Google warns major online publishers to remove annoying ads

The new version of Chrome, Google’s web browser, will be released in 2018 and will automatically block adverts considered annoying or misleading.

In a blog post, Google stated that the usage of add-ons used to block adverts online has risen by 30 per cent from last year, threatening the ability for publishers to continue creating content paid for by advertising revenue.

Google worked with the Coalition for Better Ads – a group formed to improve the standards of digital advertising – to develop their Better Ad Standards.  In June 2017, Google released its Ad Experience Report, which offers examples and guidance on what features of adverts could cause them to fail its Better Ad Standards.

Adverts involving pop-ups, autoplaying video with sound and countdown timers would all be judged substandard and will be blocked by Chrome.

Google has so far reviewed 100,000 web sites and identified approximately 700 sites which contain substandard ads. Google is due to inform online publishers by email if ads hosted by their own site have failed their standards and risk filtering.

Approximately half of the sites flagged up by Google’s review are “failing” and half require a “warning”. Google reports that pop-up ads are by far the most common problem, accounting for 96 per cent of violations on desktop and laptop computers and 54 per cent on mobile browsers.

Web sites judged to contain substandard ads include Forbes, The Independent and CBS News.

Google’s plans for the new Chrome browser have not yet been finalised and the tech giant has not yet ruled out filtering all of a failing web site’s ads, even if some conform to their standards of acceptability. Google has said that it will remove ads from failing web sites if they are not corrected within 30 days.