Google Corporation published its annual report on advertising campaigns for 2023. From it, we learned a lot of interesting data and trends that impact the advertising industry.

For example, the report reveals that the number of advertisers subjected to blocking or removal due to rule violations nearly doubled compared to the previous year. Google suspended operations of 12.7 million advertising accounts and blocked over 5.5 billion ads in 2023.

The primary reasons for ad blocking were abuse of the advertising network (1.04 billion), use of third-party trademarks (548 million), personalized advertising (372 million), financial services (273 million), and legal requirements (209 million).

Simultaneously, over 2.1 billion pages were blocked due to inappropriate content, affecting 395 thousand sites, indicating a significant increase compared to the previous period. For instance, comparing it with 2021, this figure more than doubled, with 143 thousand sites being blocked.

Advertisers

Artificial Intelligence emerged as a key trend in the advertising industry in 2023, bringing significant changes to optimization and security processes. Thanks to AI, Google security teams effectively fought violations, with over 90% of publisher page blocks done through machine learning.

Increased cases of fraud and scams posed a challenge to the advertising industry. Google responded to these challenges by tightening rules for advertisers and taking steps to protect users from dishonest practices (see «Limited Ad Serving» and changes in the fact-checking policy).

• As a result, Google blocked or removed 206.5 million advertising campaigns for misleading users.
• Google blocked or removed 273.4 million ads for violating financial services policy.
• Over 1 billion ads were blocked or removed for violating the policy prohibiting abuse of the advertising network, including promoting harmful programs.

Google anticipates an increase in the complexity of scam schemes in the future and has already begun collaborating with organizations such as the Global Anti-Scam Alliance and Stop Scams UK to combat new forms of fraud.

Advertising Campaigns

Google aims to deliver ads that align with user interests while considering legal requirements and rules in different regions worldwide. Therefore, it restricts the display of some advertising campaigns in specific locations.

In 2023, restrictions affected 6.9 billion ads, with reasons for these limitations including legal requirements (418 million), financial services (282 million), gambling (144 million), adult content (144 million), and copyright (87 million).

Publishers

Google declares its support for an open internet, assisting publishers in monetizing their content. However, this content is subject to restrictions and rules for publishers. Here are the top 10 reasons for page blocks by publishers (note the leader's margin):

1. Sexual content (1.8 billion)
2. Dangerous content (104 million)
3. Weapons (61 million)
4. Shocking content (40 million)
5. Gambling (38 million)
6. Computer viruses (25 million)
7. Tobacco (23 million)
8. Intellectual property (11 million)
9. Alcohol (10 million)
10. Explicit content (2 million)

Future Outlook

Google actively responds to changes in the world and plans to give more control to users, publishers, and advertisers. The launch of the Ads Transparency Center in 2023 and continuous improvement of policies regarding publishers and advertisers are just the beginning of this process, which will continue in the future.

Google's advertising and content policies changed 31 times in 2023, indicating a commitment to continuous improvement and adaptation to new challenges and requirements.

Also available in PDF.