Advertisers still have time to correct how ads are displayed before Google remove obnoxious ads globally from its Chrome browser.
Cracking Down on a Global Level
It has been close to one year since Google applied an update to its Chrome browser which automatically blocks any ad deemed to be too intrusive to viewers in North America. Now, the company has announced that the block will be rolled out on a worldwide level as of July 9th, 2019.
This decision is the latest of moves the search giant has made to adhere to best practices set by the Better Ads Standards, which was developed by the Coalition for Better Ads and involved researching over 66,00 consumers to identify ad experiences that are most likely to lead to a user downloading an ad blocker.
Twelve specific experiences across mobile devices and desktops have been classified as intrusive, and advertisers will want to ensure that they move towards abolishing these types of models before the global rollout goes into effect:
Image Source: Chromium Blog
How Advertisers Will be Impacted
While this change certainly may have a significant impact on advertisers who are using any of the above formats to drive traffic to their campaigns, the reality is – most websites shouldn’t be affected. Google has stated that of the millions of websites that have been reviewed to date, less than 1% of them have had their ads blocked.
Furthermore, when this update was applied to websites in the United States and Canada back in February 2018, the majority of those that were in violation of these guidelines were able to move away from the guilty formats to a more user-friendly alternative. As of January 2019, two-thirds of all those who were at one point non-compliant have now made the necessary adjustments.
For those who may still be in violation, Google recommends using the Ad Experience Report tool to review your site. This tool will determine if any of your ads have been flagged by Chrome as being too intrusive. Additionally, this is where you’ll want to go if you’d like to resolve any issues or make an appeal.
Making Strides
This is just the latest in a series of moves Google has made in recent years to combat bad ad practices and reinforce a positive user experience.
Over 3.2 billion malicious ads were removed in 2017 (roughly 100 ads getting blocked per second), which was nearly double the amount they removed the year prior.
Back in November, the company announced that it would be getting stricter on how mobile subscription charges are displayed on Chrome to mitigate the influx in digital fraud taking place.
They’ve also provided more resources to its safeguard its userbase, like information on how to block pop-up windows and warning users about pages that have malware.
Google has also ensured that the twelve intrusive ad formats listed above are not available on its advertising network.
A Clean Slate
As mentioned above, the impact of this rollout isn’t likely to be too substantial given the fact that we saw this take place a year ago. Plus, advertisers who are still using these ad formats have half a year to make the necessary adjustments. There’s plenty of time to make the necessary adjustments.
Still, this announcement should serve as a strong reminder that advertisers and brands need to be placing an emphasis on digital compliance moving forward. By proactively taking action to provide users with a better, white-hat experience that aligns with the Better Ads Standards, you’ll be mitigating the risk of having your ads blocked and your traffic coming to a grinding halt.
If you have any questions about digital advertising practices or compliance standards, we recommend reaching out to either our affiliate management team or our client services team. They’ll be happy to help provide you with tips on how to keep your ads clean and your conversions high.