Giving users clear notice about the ads they are viewing is a top priority for Google and it has become increasingly popular with the advertising industry overall as well.
Google introduced the AdChoices icon in the United States last year. By clicking on this icon you can learn more about online advertising you are viewing.
Now Google is introducing AdChoices icon for the Display Network in Europe. The changes will gradually be seen in various parts of Europe throughout the next couple of weeks.
Here’s what Google had to say on their Inside AdWords Blog:
We’re now rolling out the AdChoices feature across Europe, supporting industry-wide efforts to provide more information to consumers. We’ll soon start to change our “Ads By Google” in-ads notice icon to a new icon that expands to an “AdChoices” label. These notifications were developed by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB Europe)-led Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising to proactively give users notice and choice about the ads they see. With the adoption of a common icon users will see on ads across the web, we hope to show our support for the industry-wide initiative and to increase users’ understanding about their choices.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll start showing the new icon and label on most ad formats across the majority of European-language sites. Over time, we’ll expand the notice to ensure that all European-language publisher sites in the Google Display Network come within the Self-Regulatory Framework. This will be the single largest rollout of the “AdChoices” label to date, and we’re encouraged that others in the industry are also adopting the label.
Users who click on the “AdChoices” label will be taken to a page where they can learn more about online advertising and the ads they are shown. This page will also link to the Ads Preferences Manager, where users can control the types of interest-based ads they see on the Google Display Network. We think this rollout will help users better understand the ads they’re seeing, and we look forward to seeing widespread adoption of this label throughout the industry.
