our bids.' We've done this, still nothing.
WHAT THE FUCK MICROSOFT?!?!? :angryfire:
Adding to my frustration, I'm spending $1,000 - $1,500 a day on Google with EVERYTHING the same.
After the Holiday I'm going to resubmit using another domain with even more unique, high quality content. All adCenter tells us on the phone is to 'up our bids.' We've done this, still nothing.
WHAT THE FUCK MICROSOFT?!?!? :angryfire:
Okay so here's the update:
I was contacted 6 days ago that my campaign was approved by the approval team but what actually happened was that my 100 impressions per day went down to ZERO - that's after their intervention. So in this absurdity they actually managed to make it worse (if going from 100 impressions to 0 can be called worse)...
I emailed them today that I'm not getting any impressions and they agreed it's weird and they'll contact development team.
I wonder how many other "teams" will need to intervene to see what's the issue.
Their platform and feeble attempts at answering support tickets is so sub-standard it's laughable. What pisses me off the most is how often campaign stats stay zeroed out for the whole day and only update your daily CPC's, clicks, impressions etc at like 11pm at night.
What's less than ironic is that all of the shortcomings of their platform (complained about by advertisers for years now) are conveniently feeding their pockets hard at the advertisers expense.
What's less than ironic is that all of the shortcomings of their platform (complained about by advertisers for years now) are conveniently feeding their pockets hard at the advertisers expense.
...few months ago their rep told me that their algo is NOT based on CTR. I repeat, NOT based only on CTR.
Quality for them is... on-page keyword density. That's right. I couldn't believe what I heard so I asked again - and got the same answer.
Ruck also HIGHLY recommended mad keyword stuffing specifically for Adcenter, and by reading most posts it seems they havent' changed their QS algo much.
Hope this helps - I personally don't do anything with Bing now, so can't say. Test - and you shall succeed. (I mean, good luck bros!)
Quality for them is... on-page keyword density. That's right. I couldn't believe what I heard so I asked again - and got the same answer.
Ruck also HIGHLY recommended mad keyword stuffing specifically for Adcenter, and by reading most posts it seems they havent' changed their QS algo much.
Hope this helps - I personally don't do anything with Bing now, so can't say. Test - and you shall succeed. (I mean, good luck bros!)
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I think keyword density issues may have changed. Before 2010 it was definitely a huge issue; to the point that I would stuff landers with invisible keywords (throwaway domains where I couldn't give a shit about google). This would dictate whether related keywords would be accepted in my campaigns. However this changed a few months ago, and I no longer see as strong a co-relation between landing page keywords and keyword acceptance in ad groups.
However I'm not sure about keyword density and 'quality' insofar as may affect impressions. Might have to do some testing.
However I'm not sure about keyword density and 'quality' insofar as may affect impressions. Might have to do some testing.
