In an effort to force publishers to rethink the way they deliver ads on their websites, Google will be introducing its own ad blocker in 2018. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google is giving publishers six months to prepare for the new tool, which will block ads on sites with “bad advertising experiences” and will reportedly be turned on by default in both the desktop and mobile versions of Chrome.
While we’ve known about the Google ad blocker since April, this week marks the first time that Google has confirmed the move. Sridhar Ramaswamy, SVP of ads and commerce, explained in a blog post on Thursday that “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.”
Thankfully, before the ad blocker goes into effect, Google will give publishers the opportunity to use its new Ad Experience Report tool, which elucidates the differences between an acceptable experience and one that doesn’t conform to the Better Ads Standards. Once the publisher has determined which ads won’t fly under the new system, they can check this post for ads to use instead.
This might sound troublesome for publishers who depend on ad revenue to keep their sites up and running, but considering the fact that 26% of US internet users already use third-party ad blockers, this could end up helping. Third-party ad blockers, like Adblock Plus, block each and every ad, regardless of how annoying or intrusive they are. Google’s ad blocker will only block ads when they don’t conform to the Better Ads Standards, which means that sites with tame ad experiences will be spared.
Google is also introducing another tool called Funding Choices, which will allow publishers to “show a customized message to visitors using an ad blocker, inviting them to either enable ads on their site, or pay for a pass that removes all ads on that site through the new Google Contributor.”
