Hey guys,

I just wanted to show you that using your right to appeal a keyword or phrase that has been declined can never do you any harm.

The other day I had a keyword rejected for a Trademark Infringement, and after resubmitting the keyword several times and writing letters to Yahoo's customer service team I finally got a reply and an apology. Below is the last letter I wrote to Yahoo and and explaination and apology with it.

My Appeal:

Once again my keywords have been declined, to which we will continue to resubmit. Your editorial review staff is in error as consumer report is NOT a trademarked name ,and by trademarking laws we are within our full legal rights to use. Let me spell it our for your staff:
1.)
CONSUMER REPORT - is NOT a trademarked name
CONSUMER REPORTS - IS a trademarked name
Which puts us well within our LEGAL right to use the keyword Consumer Report, and we have contacted an attorney in this matter who also agreed we are not in violation or jeopardy of Trademark infringement - as we are giving a report from ONE perspective on a specific product, compared to the many other that we review. We are also an end consumer or purchaser of said product giving an authoratative report on our experience with the product compared to many other products we have purchased like it.
2.)
A keyword which specifically describes the nature of our site is being declined because of - vague, non specific reasons - anyone can copy and paste a policy, but until that policy is interpreted, or in this case, misinterpreted by your staff, it has no meaning whatsoever to the end readers as a much more detailed description of exactly how the keyword and our landing page (in your editorial staff's own words) do not fit your editorial guidlines is needed.
3.)
We will continue to resubmit this keyword, until we are given the opportunity, by way of explaination and personal contact or some sort of customer support, that fully explains, just exactly what our keywords are being declined for
4.)
If we contintue to have our keywords declined for vague, non-specific reasons (i.e. copy and pasting a ridiculous policy that has no bearing on a keyword that describes the very nature of our site (i.e. we are a consumer of the product giving an Authoratative report on our experience with the product - note the keyword: satellite tv cube CONSUMER report), and the fact that we are not in jeopardy of infringing upon any trademarks (consumer report is NOT a trademarked name, consumer reportS <<<< is), without any sort of customer service or contact by a department to handle this issue, then we will be forced to pull our ads and support of your "Service".

It was our understanding that this is what set Yahoo apart from every other search engine on the planet - their superior customer support and service team, but as of yet, in this issue, we have seen absolutely nothing but a cut and paste of regurgitated company policies that have no meaning to us whatsoever, are vague, and without explaination in our case.

I would welcome the opportuntiy to speak with a representative to explain this in further detail to both myself, and my team here at Diversified Innovations Group.

Thank you for your time in rectifying this matter.

Regards,
Tony Boswell
Owner/President
Diversified Innovations Group

Yahoo's Reponse:

Jul 14 2007 13:30 PT

Hello Tony,

We received your email regarding your declined keywords.

We have submitted "consumer report" to be added to our database. What is happening is the system makes everything singular so it sees "consumer report" and "consumer reports" as the same term. It should take 7 business days for this request to be completed, then you can resubmit your keywords for approval.

We are sorry for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you. We hope this information has been helpful. If you have any other questions or need further assistance please contact our office at 866-924-6676, Monday-Friday 5am-7pm, Saturday 7am-4pm, Sunday 8am-5pm Pacific Standard Time.

Sincerely,

Jessica Bryant
Customer Solutions
Yahoo! Search Marketing

Just so you know, you can also call Yahoo directly, rather than send an email and wait for a response - they will help you over the phone and tell you exactly how to "fix" your campaign.