In most cases, Yandex.Direct's moderation easily passes "white" goods and services without any questions. Even if ads are rejected, it is often enough to simply address minor issues and resubmit the ads for reconsideration.
However, there are exceptions where even legal goods are consistently not approved, while "gray" or prohibited offers somehow manage to push through, yielding substantial profits for arbitrageurs.
The age-old question is: How to pass moderation in Yandex.Direct if you are not getting approved? Let's consider the reasons for ad rejections and alternative approaches for both "white" and less compliant themes.
However, there are exceptions where even legal goods are consistently not approved, while "gray" or prohibited offers somehow manage to push through, yielding substantial profits for arbitrageurs.
The age-old question is: How to pass moderation in Yandex.Direct if you are not getting approved? Let's consider the reasons for ad rejections and alternative approaches for both "white" and less compliant themes.
The algorithm for passing moderation in Yandex is as follows:
Ads go through a two-stage moderation process: automated (using a robot) and manual. The robot is necessary to alleviate the workload of human moderators. It checks for prohibited content, adherence to language rules, and other criteria. If an ad meets all the requirements during the automated stage, it moves on to be reviewed by a Yandex employee. The employee determines whether the campaign should be approved for running.
It's worth mentioning that moderators can reject ads without providing reasons. However, if the rejection was due to the robot's decision rather than a human moderator's, there are chances for the ad to be approved.
Initially, try making minimal changes, such as replacing an exclamation mark with a period. Then resubmit the ad. Additionally, moderation is less strict during nighttime, so consider attempting the process around midnight to increase your chances of passing.
If none of these measures work, contact Yandex support via phone (avoid writing emails as responses tend to have significant delays) and inquire about the issue. Moderators often provide advice on what needs to be corrected or simply approve the ads.
If the support team adamantly refuses to approve the ads even after resubmission and contacting them, then it may not be possible to salvage the campaign, account, or even the domain. You might be blacklisted, so creating a new account and domain, modifying the ad texts, and reflecting on potential reasons for rejection are necessary steps to take.
It's worth mentioning that moderators can reject ads without providing reasons. However, if the rejection was due to the robot's decision rather than a human moderator's, there are chances for the ad to be approved.
Initially, try making minimal changes, such as replacing an exclamation mark with a period. Then resubmit the ad. Additionally, moderation is less strict during nighttime, so consider attempting the process around midnight to increase your chances of passing.
If none of these measures work, contact Yandex support via phone (avoid writing emails as responses tend to have significant delays) and inquire about the issue. Moderators often provide advice on what needs to be corrected or simply approve the ads.
If the support team adamantly refuses to approve the ads even after resubmission and contacting them, then it may not be possible to salvage the campaign, account, or even the domain. You might be blacklisted, so creating a new account and domain, modifying the ad texts, and reflecting on potential reasons for rejection are necessary steps to take.
Advice:
- Review your landing page: Check if there is any iframe code or redirects present. If so, remove them.
- Check for prohibited words: Examine both the advertised page and the ad texts for mentions of prohibited words such as alcohol, pornography, weapons, goji berries, monastery tea, medication, etc. Replace them with appropriate alternatives. Keep in mind that if you directly advertise "gray" or "black" themes, it's nearly impossible to pass moderation. However, there are workarounds that persistent arbitrageurs employ. We'll discuss them shortly.
How long should I wait for the ads to be reviewed?
In Yandex Help, it is stated that moderation is typically completed within 2 hours. However, in reality, the process can take longer. The duration depends on several factors:
- Number of ads in the campaign: If there are more than a hundred ads, the review process may take longer.
- Account type: Whether the account is registered as an agency or an individual can affect the speed of moderation. Moderation tends to be faster for agency accounts.
- Overall workload of the moderators: The general workload of the moderation team can impact the time it takes for ads to be reviewed.
Cases of campaign rejection and ways to resolve the issue:
Superlative degree in ad texts.
Yandex prohibits using words like "best," "highest quality," "most advantageous," and similar in contextual advertising. The superlative degree cannot be used because such claims often do not correspond to reality. However, if you can prove what is stated in the ad, you can achieve approval for your campaign when communicating with a manager. Here are some variations of sentences with adjectives in the superlative and comparative degree that have a chance:
Options 2 and 4 can be easily proven by providing screenshots of products with prices from Yandex.Market. Option 3 has less chance, but again, it all depends on your persuasive skills with the moderators. Options 1 and 5 appear plausible.
Not using the superlative and comparative degree at all means missing the opportunity to increase CTR and reduce the cost per click. This is because you are refraining from advertising the advantages that genuinely set you apart from competitors. Try these tricks. If a few ads are rejected, don't worry: your account and domain won't be banned, and you always have a chance to negotiate with Yandex employees.
- One of the best products in its category.
- The cost of the product is lower than that of most online stores.
- We supply products from top manufacturers.
- The lowest cost in Moscow.
- We strive for the best quality of service in the region.
Options 2 and 4 can be easily proven by providing screenshots of products with prices from Yandex.Market. Option 3 has less chance, but again, it all depends on your persuasive skills with the moderators. Options 1 and 5 appear plausible.
Not using the superlative and comparative degree at all means missing the opportunity to increase CTR and reduce the cost per click. This is because you are refraining from advertising the advantages that genuinely set you apart from competitors. Try these tricks. If a few ads are rejected, don't worry: your account and domain won't be banned, and you always have a chance to negotiate with Yandex employees.
The ads are being rejected due to fast links.
If quick links lead to the same page with the same link, the ad may not be approved. This often happens to those who use them to highlight product advantages or to form a unique selling proposition (USP) as an additional opportunity to insert some noticeable text. There are several ways to get moderators to approve quick links:
undefined
or
undefined
In "quick links," when creating an ad, specify a URL like: site.com/#Section2. This will lead the user to the specific part of the page where the anchor is placed.
