Google announced late Friday that they will begin restricting ads from third-party technical support providers due to an increase in misleading ad experiences. Google will roll out a "verification program" to validate these technical support providers are legit.
Google wrote:
Today, we’re taking another step. We’ve seen a rise in misleading ad experiences stemming from third-party technical support providers and have decided to begin restricting ads in this category globally. For many years, we’ve consulted and worked with law enforcement and government agencies to address abuse in this area. As the fraudulent activity takes place off our platform, it’s increasingly difficult to separate the bad actors from the legitimate providers. That’s why in the coming months, we will roll out a verification program to ensure that only legitimate providers of third-party tech support can use our platform to reach consumers.These efforts alone won’t stop all bad actors trying to game our advertising systems, but it will make it a lot harder. There’s more to do, and we’ll continue committing the resources necessary to keep the online advertising ecosystem a safe place for everyone.
It is unclear how that verification process will work, but maybe Google will mail postcards or something to these offices. It is true, I've seen many spammy areas in the third-party technical support providers area - so I am glad to see Google acting on this with at least their Ads platform.
Google previously did this with payday loans and with bail bonds.
WebmasterWorld Moderator Mack wrote:
It always amazes me that people are still taken in my this kind of scam, but then we aren't your average web user. Joe or Jane Blogs out there may not have heard of it and might be very susceptible to such an ad. I agree that Google and other ad platforms need to act against such promotions.
Forum discussion at WebmasterWorld.
