During the annual I/O event, Google announced new features coming to the search engine that are very advertiser-friendly. Google hasn't left users out in the cold and has announced a new ad blocking system to improve the Google experience.
Google Blocking
Google has announced plans to introduce a new ad blocker for Chrome on desktop and mobile by 2018. The new ad blocker will target ads that it believes cause a bad experience for Chrome users when online. It's important to note that the new feature won't block all ads, but will target any that are considered intrusive or annoying to the user experience. These include pop-up ads that take up the entire screen or autoplayed videos with sound. The blocker will even target Google ads if they fall into those categories as well.
"We plan to have Chrome stop showing ads (including those owned or served by Google) on websites that are not compliant with the Better Ads Standards starting in early 2018," Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google's Senior VP of Ads and Commerce, said in a blog post.
For anyone unfamiliar with the Better Ads Standards, it's the accepted practices when it comes to online advertising for members of the Coalition for Better Ads. The group was formed in 2016 with Google, Facebook, Unilever, and several other media and advertisement groups with the intent of finding a balance between the user experience and acceptable advertising.
To help prep for this, Google will offer publishers what is referred to as an "Ad Experience Report." With it, publishers will be able to get a better grasp on Better Ads Standards to address intrusive ads on their own websites.
Give-And-Take
This seems like a necessary addition to Google's features, especially given the string of announcements at Google I/O in May. One such feature was the ability to track offline purchases to see if online ads were at all effective, allowing ad companies to adjust the ads appearing on Google to fit the user. While this new feature won't get rid of all ads, it does show that Google isn't so focused on the advertisers to alienate users.
That said, there is a level of selfishness behind this as well. More and more people are using ad blockers on Google and YouTube to get around them and get straight to the content. Unfortunately for Google, ads are one of its main sources of revenue, so ad blockers definitely force Google to take a hit. With this new blocker, it at least gives Google a chance to still see some revenue from ads instead of nothing at all.
