When the unthinkable becomes reality...
Have you installed an ad blocker? Well, guess what? There’s no need to install it anymore!
Chrome has decided to stop far short those browser extensions, which typically ban all ads. Indeed, Google, along with Facebook and Microsoft have created the Better Ads Standards and aims to improve the internet user experience.
Why is this happening?
"We want the web to be a place where businesses can thrive and make revenue, but also a place where users can have a good experience," Schoen, Google's product manager at Chrome, said. "We're hoping this will bring balance back in the web ecosystem."
If on the one hand, online Ads have been really important for websites like Google and Facebook because they helped them quickly grow to massive scale without forcing us to pay for subscriptions. On the other hand, ads have abundant downsides. They slow down websites and gobble our phone batteries' power. They can be distracting. They can even serve as a conduit for computer attacks or turn our machines into unwitting tools that let others make money off cryptocurrency.
What are the types of digital ads blocked?
The Better Ads Standards focuses on 11 types of ads that users find annoying.
Desktop Ads
Pop-up ads:
Pop-up ads are intrusive ads that do exactly what they say — pop up and block the main content of the page.They appear after content on the page begins to load.
Auto-play video ads with sound:
Auto-playing video ads with sound automatically play with sound, without any user interaction. The Better Ads Standard does not include video ads that appear before (“pre-roll”) or during (“mid-roll”) video content that is relevant to the content of the page itself, nor ads that require clicks to activate sound.
Countdown ads:
Intrusive “countdown” ads appear before the content of the page has loaded, forcing the user to wait a number of seconds before they can dismiss the ad, or the ad closes on its own.
Large sticky ads:
Large sticky ads stick to the bottom of a page, regardless of a user’s efforts to scroll. As the user browses the page, this static, immobile sticky ad takes up more than 30% of the screen's real estate.
Mobile Ads
Pop-up and prestitial ads:
Pop-up ads appear on top of the main page after it has loaded and block the viewing of content. Prestitial ads appear before the content of the page has loaded, can vary in size from full screen to part of the screen and prevent users from getting to the main content.
Ad density higher than 30%:
When ads on a mobile page take up more than 30% of the vertical height of the main content portion of the page, the result is a disruptive ad experience, regardless of whether these ads are text, video or static images. This includes “sticky” ads and inline ads.
Flashing animated ads:
Flashing animated ads animate and “flash” with rapidly changing background and colors. The Better Ads Standard does not include animations that do not “flash.”
Auto-playing video ads with sound: They automatically play sound, without any user interaction.
Postitial ads with countdowns:
Postitial ads with countdown timers appear after the user follows a link. These ads force the user to wait a number of seconds before they can dismiss the ad, or wait for the ad to close or redirect them to another page. Postitial ads with countdowns that can be dismissed immediately are not included in the Better Ads Standard.
Full-screen rollover ads:
Full-screen rollover ads force a user to scroll through an ad at a different rate than the underlying content. Such ads take up more than 30% of the page and float on top of the page’s main content, obstructing it from view.
Large sticky ads:
Large sticky ads stick to a side of a mobile page, regardless of a user’s efforts to scroll. As the user browses the page, this static, immobile sticky ad takes up more than 30% of the screen's real estate.
How can it affect your ads?
Google Search Console will crawl a few pages of a website. The website will be listed as passing, warning or failing under both desktop and mobile in the Ad Experience Report.
If you have ad issues, you have 30 days to fix those issues before having to worry about blocking. If the issues with the pop-ups have not been fixed in 30 days, Chrome will start blocking the pop-ups on that website. Once Chrome starts blocking the pop-ups on the website, Chrome will provide the user with its own pop-up message, allowing the user to choose whether or not they would like to see ads on that website.
You can request a website review twice without delay. If your site is still listed as failing, you will need to wait 30 days for a third review. The timing of the review process is important to note, because pop-ups could be blocked while you are waiting for the site to be reviewed.
Most people practicing good design, solid UI/UX practices and pragmatic user experience mapping shouldn’t have any issues with the new Google ad-blocking regulation. However, I would recommend you get your website reviewed just to be sure.
