Have We Arrived?

Organic Google Search Finds Moderntribe.com. Sort of.

Getting ones new website to show up under a general word search is very difficult. So I was thrilled today when I googled for Hanukkah.

Search for "Hanukkah" or "Menorah" on google today and find a picture of me and my daughter -- above "the fold" no less. The irony of it is that although I'm quoted in the accompanying article...

Jennie Rivlin Roberts noticed many young Jews acquiring multiple menorahs on their own, to suit their more modern tastes, and started an online company, ModernTribe.com, selling "hip Judaica" to serve them.

She says the nadir of menorah design was in the 1980s, when brassy models were popular.

"I have a really ugly brass menorah from my family," she said. "I take it out every year and light it, but it's not at all my aesthetic taste."

..the picture is of me and my daughter with my "ugly menorah"!

Google Post II: What's Important to Jew?

Interesting. We are discussing Google policies and then I get an email from my Aunt to sign a petition to get Jew Watch removed from the top of Google's organic search results. That Jew Watch comes up first is true. You can google it now and see. The petition is also real and reports over 300,000 people have "signed" it. But, truly, there is no way Google is going to alter their organic search results. As we are learning, Google is hyper-governing (if inconsistent) with their paid advertising and completely laissez faire with their organic search. And, at least the laissez faire part, makes sense. The organic search is like the public's "vote" for important and relevant information for the keyword. Unfortunately some quack has created a monolithic site and apparently lots of other quacks link to it. Jew Watch is important and relevant to quacks searching for quackery on Jews.

How about you, Jew? Got a website? LINK TO what is important to you about Jews NOW:

I choose Wikipedia's article on Jews.

NLTD To Be Reviewed by Google: "Gambling" Disallowed on Ad Words

No Limit Texas Dreidel may be kicked off Google Ad Words. I just had a "chat" with the Ad specialist and it doesn't look good. We'd set up Google Ads because dreidel is so commonly misspelled: dreidel, driedel, driedle, draydel, etc. etc.. We had every combination of dreidel with poker, and no limit, and hold'em, and holdem so people googling for us could find us. I looked up our account today and all our keywords had been disapproved. During the chat with the specialist she speculated that NLTD may be disallowed because it fits their definition of gambling. My shocked response was, "it's chocolate: you spin the top and win chocolate."

There is chance and there is wager: but so is true with Mah Jong, Monopoly, and the traditional dreidel game. What differentiates these games along with NLTD, is that the wager isn't something of real value: points, play money, and chocolate.

What do you think? I'd really like to hear some opinions on this.

Here is Google's policy for gambling:

And here is our chat transcript:
Tai: Hello, thanks for your patience, Jennie. I'm happy to help you with your Google AdWords account.
Jennie: Great!
Jennie: I have a few campaigns
Tai: Would you mind waiting a moment while I pull up your account?
Jennie: I see two of them have disapproved keywords
Jennie: sure.
Tai: Ok, which are these?
Jennie: lets look at ModernTribe first
Jennie: [the name of the campaign]
Jennie: all these keywords are disapproved
Jennie: why?
Tai: I believe it's because your ad text references gambling, which is a prohibited product per our product policy, so all keywords associated with it will be disapproved as well.
Jennie: ok. This is a problem for me. I mention poker because our game, which is played with chocolate coins for Hanukkah is a riff on poker. I can't use the word poker?
Tai: I would suggest not including words about gambling in your ad if you want your ad to run. You can read our policy at:
Tai: https://adwords.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=47220
Jennie: so any type of poker is considered gambling?
Tai: Yes.
Jennie: so how do I go about getting my keywords re-approved, now that I removed "poker" from my ad?
Tai: I would suggest also removing other gambling-related terms like 'Texas Hold'em' from your ads, Jennie. Let me check for a moment on the best way for your keywords to be re-reviewed.
Jennie: thanks. Is there any way to get this over-rid, considering my game is No Limit Texas Dreidel which is a dreidel game, played with chocolate but is a spoof on Texas Hold'em poker?
Tai: Thanks for holding, Jennie. I found that your keywords will be re-reviewed with any ad text changes, so there's nothing additional you need to do.
Jennie: let's talk about The other campaign
Jennie: [Campaign Name]
Jennie: All these words are disapproved. But the ad isn't disapproved
Tai: I am first researching the answer to your other question, Jennie, then I'll be happy to take a look at that next campaign.
Tai: Jennie, I don't believe that even spoofs on gambling would be allowed by our product policy. However, if you'd like me to double check with our policy team, I'd be happy to do that then get back to you in the next few days with their answer.
Jennie: OK. Thank you. Can we discuss the other campaign.
Jennie: I now understand why maybe poker keywords would be disapproved. But why all keywords. When the ad isn't disapproved?
Tai: Sure, let me look it up.
Tai: This is the same situation; that your words are disapproved per our product policy.
Jennie: but all the words?
Jennie: how do I fix this?
Jennie: I need to remove "poker" I understand
Tai: I'd suggest deleting all gambling-related keywords.
Tai: Right.
Tai: Then you can modify your ad text to prompt them to be re-reviewed.
Jennie: OK. Is the review by robot or by a human?
Tai: By a human.
Jennie: OK. So if "No Limit" is the name of my game, can I keep "no Limit" as the search words?
Tai: Jennie, I am going to check on whether your product is allowable at all per our product policy. You might want to hold off making changes until I get back to you about this.
Jennie: It's a Hanukkah game, played with chocolate
Jennie: you've got to be kidding me
Jennie: do you know what the dreidel game is?
Tai: Again, I would suggest you read over our product policy page.
Tai: This clearly lists gambling games played even for fun to be prohibited.
Tai: However, I will be happy to run your particular situation by our policy team and get back to you about it.
Jennie: but, every "game of chance" is a gambling game. Even traditional dreidel
Jennie: You spin the top and win chocolate
Tai: Jennie, I can see that you are frustrated, but this is not a productive conversation.
Tai: As I said, I will check with our policy team about this, and let you know the result.
Jennie: I'm not frustrated
Tai: Is jennienina@gmail.com the best email address for me to use/
Tai: ?
Jennie: Jennie@ModernTribe.com is better
Tai: Ok, I will get back to you, most likely by next Monday.
Jennie: OK.
Jennie: Thank you!