Google Ad Filtering: Expected Affiliate Losses and How to Avoid Them

Google launched Chrome ad filtering in early 2018, and now, the company will perform a final global-scale update on July 9, 2019. The update will have a major impact on internet advertising and affiliate networks, but how can advertisers avoid affiliate losses due to the update? In this article Kateryna Khalus, Team Lead in the Publishers Department at Admitad, talks about the expected affiliate losses as a result of Google ad filtering, and how to minimize these losses.

Online ads are everywhere. It’s hardly surprising that users want an effective tool to counteract the constant attempts to grab their attention. And yet, internet users’ relationship with advertisements is not as black-and-white as you might think. According to Vieo Design, 83% of people agree with the statement: "Not all ads are bad, but I want to filter out the really obnoxious ones.” Moreover, 77% agree with the statement "I wish there were a way to ad-filter instead of ad-block completely.”

Users are not completely averse to online advertisements, as long as they offer some value to them. The industry’s biggest influencers have recognized the shift: Google announced Chrome ad filtering initially in mid-2017, which it launched in early 2018. The company teamed up with Coalition for Better Ads, and identified 12 different types of ads that were considered to be the most irritating, were taken down across the US, Canada, and Europe. Google also announced its final global-scale update scheduled for July 9, 2019. These efforts have had a sweeping impact on the internet.

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"Chrome's enforcement of the Coalition’s standards has inspired many website owners to improve the advertising experience on their sites in a way that benefits users," stated Google's press release. "In the U.S., Canada, and Europe, website owners have successfully been able to make changes to the ads on their sites. As of January 1, 2019, two-thirds of all publishers who were at one time non-compliant to the Better Ads Standards are now in good standing. Further, out of millions of sites we’ve reviewed to date, less than 1% have had their ads filtered."

Advertisements are everywhere, quite simply because they are an important and primary source of revenue for many companies across the web. For Admitad advertisers and publishers, online advertising is essential. So what would have happened to the company if Google AdBlock had come a year earlier?

In 2018, advertisers of Admitad’s affiliate network earned at least $1.5 billion via Chrome browsers (18% of those via Chrome mobile). All of these orders could have been lost along with roughly $150 million of publishers’ commission.

Luckily, they were not. Since the affiliate network has adopted a more diverse and flexible means of tracking,  advertisers have become less dependent on cookies. The TagTag tracking code introduced in 2018 uses fingerprint technology and guarantees correct attribution even if all cookies and JavaScripts get blocked.

“We are currently measuring the accuracy of tracking in Chrome with an in-built ad blocker. The tests are running smoothly, Admitad tracking code suffers no damage. However, certain ads or banners may get blocked if they are regarded as irritating by Chrome. Publishers should check their websites and advertisements for compliance with Google requirements, for example, make sure that ads are no larger than 30% of the page, and videos are not played automatically with sound,” said a Senior QA Engineer at Admitad .

Websites that fail to fulfill the requirements will not be blocked by Google ad filtering, although the ads they contain will not be displayed. But ultimately, the stakes are significantly lower this time. Judging by 2018 data, if all pop-ups and banners had been blocked, Admitad publishers would have lost slightly under $1 million (one-third of that from mobile ads).

We did the best we could to guarantee the utmost accuracy of attribution via deep-links. As for the banners and pop-ups, all we can do as an affiliate network is timely inform our publishers. For most of them, it will be easy to comply — muting videos with autoplay does not take much time, and making sticky banners smaller is also relatively simple. Others, however, will have to turn to less intrusive ads as Google and major digital companies strive for better user experience online.

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As Jef I. Richards, Professor and Chair of the Department of Advertising + Public Relations at Michigan State University once said, “Creative without strategy is called 'art.' Creative with strategy is called 'advertising." Chrome’s might not be burdensome for businesses at first glance, but it is a necessary step to eliminate obnoxious adverts that have no place on the internet. As public opinion has demonstrated, users are open to online advertising, as long as it is done well. With the right knowledge, technology, and creativity, a company can still prosper through online advertising more than ever.