Chrome’s integrated ad blocker & Affiliate Marketing 2018

Chrome’s integrated ad blocker

Google Chrome, the world’s most popular browser, will be introducing its own built-in ad blocker in early 2018. Even though the greatest part of the company’s income comes from advertising, Google recognizes that such a step is necessary.

Google is going to act according to the all-or-nothing principle in order to fight against low-quality advertising: all the ads on the website will be blocked (even those owned by Google) if at least one of them does not comply with the standards of quality advertising adopted by the Coalition for Better Ads that have been developed by large advertising agencies together with Google.

Now fullscreen popup windows, ads with sound that start playing at the wrong moment, and blinking banners will be blocked in Chrome.

To give support to publishers (website owners), the Google company is launching a new tool, “Report on Implementation of Advertising”, which will allow them to bring ads on their websites into compliance with the new standards and to avoid unnecessary blocking. Google also provides a detailed guide with examples of acceptable ads.

Blocking of autoplaying for videos with sound

Starting from January 2018, Chrome is going to stop autoplaying of videos with sound, including advertising. The browser will play back only the content that does not have sound, and also in case if the user shows interest in the video. The innovations will work both on desktop and mobile versions.

With the updated Chrome 63, the user will be able to completely turn off the sound on a particular website. This option will be active from session to session, making it possible to create individual settings – when and on what site the sound is to be played. In the next version, Chrome 64, Google will go to even greater lengths: autoplaying of the content will be possible only in case if the user wants it.

With the new functions, the users will have more control over the media content in their browsers, and more possibilities to fight against traffic and energy consumption, and also against unwanted sound, which are the main reasons for website users’ discontent.

Blocking of unwanted redirects

Starting from 2018, Chrome will provide a possibility for blocking of unwanted redirects. According to Google’s data, one fifth of the inquiries sent to the company are related to discontent with opening of unwanted content in the browser. In return, Chrome has announced measures aimed at fighting against deceptive behavior of some website elements, which mislead the network users. Thus, links to third-party websites disguised as playback buttons or other website control elements, transparent overlays on websites that capture all clicks and open new tabs or windows, and also unexpected redirects – this all will be blocked.

The protection mechanisms will be implemented in three stages. In January 2018 the popup window blocker will forbid websites, which redirect users to unwanted pages, to open new windows or tabs. Publishers will have at their command the so-called abuse tool from Google, Abusive Experience Report, where they will be able to check whether any suspicious activity has been noticed on their website.

In the Chrome 64 version, which is planned for late January 2018, the information panel will be displayed instead of opening new tabs. This measure will allow for preventing groundless redirection of users to other websites. Many redirects happen because of third party content that is present on the page. In these cases, the website owners did not plan for those redirects at all.

The third stage is scheduled for early Match 2018. In the Chrome 65 version, the links that open the target page in a new tab but redirect the user to an unwanted resource in the main window, will also be blocked. Chrome will display the information panel and will not allow the main tab to be redirected, so the user will be able to continue working with the main page. This protection measure is consistent with the developers’ tasks. Google admits that some websites can efficiently avoid Chrome’s popup window blocker thanks to redirects. This function will allow the user to go to the desired page and to keep the content of the initial page.

Summary

All the three pieces of news say that Google, inside Chrome, is planning to bring advertising on the Internet (banner advertising, first of all) to a common standard, to eliminate obtrusive and aggressive advertising for the users, and also (strange though it may appear) to help admitad fight against different types of cookie stuffing by way of blocking unwanted redirects.

These innovations will result in the fact that advertisers will get less low-quality traffic from non-core sources. For those publishers who work with affiliate programs without violating the rules, no negative changes are forecasted.