Google has announced that it will now allow its Adsense publishers to opt out of many of the newer ad format features.
Publishers have seen a steady stream of "innovations" appearing on ads displayed at their websites including clickable arrow icons and favicons. While designed to maximize the performance of ad units, they've done more to upset the digital experience for users than improve earnings for publishers.
The features that Adsense Publishers can now opt out of include:
- Similar-sized display ads: Showing smaller but higher performing display ads in larger ad units.
- Enhanced text ads: Displaying text ads with performance-enhancing features such as product images, favicons, or clickable arrow icons, etc.
- Expandable ads: Displaying rich media ads that can expand beyond the original size of the ad unit, following a user-initiated action.
- Enhanced display ads: Showing display ads with performance-enhancing features such as mouseover highlights, etc.
- Animated display ads: Showing non-static display (e.g., image) ads, such as ad creatives created using Adobe Flash or animated GIF formats.