- Use different UTM tags. They should differentiate the URL from the main link located in the headline.
- Edit the landing page code to include anchors in different parts. In HTML code, this is implemented as follows:
undefined
or
undefined
In "quick links," when creating an ad, specify a URL like: site.com/#Section2. This will lead the user to the specific part of the page where the anchor is placed.
- If you are not using anchors or UTM tags, try using variations in the URLs like: site.com/?1, site.com/?2, site.com/?3, and so on. Occasionally, a meticulous moderator might notice this trick, but it doesn't happen often. Therefore, it's worth trying this method to increase click-through rates (CTR) and conversions.
The image does not pass moderation.
Images can be rejected for various reasons. Here are some common reasons for image rejection:
You can familiarize yourself with the other requirements in the Yandex Help section. There are quite a few requirements, so it's possible to unintentionally violate one of them.
Another issue relates to using images with people. Yandex prohibits such images unless the person is part of the logo or an advertising character. If you want to include a person in the ad image, you'll need to demonstrate that they are indeed a character. For example, place their photo prominently on the landing page. This increases the chances of the ad being approved.
- Text, logos, and watermarks collectively occupy more than 20% of the image.
- Blurry or low-quality image.
- The image's theme does not match what is stated in the ad and on the landing page.
- The image contains buttons that do not meet user expectations. For example, if a "Buy" button is displayed, the user should be directed to the order confirmation page upon clicking.
- The image displays organization contact information (this restriction applies to mobile ads).
- The image relates to a prohibited topic in the advertising platform (e.g., Yandex).
You can familiarize yourself with the other requirements in the Yandex Help section. There are quite a few requirements, so it's possible to unintentionally violate one of them.
Another issue relates to using images with people. Yandex prohibits such images unless the person is part of the logo or an advertising character. If you want to include a person in the ad image, you'll need to demonstrate that they are indeed a character. For example, place their photo prominently on the landing page. This increases the chances of the ad being approved.
The system requires a letter of guarantee or a license.
For questionable goods and services, it is indeed necessary to provide documents. By doing so, Yandex absolves itself of responsibility in case a person who clicks on the ad and uses the product/service files complaints with Yandex. All such complaints are redirected to the individual or legal entity that provided the letter of guarantee or other documents.
This requirement applies if you advertise in the following categories:
You need to print out the form, fill it out, have it notarized (for individuals) or stamped (for legal entities), and then scan and send it along with scanned copies of other documents to Yandex support.
This requirement applies if you advertise in the following categories:
- Pharmaceuticals
- Medical services
- Information products
- Loans, credits
- Private detectives
- Insurance, etc.
You need to print out the form, fill it out, have it notarized (for individuals) or stamped (for legal entities), and then scan and send it along with scanned copies of other documents to Yandex support.
Promotion of "gray" and prohibited topics.
There are offers that are not approved by moderation on most traffic sources. However, they can often be found in teaser networks. The fact is that these networks generate a lot of low-quality traffic, unlike Yandex.Direct. Here, advertisers receive relatively targeted clicks with good conversion rates. However, the problem is that Yandex can easily detect "bad" or questionable offers and reject them immediately. One option is to abandon this approach and instead create websites optimized for Yandex's keywords. For prohibited topics, doorways are also used. In Yandex's organic search results, you can find quite a few platforms for the query "Online casino."
If you have a strong need to advertise a prohibited offer in Yandex.Direct, here are some options to consider:
Deleting the advertising campaign and creating a new one.
We export the campaign to an Excel file and delete it. We remove the IDs of keywords and ads, as well as the campaign code, from this file. Then we upload the campaign to Yandex and wait for moderation approval. It's preferable to do this process at night, but even in such cases, it's not always possible to get the ads approved on the first attempt. It may be necessary to repeat the procedure multiple times.
Substitution or bait-and-switch.
If an offer is persistently not being approved, you can resort to substitution using redirects. This method is not easy, and eventually, your campaign and even your account may get banned. However, if you are confident that Yandex.Direct will bring good profits and you can obtain a lot of quality and inexpensive traffic before getting banned, it's worth trying. You only risk your domain and account, which can always be registered again.
undefined
This is a 301 redirect, which Yandex usually doesn't ban. Replace "http://goodsite.ru" with the address of the website you want to redirect from your domain. 5. Create a new campaign, write a few ads, and submit them for moderation. If everything goes well and the website is approved, remove the redirect and replace it with the landing page you want to advertise. If it doesn't work, find another substitute website and start the process again. You may have to repeat the procedure several times.
In this way, when conventional methods fail, some arbitrageurs resort to prohibited techniques. It is better to choose "white hat" offers for advertising right away to avoid wasting time. For example, in Yandex, it is good to advertise:
- Delete the old campaign that was rejected by moderators. Purchase a domain and quality paid hosting.
- Ideally, the domain name should contain a keyword related to the topic you want to advertise.
- Look at Yandex search results to identify successful websites that are advertising in your desired niche.
- Create an index.php file and upload it to the hosting. The file should contain the following code:
undefined
This is a 301 redirect, which Yandex usually doesn't ban. Replace "http://goodsite.ru" with the address of the website you want to redirect from your domain. 5. Create a new campaign, write a few ads, and submit them for moderation. If everything goes well and the website is approved, remove the redirect and replace it with the landing page you want to advertise. If it doesn't work, find another substitute website and start the process again. You may have to repeat the procedure several times.
In this way, when conventional methods fail, some arbitrageurs resort to prohibited techniques. It is better to choose "white hat" offers for advertising right away to avoid wasting time. For example, in Yandex, it is good to advertise:
- Product offers from popular online stores, which can be found in CPA networks.