The number of people who access the Internet via mobile phones and tablets grows every day like foam. Unfortunately, so do ads that try to mislead users. Among the most harmful are Adsense auto-click ads. Google removed more than 23.000 pieces of this advertising from its AdSense platform in 2016. We explain what it consists of so you don't fall into the trap.
Google is constantly removing bad ads and putting new filters in place to try to rid the internet of such ads. The user is defenseless against these bad practices and the distrust that it produces does not suit companies that rely on AdSense to offer their products. And what worries the most are the so-called auto-click ads.
What are mobile auto-click ads?
Surely you have ever come across these types of ads. If you are browsing a website and suddenly you have appeared in the Play Store before an application that you do not know, it is very likely that landed on an auto-click ad. As its name suggests, this ad clicks on itself when it appears and takes you directly where it wants.
In 2015, Google only found and removed a few thousand of these ads on its services. But in 2016, Google has found and disabled over 23.000 of these auto-click ads. The figure is alarming and the increase from one year to the next worries the company a lot. This shows that more people are trying to scam users through mobile devices, hopelessly pushing them towards websites without their consent.
The company itself on its blog does not offer any concrete reason for the emergence of such malicious ads. It also did not clarify whether it could stop the rise of these AdSense ads in the future. But what can we do about these ads?
If you come across this type of activity on a mobile website, you can go to the Google AdSense page to report a violation of their policies. You have to fill out a form with data about what type of ad and where you found it, in addition to putting your data. The truth, it could be simpler, but even if we recommend that you try it, especially if it is on your own website where those ads appear.
Types of misleading advertising on Google
Google's 2016 Flawed Ads Report as a whole is worth a read if you're interested in this topic. In total, the company has counted about 1.700 billion ads removed on all its platforms and services. This is more than double the amount in 2015.
Another type of deceptive advertising that Google fights against are ads offering easy credit in a day. In English they are known as payday loan ads and it is also in your Adsense advertising network. Since July 2016, Google has removed more than 5 million of easy credit ads in one day.
One more example of prohibited ads are the so-called trick to click. You also know them. They are the ads that appear as a warning that your system is being attacked or needs an imminent update. It is a gateway to malware on mobiles and also on PCs. Google claims it got rid of 112 million such ads in 2016, more than six times the amount it found in 2015.
