Google Chrome will start blocking annoying ads from February 15

Google will start blocking intrusive advertisements in its Chrome browser starting February 15. Ad blocking will come to both Google’s mobile and desktop browsers. The announcement was made on Google’s developer page. Google did not say what Chrome version of the browser the new ad-blocking mechanism will ship with, but it is likely to come as part of the Chrome 64 release scheduled for late January 2018.

It was in April, that first reports suggested Google’s move to incorporate a native ad-blocker into Chrome. Exact details were limited, but in July it revealed that Google was testing an ad-blocker baked inside Chrome Canary, the experimental version of Chrome browser. However, not all ads will be blocked by Google, only the most annoying ads.

Interestingly, most of the digital ads across the world are served via Google. The move follows a recent reveal by the Coalition for Better ads experience program, which has released new guidelines for companies like Google and Facebook to improve the online ad experience for both consumers and publishers. Pop-up ads, auto-play video ads with sound, prestitial ads with countdown, and large sticky ads all have been identified as falling the Better Ads standard on desktop.

For mobile environment, the Coalition has identified pop-up ads, prestitial ads, ads with density greater than 30 per cent, flashing animated ads, auto-play video ads with sound, poststitial ads with countdown, full-screen scrollover ads, and large sticky ads are being marked as non-acceptable. Google says it will block all ads on websites that have a “failing” status for more than 30 days.