From December, Chrome 71 will strip every ad from the few sites that keep showing abusive experiences: fake warnings, close buttons that open ads, and redirects. Check the Abusive Experience Report and look at your pages as readers do.

What was announced

On Monday, Google said that Chrome 71, due in December, will remove all ads from the small number of sites with persistent abusive experiences.

Abusive here means deceptive rather than annoying: ads that pretend to be a warning from the phone, close buttons that open an ad instead, and pages that send readers somewhere they never chose.

Chrome already blocks pop-ups and new windows on such sites. Google said too many of these experiences still got through, so the next step removes every ad.

Owners of flagged sites get thirty days to fix things. For a publisher who has never looked, the time to look is before any notice arrives.

What counts as abusive

The third is the one publishers hear about from readers first. A phone that suddenly jumps to a page announcing a prize is remembered as the site's fault, whoever served the ad.

Different from February's filter

Since February, Chrome has filtered ads on sites that keep failing the Better Ads Standards, which cover formats such as pop-ups, video with sound and large sticky units.

Those formats are intrusive but honest about being ads. This change is about deception, ads and page elements built to trick a reader into a click.

The two are reviewed and reported separately in Search Console, so a clean Ad Experience Report is no guide to this new one.

Reading the Abusive Experience Report

The report sits in Search Console beside its older neighbour, and it is only useful to a business whose site is verified there and whose owner actually opens it.

It shows whether Google's review found abusive experiences on the site, and what kind. Not reviewed is a common status for small sites; it means Google has not assessed the site, which is different from passing.

If problems are listed, fix them and ask for a new review from the report. Chrome stops removing ads once the site passes again.

Search Console may also notify verified owners when a site fails, which is one more reason the Search Console account should belong to an address somebody reads.

How honest sites end up with these ads

Very few publishers choose deceptive ads. They arrive through the chain behind each ad space.

A network fills a slot with an ad from another network, which fills it from a third, and somewhere along that chain is an ad built to redirect phones or fake a warning.

Filler networks added to earn something from unsold space are a frequent route in. So are scripts installed for a trial and never removed.

Many of these ads show only on phones, only to some visitors and only once each, which is why a publisher checking from a desk never sees them.

A worked example

A fishing report site covers rivers and lakes across the region, with weekly conditions from guides and tackle shops, and pays its way with display ads.

Last spring the owner added a second network to fill whatever space the first could not sell. By midsummer, readers were emailing screenshots: their phones had jumped to a page announcing they had won a prize.

He could not reproduce it on his laptop, and for weeks assumed the readers' phones were infected.

Testing on a phone over mobile data, repeatedly and at different times of day, finally showed the redirect, and it came through the filler network.

He removed that network, asked the main one in writing how it screens out redirect ads, and opened the Abusive Experience Report, which showed the site as not reviewed.

The empty spaces now show a house ad for the site's own newsletter.

Checking the way readers see it

The check that matters is the one a reader runs by accident: a phone, signed out, on mobile data, arriving from a search.

Repeat it at different times and on more than one phone. The worst ads are built to appear unpredictably, so one clean visit proves little.

Make it easy for readers to report a problem, and ask for the page, the time and a screenshot. One good report is worth more than a week of trying to reproduce it.

Talking to ad partners

List every network and script able to put an ad on your pages, with a note of what each may show.

Ask each one, in writing, how it screens out redirects and fake warnings, and how quickly it acts on a report. A partner who cannot answer is a risk the site carries.

Remove anything nobody can explain. A tag from a trial three years ago still loads, and still sells space to whoever is buying.

Readers decide before Chrome does

Chrome's change will reach a small number of sites. Readers' judgement reaches all of them.

A reader sent to a fake prize page once may not come back, and if they do, they arrive warier. Some install an ad blocker, which removes every ad, honest or not.

For a site that depends on readers returning every week, that is the larger cost, and it starts long before any warning from Google.

The counter-case

Most publishers will never see a warning. A site running one reputable network, with ordinary formats and no filler partners, is unlikely to be among the few Google is aiming at.

Google has also said readers can switch the filtering off in Chrome's settings, and other browsers are not affected. Neither is a reason to put off checking.

Check the report, look at your pages on a phone, and know who can place an ad on them.

Before December

  1. Check who has access to Search Console.
  2. Open the Abusive Experience Report today.
  3. Test your pages on a phone, signed out.
  4. List every network and script serving ads.
  5. Remove filler partners nobody can vouch for.
  6. Ask readers to report strange ads.
  7. Request a review once anything is fixed.

Step four is the one that finds the cause. When a deceptive ad turns up on an honest site, the route in is usually a partner the owner had forgotten, and the list is where it shows.

Who can log in to the ad server, and the new name it carries this year, is covered in DoubleClick for Publishers becomes Google Ad Manager.

Frequently asked questions

What will Chrome 71 do?

From December, it will remove all advertising from the small group of sites that persistently show deceptive ads or page elements, such as fake system warnings.

What counts as an abusive experience?

Ads or page elements built to deceive: fake system messages, close buttons that open ads, redirects without a tap, hidden click areas, fake play buttons and ads for unwanted software.

How is this different from February's filter?

February's filter targets intrusive formats under the Better Ads Standards. This one targets deception. They are reported separately, so passing one says nothing about the other.

Where do I check my own site?

Search Console has an Abusive Experience Report for each verified site. A status of not reviewed means Google has not assessed the site yet, not that it passed.

How do abusive ads reach honest sites?

Through the chain behind an ad space: networks filling slots from other networks, filler partners for unsold space, and old scripts still loading. Many show only on phones.

What if the report lists a problem?

Fix it, then request a review from the report. Flagged sites get thirty days before Chrome removes ads, and the removal stops once the site passes.

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.

Readers sending screenshots of strange ads?

Send us the page and the time. We will trace which partner served it and help you remove it.

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