Starting July 1 Google will be banning one of their most expensive keywords

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Last year we published an article on the “Most expensive keywords in AdWords for 2017″

The report was courtesy of WordStream. Number 2 on that list was Bail Bonds at $58.00 + per click.

Google decided to ban all ads for bail bonds services. This will go in effect starting July 1, From their blog:

Google bans ads for bail bonds services

At Google, we take seriously our responsibility to help create and sustain an advertising ecosystem that works for everyone. Our ads are meant to connect users with relevant businesses, products and services, and we have strict policies to keep misleading or harmful ads off of our platforms—in fact, we removed 3.2 billion bad ads last year alone. Today, we’re announcing a new policy to prohibit ads that promote bail bond services from our platforms. Studies show that for-profit bail bond providers make most of their revenue from communities of color and low income neighborhoods when they are at their most vulnerable, including through opaque financing offers that can keep people in debt for months or years.

 

We made this decision based on our commitment to protect our users from deceptive or harmful products, but the issue of bail bond reform has drawn support from a wide range of groups and organizations who have shared their work and perspectives with us, including the Essie Justice Group, Koch Industries, Color of Change and many civil and human rights organizations who have worked on the reform of our criminal justice system for many years.

Comments

  2. steve brady says

    Now bondsmen and bounty hunters can spend more time tracking fugitives instead of reconciling bills.

    If you’re planning on committing a crime, bury a copy of the Yellow Pages in the yard of trusted friend beforehand.

  3. Robert McLean says

    The slippery slope of Google censorship should be concerning. Fighting Google almost hopeless.

    Google is too big, and too powerful, with too much of a monopoly.

  4. J.R. says

    The value of BailBonds.com is now 10x higher today than yesterday. Another reason premium domain dot-Coms value will continue to increase as direct navigation becomes more important again….

    • Andrea Paladini says

      I wrote about this 2 weeks ago on Linkedin.
      J.R. is right, also IMHO this ban will substantially increase the value of category-killer Bail Bonds domains.
      This is actually a Great News for Bail Bonds category-killer domains because, due to Google ads ban, from July any Bail Bonds company which wants to be Relevant and Highly Visible online will have to purchase a category-killer Bail Bonds domain.
      And we are talking about companies which are spending more and more in digital advertising every year.

      As for the ban, what Google is doing is definitely not for ethical reasons, just the opposite.
      Corporate lobbies and bad politics are deeply involved, here you can read an interesting article about that: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2018/05/google-bans-bail-bond-ads.html
      “Google’s decision to use its code as law is an invitation to politicization. Moreover, Google is throwing away its best defense against politicization–the promise of neutrality and openness.”
      “Google’s decision to ban ads from bail bond providers is deeply disturbing and wrongheaded. Bail bonds are a legal service. Indeed, they are a necessary service for the legal system to function. It’s not surprising that bail bonds are used in communities of color and low income neighborhoods because it is in those neighborhoods that people most need to raise bail. We need not debate whether that is due to greater rates of crime or greater discrimination or both. Whatever the cause, preventing advertising doesn’t reduce the need to pay bail it simply makes it harder to find a lender. Restrictions on advertising in the bail industry, as elsewhere, are also likely to reduce competition and raise prices. Both of these effects mean that more people will find themselves in jail for longer.”

  5. domain guy says

    I was a bail bondsman. It is controlled by the insurance industry. Unless you are a cash bailbond man which was outlawed in Colorado There are insurance regulations and regulated by the individual state. Google has overstepped its boundary here. Individual bail bondsman are subject to a state and insurance audit.
    The value of a category killer domain circumvents google authority. The owner of bailbondsmen.com could now have a national directory and charge advertising fees. When I was a bailbondmen The state hung a bailbonds men board in the jail and you had to pay advertising fees to the state to have your name on the board. Goggle pulled the same shit with marijuana which is now legal in 30 states and will be legal nationally soon. I t is bringing in too much revenue. Canada legalized weed.
    With this ruling Google may have opened itself up for a class action lawsuit. Stating bailbondsmen prey on people of color.
    Where is the factual basis for this decision? We already have banks paying billion dollar fines for preying on people of color. An there is ags and lawsuits providing factual data and setting a precedent for paying billion dollar fines. Wells Fargo is another example. Google cannot single out anyone. This is using monopoly power.