Google recently started sending notices to certain publishers about the 'Better Ads Standard'. Most publishers have no idea what that is, and how it relates to them. But nevertheless, all publishers are forced to comply with them.
So what are the 'Better Ads' standards? What should you do if you get a 'violating ad experience' email? What will happen to you if you don't do anything about it?
We'll take a look at all of that in this article.
What Is A Violating Ad Experience?
So you got the email, and it looks something like this:
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Google Web Tools Team"
Date: xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Violating ad experiences detected on xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mobile
To: xxxxxxxxxViolating ad experiences detected on xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx mobile
To owner of xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Google systems have detected ad experiences on your site that may be highly annoying, misleading, or harmful to users.
Act now to fix the problem:
1 Identify the violating ad experiences
Visit the Ad Experience Report to identify the violating ad experiences detected.
2 Remove the violating ad experiences
Coordinate with your ad operations and web development teams to develop a strategy for addressing these issues.
3 Request a review
Once your site is free of violating ad experiences, request a review. Include any details that can help us understand the changes made.
Depending on whether your site got a warning or a failure, the email is slightly different. Also, depending on whether you have a problem with your desktop site or your mobile site, you may see something different.
What this email means is that Google has found you to be in violation of the 'Better Ads Standards', and you'd better fix it, or Google will be coming to get you in the near future.
But what exactly is the 'Better Ads Standard?' How do you get into compliance with it? We'll discuss in the next section.
Understanding the 'Better Ads Standard'
The 'Better Ads Standard' was created by the Coalition for Better Ads (read: Google).
The standard is supposed to be about making ads better for consumers, but after looking carefully, you'll realize it's less what customers want and more what Google wants.
There are two different rule sets: one for desktop and the other for mobile. The desktop rule set is much less strict, and contains fewer rules than the mobile set.
Let's take a look at each one separately.
The Desktop 'Better Ads Standard'
The following are violations of the 'Better Ads Standard' on a desktop browser:
- Pop up ads - Basically any popup ads are prohibited...so all of those ones you see on major websites are not allowed. Note, however, that there is an exemption for certain types of popups (see prestitial below). Also, Google has popup survey ads which seem to be allowed, although it's unclear how that fits in with the standard.
- Auto playing video ads with sound - Any ad that plays with sound. The notable exception is pre-roll ads, which are used by Youtube.
- Pre-stitial ads with countdown - All prestitial ads that make you wait before you click through. Note, that according to the rule (like you may see on Forbes.com), you can have prestitial ads that can be dismissed immediately. This seems to contradict pop-up ads, which are totally prohibited...
- Large sticky ads - Ads of height of 250 or more with full width, 400 or more with half width.
The Mobile 'Better Ads Standard'
The following are violations of the 'Better Ads Standard' on mobile. There are a lot more restrictions than on desktop.
- Pop up ads - Again, all popup ads are prohibited...but to satisfy the big news sites, popup ads asking you to subscribe are okay.
- Prestitial ads - Prestitial ads, like popups, aren't allowed. But again, things like subscriptions are not prohibited. This is a huge blow to smaller publishers, as prestitials on mobile are some of the highest CPM ads available -- especially on mobile, where high CPM ads are few.
- Ad density over 30% - This is where many sites get killed. Ad density can't be over 30%, meaning you can't have ads taking up more than 30% of vertical space on your page. Interestingly, the home pages of sites like Youtube seem to do this -- but Google has created a special provision to allow pre-roll video ads...which are not prohibited by the Better Ads Standard. There is a LOT of ambiguity here, which we will address later.
- Flashing ads - These went out a while ago, so most likely, you won't have to worry about it.
- Auto playing video ads with sound - This is the same as on desktop. It's a reasonable prohibition.
- Postitial ads with countdown - Ads that make you wait after clicking on a link to go to another page. Again, this is a bit unclear because popup ads of all types are disallowed in item 1.
- Full-screen scroll overs - Big ads that take up the full screen that you have to scroll past. The description for these types of ads contradicts the ad density description, which we will discuss later
- Large sticky ads - This is a significant one, because it says sticky ads can't take up more than 30% of the screen's real estate. Many current sticky ads do not pass this requirement.
What Happens When You Get a Violating Ad Experience Email?
If you get a violating ad experience email, like the one listed above, you will need to go to the Google Search Console in Webmaster Tools and click Web Tools -> Ad Experience Report.
That will provide you with a report showing what Google found.
There seems to be no correlation between when Google assess your desktop site vs mobile site. That is, they may assess your desktop site, but never assess your mobile site and vice versa.
When you get the report, you will see a crude video of someone manually going through and measuring your ads on several pages.
Although some claim that the entire process is automated, at least this portion is clearly done manually, as you will notice non-linear movements that wouldn't be made by a computer.
Google Announces February 2018 Ad Blocking in Chrome
Google has announced that starting in February 2018, they will be blocking all ads in Chrome on sites that violate their interpretation of the Better Ads Standard.
They say that they will be looking at the percentage of pages on a site that violate the standard, but it's not 100% clear how they determine whether every page on your site meets the standard, given that they don't seem to have a fully automated way of checking sites.
So What Do You Do If You Have a 'Violating Ad Experience'
So here's our suggestion. If you get the violating ad experience email, the first thing you should do is remove most of your ads. Just keep the ones that you are sure won't be a problem.
Here's what you need to remove:
- Any mobile popups or slide-ups, as Google may see these as violations even if they're not (depending on screen size, etc).
- Any pop-up video ads, since they sometimes have automatic sound even when they're not supposed to
Also, try to remove most of the ads in the body of your content on mobile, as this may trigger the 30% rule.
You can try to put some of these ads back on later -- but make sure that they are completely gone before you ask Google for a re-review.
Then, get your site re-checked. Go into Webmaster Tools and request that your site is re-reviewed.
It should only take a few days before you're clear. After you get a clean bill of health from Google, you can start (carefully) adding back ads that you think don't violate the requirement.
