These frequently asked questions about the Ad Experience Report are intended to address the most common concerns of publishers.
FAQs fall into the following categories:
Review status and submissions
How are sites reviewed?
We use a combination of manual and automated methods to review sites. Reviews are sometimes captured in videos or screenshots, which are surfaced in the Ad Experience Report.
How long before my site is reviewed for the first time?
We don't have a specific timeline for when a given site is reviewed. The Ad Experience Report is focused on covering as many domains as possible, and coverage will ramp up as we build out its capacity. Learn more about the review cycle.
Is there a way to submit examples of violations that I have seen on other sites?
Yes. If you have found experiences that meet the criteria of the Better Ads Standards, please submit feedback via this form. Google will review your submission and may evaluate the site if there is sufficient evidence that the site is violating the Better Ads Standards.
How many violating ad experiences cause a site to fail?
The Better Ads Standard identifies the experiences that are most annoying to users. The spirit of the standard is that those experiences should be avoided entirely. We recognise that mistakes happen, and sometimes an ad experience appears unintentionally. We therefore look for repeated instances of these experiences before taking any action.
Chrome adheres to guidelines on thresholds as outlined by the Coalition for Better Ads’ Better Ads Experience Programme.
What if my status is 'Reviewed – Passing'?
This status indicates that no violating ad experiences were found on the sample of pages that we reviewed. We suggest proactively auditing your site against the Better Ads Standards to help ensure that your site passes future reviews.
How many times does a site have to fail before Chrome filters ads?
If your site is in 'Failing' status, ad filtering is paused while your first or second requests are processed. However, after your second request, there is a 30-day period during which you can't submit another review; during this time period ad filtering will commence on the date specified in the Ad Experience Report if your site remains in 'Failing' status. Learn more about the review cycle.
How many times can I request a review?
Publishers are limited in the number of times that they can request a review.
Note that you can't submit for a subsequent review until your site's last review is completed. During this time, your site has a status of 'Review pending'. Find out more about the review cycle.
How often is my site reviewed?
Sites are periodically reviewed, even if their current status is 'Passing'. If you know that you are running experiences that do not conform to the Better Ads Standards, we recommend removing them so that they're not flagged in future reviews.
Do I need to continue to check the Report if my site is passing?
We recommend viewing the Ad Experience Report change log periodically. The change log displays the date of the last site review along with any change in review status.
What if I believe that an ad experience has been misidentified?
Please review the steps in the Help Centre to tell us if we’ve misidentified an ad experience.
Will I be notified of a change in status or do I need to check the report?
Users registered for a website property in Search Console receive an email notifying them that the domain is in a 'Failing' state. However, we recommend also setting up a process to periodically check the Ad Experience Report proactively.
Are subdomains reviewed separately?
In general, no. The Ad Experience Report treats subdomains (example.website.com) and paths under the parent domains (website.com/example) as being part of the parent domain (website.com). However, if subdomains are on the public suffix list, they're reviewed separately.
Note that the Ad Experience Report does review top-level domains (e.g. example.com and example.co.uk) separately.
What if my subdomains aren’t on the public suffix list, but need to be reviewed separately?
In some exceptional cases where the public suffix list is not a viable solution, you can request that we review specific subdomains separately from the rest of your domain.
- You should only make a request if the public suffix list is not a viable solution.
- Requests will not be granted if the use case is found to be invalid.
- If your request is granted, we’ll post the information publicly.
- This is a temporary programme intended to give publishers time to evaluate alternative solutions. The program ends on 31 July 2020.
Get started by filling in the Request to review subdomains separately form, and we’ll take it from there.
Ad formats and coverage
How is the short-form video standard implemented?
Ads for online video sessions that are eight minutes or less are subject to the Better Ads Standards, whether they are on auto-play or manually selected. Video ads are evaluated in desktop web, mobile web and in-app environments. This standard does not apply to digital environments that the Coalition has yet to test, like feeds or OTT/CTV video.
For examples on how the standard is implemented, see the section in the Help Centre on Ads in short-form video content.
Can you confirm that a specific ad format will pass?
There is no tool or process that gives a definitive answer for specific ad formats. The recommended approach is to closely study the information published by the Coalition for Better Ads, and in particular the Standards and Research pages that contain information about what's part of the standards and what's not.
What is an 'ad' for the purposes of the Ad Experience Report?
For the purposes of the Ad Experience Report, an 'ad' is promotional content displayed on a website as the result of a commercial transaction with a third party (learn more). For this reason, site elements such as surveys or site signup forms are usually not considered ads, nor are house ads.
Are site pages behind a sign-in reviewed?
No, ad experiences on site pages that require users to sign in are not currently included in the Ad Experience Report.
What if a violating ad experience on my site has not yet been flagged by the report?
If you know that you are running experiences that do not conform to the Better Ads Standards, we recommend removing them so that they are not flagged in future reviews.
Accessing the Report
How do I access the Ad Experience Report?
Webmasters for a site can access the Ad Experience Report by visiting the Web Tools section of the Google Search Console. Publishers need to have a verified site in Search Console in order to access the report. Learn more about accessing the Ad Experience Report.
Is my site reviewed if I don't have a Search Console account?
Yes. Sites are reviewed regardless of whether a Search Console account exists. Publishers without a Search Console account can also see warnings in the Chrome Developer Console, but need to create an account in Search Console in order to access the Report.
Chrome ad filtering
When does Chrome filter ads?
You can view the date on which Chrome ad filtering goes into effect (if the issues are not corrected) in the 'Ad filtering' status at the top of the Ad Experience Report. During this time period, you can remove ad experiences and submit the site for review. If additional reviews continue to result in a 'Failing' status, no further extensions are given. Learn more about the review cycle.
What do sites look like when Chrome filters ads?
The exact effect on the site depends on how the site and the ad experiences are constructed. Depending on the site, users may see blank spaces or the site's content may fill in the space previously occupied by the ads.
Is ad filtering global?
Yes. If a site is in 'Failing' review status and Chrome ad filtering commences, it affects all visitors to the site, regardless of where they're visiting from.