Google wants to change the internet through Chrome. The company has today told publishers that it will be introducing its own ad blocker to the browser early next year. Content creators now have time and fair warning to check their ads and make sure they are not disruptive.
While this may seem draconian at first, Google is aiming to make the browsing experience better for everyone.
That’s because it will not block all ads, but will instead block ads that are too annoying or disruptive. So, with that in mind, it is accurate that the company calls this an ad filter as opposed to an ad blocker.
Sure, you are probably thinking that current ad blockers allow filtering by whitelisting sites. However, instead of whitelisting or blocking total sites, Google’s ad blocker will only block problem ads. For example, this could mean a websites good ads are displayed, while one disruptive one is blocked.
Google explains how this can be better for content creators and Chrome users:
“The vast majority of online content creators fund their work with advertising. That means they want the ads that run on their sites to be compelling, useful and engaging–ones that people actually want to see and interact with. But the reality is, it’s far too common that people encounter annoying, intrusive ads on the web–like the kind that blare music unexpectedly, or force you to wait 10 seconds before you can see the content on the page. These frustrating experiences can lead some people to block all ads–taking a big toll on the content creators, journalists, web developers and videographers who depend on ads to fund their content creation.”
Implementing the Blocker
Ad blockers are controversial. For website owners, they are worrying because ads are the chief source of revenue for many creators online. For example, this very site would not be here without them.
However, there is no doubt that some websites have intrusive ads, such as those that block all actions until the ad is displayed or videos that start automatically. Users who want to remove these disruptive ads can only do so by using an ad blocker. In many cases, an average Chrome users would not bother whitelisting and just have a blanket blocker across all sites.
There is no doubt bad ads slow down the web and be frustrating, go the upcoming Chrome solution could be game changing.
To help publishers, Google is providing a tool that allows them to check if their ads are in violation and will be blocked.
