Chrome Begins Blocking Bad Ads

27-02-2018Tags: SEO

Chrome is to start not showing intrusive ads that do not meet the standards expected by the Coalition for Better Ads.

In June 2017, Google announced plans to improve advertising on the internet, citing that poor ad experiences led to a 30% year-on-year increase in ad block extensions in Chrome.

In August 2017, Google took direction action against over 1,000 online publishers, including Forbes, The Independent and Lifehacker, who had advertising that did not comply with the Better Ads Standards.

Better Ads Standards

The Better Ads Standards are the result of public research by the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group focused on improving user experience with online advertising. Over 40,000 internet users participated in surveys to establish which ad experiences fell beneath a threshold of consumer acceptability.

Now, the 64-bit version of the desktop browser and the mobile app will block annoying ads, including those that appear before a page loads, flashing animated ads, and videos that autoplay with sound.

Chrome’s desktop browser will notify users than an ad has been blocked in the address bar, similar to when pop-ups are blocked, whilst the mobile app will display a bar at the bottom of the user’s screen.

Achieving Google’s Objective

According to Google, 42% of the publishers that fell short of the Better Ads Standards in June 2017 have now resolved the issues with their ads. This was the outcome that Google wanted in the search engine’s objective to improve user experience with online advertising.