Giving users more transparency into their Google ad experience

Today, people engage with a wider variety of ad formats on more Google products than ever before — from Video ads on YouTube to Shopping ads across Search, Display and more. And they increasingly want to know more about the ads they see. That’s why we’ve been innovating on features like “About this ad” to help users understand why an ad was shown, and to mute ads or advertisers they aren’t interested in.

Last spring, we also introduced an advertiser identity verification program that requires Google advertisers to verify information about their businesses, where they operate from and what they’re selling or promoting. This transparency helps users learn more about the company behind a specific ad. It also helps differentiate credible advertisers in the ecosystem, while limiting the ability of bad actors to misrepresent themselves. Since launching the program last year, we have started verifying advertisers in more than 90 countries — and we’re not stopping there.

Introducing advertiser pages 

To give users of our products even more transparency, we are enhancing ad disclosures with new advertiser pages. Users can access these disclosures in our new “About this ad” menu to see the ads a specific verified advertiser has run over the past 30 days. For example, imagine you’re seeing an ad for a coat you’re interested in, but you don’t recognize the brand. With advertiser pages, you can learn more about that advertiser before visiting their site or making a purchase.

Users can tap on an ad to learn more about the advertiser showing them the ad

In addition to learning about the ads and advertiser, users can more easily report an ad if they believe it violates one of our policies. When an ad is reported, a member of our team reviews it for compliance with our policies and will take it down if appropriate. Creating a safe experience is a top priority for us, and user feedback is an important part of how we do that.

Advertiser pages will launch in the coming months in the United States, and will roll out in phases to more countries in 2022. We will also continue to explore how to share additional data within advertiser pages over time.

Improving transparency for ads on Google

Enhanced ad disclosures build on our efforts to create a clear and intuitive experience for users who engage with ads on Google products. More than 30 million users interact with our ads transparency and control menus every day, and “About this ad” has received positive feedback on its streamlined experience. Users engage with our ads transparency and control tools on YouTube more than any other Google product. To help our users make informed decisions online — no matter where they engage — we will roll out the “About this ad” feature to YouTube and Search in the coming months. 

We're committed to creating a trustworthy Google ad experience, and enhanced ad disclosures represent the next step in that journey. We will continue to work towards helping our users have greater control and understanding over the ads they see.

by Mojdeh Tomsich via The Keyword