How Will Google Chrome’s New Ad Blocker Affect You?

If you haven’t already heard, Google Chrome rolled out its new ad blocker for North America and Europe in February 2018 to limit the number of intrusive advertisements on websites. On July 9th, 2019 this ad blocker will expand worldwide. While Google has instituted ad blockers in the past, this is the most encompassing and targeted tactic they have utilized to date.

The regulations governing the ads displayed on Chrome were set forth by the Coalition for Better Ads. All ads that violate the coalition’s Standards will be blocked by Chrome, risking a decrease in click rates.

Why does this matter? Google Chrome is the world’s most popular browser. In fact, it owns over 62% of the worldwide market share. This means that the majority of your clicks are probably coming through this browser, and starting in July, this ad blocker will impact your ads worldwide.

When Chrome detects ads that are violating the Standards, it will notify the site owner of the issue. After 30 days, if the ads are not removed or corrected, Chrome will then block all of the ads on that website, regardless of whether they all violate the standards. When this happens, the visitor on the site will see a message that ad blocking has occurred, along with the option to disable this.

So what kinds of ads are being blocked? There are different stipulations for desktop and mobile ads. For desktop, there are four primary violations:

• Pop-Up Ads: These types are especially susceptible to violation if they block the main content of the page.
• Large Sticky Ads: These will often be blocked if they take up more than 30% of the screen and remain “stuck” at the bottom of the screen.
• Prestitial Ads (with countdown): Google is taking down all ads that force the viewer to watch the entire ad (or a certain number of seconds) prior to closing.
• Auto-Play Ads with Sound: These are considered intrusive and therefore violate the standards

Mobile use of Chrome will also have very similar, if not stricter, regulations:

• Flashing Animated Ads: These will be removed particularly if they flash different colors.
• Prestitial Ads (with or without countdown): Given this content keeps the user from accessing the content, Chrome considers this a violation.
• Postitial ads (with countdown): As with the prestitial ads, Chrome is attempting to remove all ads that prevent the user from immediate access to content. Therefore, postitial ads with countdown will be blocked.
• Full-Screen Scroll-Over Ads: These floating ads also prevent users from seeing the webpage’s content and will be blocked. 
• Any Page with Ad Density >30%: This last regulation is to decrease the overall number of ads that are being displayed.

This infographic expounds upon these regulations and which platform they apply to:

3rd party ad blockers are already quite popular, with over 30% of internet users now using them. The instigation of this built-in Chrome blocker will further decrease the number of ads displayed on websites. This will undoubtedly change the advertising experience of Chrome users worldwide starting this summer. Be prepared for the impacts this might have on decreasing traffic, click-through rates, and more.

To learn more about this new ad blocker, check out this article or read through the Better Ads Standards.  

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