If you’ve ever considered the size and scope of Alphabet’s search engine advertising machine, a scale probably best-reflected in the company’s quarterly earnings reports, you’ve probably wondered how it manages to keep harmful, malicious, and offensive advertising off of the platform. The benefits of search engine advertising are well known, so it stands to reason that bad actors would try to reach receptive audiences through this means.
So, how does Alphabet keep Google Ads safe? Through hard work and investment, it turns out. The company recently released its 2021 Ads Safety Report detailing the exhaustive measures it takes to protect user safety.
“User safety is at the top of our list when we make decisions about ads and monetized content on our platforms,” wrote Scott Spencer, VP of Product Management, Ads Privacy and Safety. “In fact, thousands of Googlers work around the clock to prevent malicious use of our advertising services and help make them safer for people, businesses and publishers.”
That round-the-clock work led Google to remove 3.4 billion ads in 2021. It also restricted over 5.7 billion ads, suspended over 5.6 million advertiser accounts, blocked or restricted ads from serving on 1.7 billion publisher pages, and took ‘broader site-level enforcement action’ against 63,000 publisher sites.
One of the main points of emphasis for the search engine was limiting monetized misinformation around COVID-19. It blocked ads from running on upwards of 500,000 pages that violated its policies around harmful COVID-19 health claims and ‘demonstrably false claims that could undermine trust and participation in elections.’ In 2022, the focus will be on preventing ads from ‘profiting from or exploiting’ the war in Ukraine.
As a Google partner search engine advertising agency, GrowthEngine Media takes comfort in these kinds of user safety efforts. It is our priority to ensure that clients’ ads are seen alongside relevant, useful information. Google’s latest Ads Safety Report makes clear that this is the case.
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