Google gives advertisers more visibility and control over search following scathing Adalytics report

Google is adding visibility and control over how advertisers use search partners in the wake of a report late last year by Adalytics that found porn sites and sites attached to sanctioned companies in Iran and Russia served ads. The move provides what appears to be unprecedented transparency into a massive $175 billion Google search business that on its own is twice the size of the U.S. TV advertising market. Effective March 4, Google will offer impression-level placement reporting of Search Partner Network sites for campaigns using its AI-driven Performance Max (Pmax) platform. This matches the reporting Pmax already offers for display campaigns. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs Prior to the Adalytics report, Pmax campaigns were automatically opted into all search partner sites. Other campaigns were opted into search partners by default unless advertisers unchecked a box opting out. Following the report, in December, Google allowed Pmax users to also opt out of search partner inventory through March 1. Also read: Marketing guide to Google’s cookie tests The new policies go beyond that, adding permanent and broader controls for Pmax and other campaigns. The company will unify its brand safety preferences so that account-level placement exclusions will now also apply to the Search Partner Network, in addition to YouTube and display ads, according to a statement by a Google spokesperson. Google Search Partners include other major Google properties outside conventional search, including YouTube and Google Discover, as well as such lesser outside search engines as Ask.com and Excite.com, and thousands of other sites unrelated to conventional search. The moves come “after deep consultation with our advertising partners,” the spokesperson said. Adalytics and Ad Age found dozens of brands and entities, including congressional campaigns and recruiting arms of the U.S. armed forces, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency, could have had their ads displayed on porn, Iranian or Russian sites—though it’s not clear how many did. Adalytics began the study in part after being prompted by a large advertiser that had excluded controversial right-wing site Breitbart from its Google buys yet still found its ads displayed there via search, given that the site is a Google partner. Many advertisers appeared to entirely or largely turn off Search Partners ads in the aftermath, including Procter & Gamble Co., Target, Clorox and DoubleVerify. The advertisers either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment. Google is making what appear to be substantial changes to control over the partners for its biggest business despite having originally dismissed or downplayed much of the Adalytics report’s findings. Based on a 30-day sample, more than 90% of Search Partner Network impressions are from the top 100 sites and apps, including YouTube, according to Google. The Adalytics report focused on ProSe, a program through which thousands of non-profits, education institutions and other websites participate in Google search, and in return, receive a free search experience engineered by Google on their sites. Related: Google launches ad measurement tool for brands Google doesn’t share revenue with those sites unless they also enable, and are accepted into, Adsense for Search, according to the company’s statement. They’re also required to abide by rules of service that include prohibiting adult content, though such sites were serving Google search ads prior to the report. Google reported that its analysis did not identify ad revenue being shared “with a single sanctioned entity.” Google said the Adayltics report named 30 websites that were claimed to violate its policies, though not all did, and that sites subsequently “actioned” due to policy violations accounted for 0.002% of impressions across the partner network and far less of spending. Google’s in a statement said it deploys a variety of safeguards to enforce its rules across the Search Partner Network, including Scaled Content Enforcement, which involves automated classifiers and human reviewers. The spokesman declined to say how many people are assigned to that enforcement. The company also reported it uses regular sweeps for AdSense policy violations and terminates accounts where they’re found and regular sampling of the network to measure the prevalence of violations. Media measurement blog Tracking TV, social and digital updates Click here

Google gives advertisers more visibility and control over search following scathing Adalytics report

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