Google Removes 2.3 Billion Ads in 2018: a Look at the Changes to their Content Policy

Google is showing that they're truly focused on increasing online security: first, they presented some very interesting data about phishing at the RSA Conference. Then last week, they announced that 2.3 billion malicious ads had been purged during 2018 – or an unbelievable 6.3 million removals per day. At the same time as they disclosed this enormous number, they also shared changes to their content policy that users will need to adhere to.

The report contained other telling information: ads were removed entirely from 1.5 million apps, and Google also yanked ads from 28 million individual pages. The most severe violations included 58.8 million phishing ads which had to be taken down.

The total number of ads purged in the last year is 28% lower than that in 2017, when Google removed 3.2 billion ads. But don't let those numbers alarm you! Everything's under control – it’s just that the company's main focus has shifted to eliminating bad accounts instead of individual ads. In total, a million bad accounts were terminated in 2018 – thanks in no small part to a helping hand from machine learning.

How has Machine Learning impacted Google's Content Policy?

The company is relying more and more on artificial intelligence to aid in removing ads that violate policy. Last year, 330 detection classifiers were launched in order to determine the level of malicious content on a page. That's triple the number available in 2017.

Another tool is aimed at solving potential problems in real-time, before an ad is posted. So when someone's about to include content in their ad that violates Google's policies, they'll immediately receive tips that will help them make changes to their ad. This will all take place on a new dashboard called the Policy Manager.

Google's Policy manager will monitor policy restrictions for ads, keywords, and user extensions.

It's worth noting that since last year, Google has allowed advertisers to see the reason why their content was removed. Another feature of the dashboard is the ability to appeal policy decisions with just a few clicks (though let's hope no one has to do that too often, right?).

Removing content from the internet is important, but there's no need to feel like you're in over your head. The Axur team — and our robot friends — can help your business and customers. With our Brand usage in paid search solution, you can ensure that no one's getting away with unauthorized use of your brand.