Stepping up its fight against the internet’s abusive ads problem, Google announced a new ad-blocking version of Chrome 71, which is coming to us this December.
But worry not, dear publishers! It’s not that scary after all! In fact, it brings the industry one step closer towards a more positive online experience by eliminating the digital ads that users find most annoying. And as long as you do reasonable things, your revenue is safe. Keep reading to clear the uncertainty.
Let’s be honest – the amount and variety of intrusive ads have grown tremendously over the years. The lower in the food-chain the property, the more likely are the abuses of user experience in lieu of monetization. But, of course, there are some top echelon domains equally guilty of the spike in ad-blocking. Pagefair reports adoption rate on anti-ad solutions to be around 29% for GSC, and close to 18% for the US.
Inevitably and predictably, Google has to consistently react to these trends. Chrome 68, which was released in July, prevented websites from opening new tabs or windows when it found disturbing content on them. The new version is just a logical evolvement of Google's course towards changing the advertising ecosystem for the better.
So, what kind of ads will be affected? Generally speaking, Chrome 71 will block advertisements that trick users into clicking on them by pretending to be system warnings or “close” buttons that do not actually close the ad.
Abusive ads come in many forms, but there are two that are still being used by a large number of publishers – pop-up and pop-under ads. Starting from December, site owners will have a 30-day grace period to clean up their site after an abusive experience is reported.
But does this breaking news actually mean commercial losses for publishers? Most certainly not! It only means that the market is changing. Google’s implementation of the Chrome update highlights the importance of unobtrusive ad experiences for the users. Content website owners should realize this shift and start putting the user in the center of their monetization strategy.
This brings forward the advantage of native advertising, which seamlessly integrates the ads into a websites’ environment. They match the publisher’s content and design; they do not irritate and are organically intertwined into the users’ interaction with the website.
So, don’t panic, just switch to native – an effective and the Better Ads compliant means of your website monetization!
To get more information on how to prepare your website(s), or choose the most cohesive ad formats, please contact your personal account manager or our client support team: client.support@mgid.com.
