Google makes a lot of money selling ads, so it may seem odd that the company would go out of its way to block ads. The one thing many people do not know is that Google is big on user experience and this radiates from the services they offer down to what users see and find through their services. Google ads can be a great way for businesses to reach new customers, increase their revenues, announce new products and so much more. However, there are some instances where your ads might be blocked by Google.

Understanding The Better Ads Standards

The Better Ads Standards are a set of rules that were developed by the Coalition for Better Ads after extensive study. They aim to identify and explain ad practices and experiences that are not acceptable according to set standards.

Failing to meet these standards is one of the reasons why people install ad blockers, and businesses, Google and the Coalition for Better Ads do not want people doing that.

All the ad formats that do not meet these standards are blocked by Google. Understanding all this, here are some reasons why your ads might get blocked and what to do about it.

Using Intrusive Pop-up ads

Google insists that people should be able to see at least 70% of your content no matter the device they are on. Pop-up ads block content, causing a bad user experience, especially for those on mobile. Because of how annoying they are, Google will block any ads that appear on them.

This category includes pop-ups that contain countdowns and those that do not. Additionally, Google also dislikes any pop-ups that are hard to close.

Autoplay Video Ads

If you have ever opened a few tabs and heard a sound from one of them, it might be annoying and frustrating to find out where the sound is coming from so you can stop it. Because of this terrible experience, Google will block any autoplay video ads that play with sound and that can’t be stopped by the user.

These include videos placed in-between content that do not form the main body of the content.

Sticky Ads

Sticky ads seem like a good idea for visibility, and they used to be heavily favoured. As the number of mobile visitors has increased, Google has found that many of these ads reduce the amount of content on the page thus leading to bad user experiences.

Google will block most, but not all, sticky ads if they violate their set rules.

Not Checking Your Ads Content

Google holds itself and its advertisers to very high standards and thus they want all the ads they show visitors to be friendly. Anything that you would not be comfortable sharing with a stranger is not allowed. Anything harmful, illegal, unethical, or hateful will be blocked.

What You Can Do

If your ads are being blocked, it means you have violated one of the many policies Google has. You can use the Ad Experience Report that you can create through the Google Search Console to find out what has gone wrong and what rules you have violated so you can rectify things.

It can be frustrating to craft the perfect ad campaign only for your ads to be blocked. It is important to know why this has happened so you can ensure your ads go out to as many people as possible.