Google has made a change to its ad policies, effective immediately. The policies now include a full on ban on their ads appearing on websites using pop-under ads. What are pop-under ads? They are those annoying and predominantly spam based ads that show up under the window, so they are not seen until you close or minimise the browser window.

Google released clarification of the recent changes, stating that they no longer permit ads on pop-ups or pop-unders. The policies surrounding pop-ups have been in place for some time. Currently, Google ads can’t be used on websites that use more than three pop-ups. Additionally, pop-ups cannot do any of the following:

• Initiate downloads
• Share viruses
• Interfere with site navigation
• Change the preferences of the user

Google’s latest policy update means that publishers can no longer use Google ads if they use any pop-under ads.  The reason for this change is that Google doesn’t think that pop-unders offer users a good experience.  Publishers wishing to use Google ads on their websites must now take action to ensure they are complying with the updated policies.

Improving the User Experience

The changes to the policies are aimed at improving the user experience for everyone. Hopefully, websites will stop using annoying and frustrating advertisements and create user-friendly environments.  Google monitors the trends and changes policies in a bid to improve the ad ecosystem for advertisers and publishers. In addition to the policy changes, Google has pushed websites down in the search engine results pages for ‘misbehaving’ when it comes to ads. They will even down rank websites that aren’t even using AdSense Ads. Google also began down ranking mobile websites that used interstitials and pop-up ads at the start of 2017. Therefore it’s important for publishers to consider the user experience and Google Policies when considering the ads they are using on their websites.