Ads are an inescapable aspect of the digital world these days and although they’re here to stay, Google at least wants to help make them a little less annoying. According to a recent study, up to 50% of ad clicks are accidental which not only annoys the user, but can also increase the costs for the advertiser. To remedy that, Google is now implementing a handful of solutions that should definitely help decrease the number of accidental clicks. In essence, they are automatically blocking clicks that their research shows often lead to accidental clicks:
- Blocking clicks that happen close to the image edge: On mobile image ads, we’ve identified the image border as an area prone to accidental clicks when users are trying to click or scroll to adjacent content. Now, they must click on a more central part of the image to navigate to an advertiser’s website or app.
- Blocking clicks on the app icon: On in-app interstitial ads, users will no longer be able to click on the app icon of an install ad given its proximity to the ad close button. Instead, users must click on the call-to-action button to visit an app store page and install the app.
- Adding a clickability delay: Ads will only become clickable after they’ve been onscreen for a short period of time. This gives users enough time to examine the content of an ad and helps eliminate accidental clicks from users who didn’t expect to see an ad.
While many users may not even notice the change, this is a great move by Google that should definitely lead to a better user experience.
[Google]