From early next year, Chrome will stop showing any ads on sites that repeatedly use the most intrusive formats. Ordinary banners are not the target, and the new Ad Experience Report shows whether your pages have a problem.

What was announced

Google confirmed yesterday that Chrome will stop showing ads on websites that keep failing the Better Ads Standards, starting early next year.

The filter applies to the whole site, not just the offending ad. Google said ads it owns or serves itself will disappear from a failing site along with everyone else's.

Alongside the announcement, a new Ad Experience Report appeared in Search Console. It shows site owners problem ads found on their pages, with screenshots and videos.

Nothing changes in Chrome today. The lead time gives publishers months to look at their own pages first.

Where the standards came from

The Better Ads Standards came out in March from the Coalition for Better Ads, whose members include advertisers, publishers and the companies in between. They rest on research asking readers which ad experiences they disliked most.

There are two lists, one for desktop and one for phones. The phone list is longer, because a small screen has far less room to give up.

Until this week the standards were a recommendation. Google has now attached a consequence to them, in a widely used browser.

The formats on the list

The second is the one smaller publishers add without meaning to. A video player or an ad partner's video unit may begin with the sound on, and nobody on staff hears it because they browse muted.

How the filter will decide

Filtering is a judgement about a whole site, not a single ad. Google reviews sites against the standards and shows owners what it found.

Once the problems are fixed, the owner can ask for the site to be reviewed again from the same report.

Some details are still to come, including exactly when filtering starts and how long a flagged site has to respond. The direction is clear enough to act on now.

Reading the Ad Experience Report

The report lives in Search Console, so it helps only a business that has verified its site there and knows who can sign in.

If the site has been reviewed, the report shows any problem formats found, with a screenshot or a video of each. Many smaller sites may show no review at all yet.

No review is not a pass. It means nobody has looked, which makes your own check more important, not less.

A worked example

A community newspaper covering a group of small towns pays for its website with local advertising: banners sold by its own ad rep to local businesses, and ads from a network to fill the rest.

Its most expensive product was a home page takeover. The first time a reader arrived each day, a full-screen ad for one advertiser appeared with a five-second countdown before the news.

On phones, one advertiser's banner flashed between two bright colours, and a video unit from the network played with sound partway down longer stories.

The site had not been reviewed yet. The editor and the ad rep went through the list together, page by page, on a phone and on a laptop.

The takeover became a section sponsorship: the advertiser's banner at the top of the local news section for a week, with no countdown and nothing covering the page.

The flashing banner was swapped for a still version of the same artwork, and the network was asked in writing to turn the sound off on its video units.

Ads you did not choose

On many small publishing sites, the owner chose some formats and a partner chose the rest. Ad networks can add new units from their side, and some video units begin with the sound on by default.

Ask every partner which formats it serves on your pages, and ask in writing for anything on the list to be kept off them.

Then look for yourself. Ads vary between visits, so load your busiest pages several times, on a phone and a computer, signed out and without an ad blocker.

Why ordinary ads are fine

The standards name formats, not advertising itself. A banner above an article, a box in the sidebar and an ad between paragraphs appear on neither list.

Publishers who sell straightforward placements to local businesses are mostly selling exactly what the standards leave alone.

The listed formats are the ones that interrupt: they cover, count down, follow or shout. A page that does none of those has little to change.

The same idea as the pop-up rule

This is the second time this year Google has acted against intrusive formats. Since January, Google may rank a page lower in mobile search when a pop-up hides its content as soon as a visitor arrives.

Both point the same way: content first, and nothing that makes a reader wait or dig for it. A site that cleared its pop-ups in January is already partly there.

The counter-case

A site that sells its own services and shows no ads has nothing to do here at all.

Filtering also applies only in Chrome, and only to sites that keep failing, so a publisher with one doubtful unit has time to fix it calmly.

But any site that earns from advertising should know what its pages show on a phone before early next year, and remove anything on the list.

Before next year

  1. Verify the site in Search Console.
  2. Open the Ad Experience Report and read it.
  3. List every ad partner and format on your pages.
  4. Load your busiest pages on a phone, signed out.
  5. Turn off sound on any self-starting video.
  6. Replace countdowns and pop-ups with placements in the page.
  7. Ask partners in writing to keep listed formats off.

Step four is the one that finds the problems, because owners rarely see their own site the way readers do: on a phone, with every ad loading.

The earlier rule against pop-ups on phones is covered in Google's phone pop-up rule starts today.

Frequently asked questions

What did Google announce about Chrome and ads?

That from early next year Chrome will stop showing ads, Google's own included, on any site that fails the Better Ads Standards again and again. Ordinary ads on compliant sites are unaffected.

Which ad formats are on the list?

Pop-ups, video ads that start with sound, countdown screens before the page and large sticky ads, plus more on phones, including flashing animation, full-screen scrollovers and heavy clusters of ads.

Will Chrome block only the bad ads?

No. Google has said filtering applies to the whole site, so a failing site loses every ad in Chrome, whoever served it, until the problems are fixed and reviewed.

How do I check whether my site passes?

Verify the site in Search Console, then read its Ad Experience Report, which lists problem formats Google has found. After that, load your busiest pages on a phone yourself.

What if the report shows no review?

It means Google has not reviewed the site so far, which is different from passing. Check your pages against the list yourself, especially on phones, where the list is longer.

Are ordinary banner ads a problem?

No. Banners in the page, sidebar boxes and ads between paragraphs are not on the list. The standards target formats that cover, count down, follow or play sound.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Ads on your site you did not choose?

Tell us the site and its ad partners. We will check each format against the list on a phone and a computer.

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