Google moves to combat accidental clicks
Google is moving to improve campaign reporting on smartphones for both brands and publishers with the introduction of an ad verification tool that aims to prevent accidental accidental clicks on mobile ads.
The advertising giant has today announced the introduction of “confirmed clicks” to in-app display ads which ask users to verify that they intentionally requested an ad before serving them with the content.
Mobile app users that click on the periphery of a Google display ad format will now be asked to verify their intention by being served with a “visit site” logo, see image below, before being served with the brand’s content.
The announcement was made today (December 13) by Allen Huang, Google, product manager, mobile display ads, via a post on the official company blog.
“Ads on smartphones are effective, but many of us have at some point clicked on an ad by accident, which ultimately is a bad experience for the user, the publisher and the advertiser who pays for clicks that may not be valuable,”reads the post.
The introduction builds on earlier efforts from Google to verify click through rates on text-based ad units with the company reporting that improves conversion rates.
“In our initial tests, we found that confirmed clicks notably improve mobile conversion rates, with a slight decrease in clickthrough rate as accidental clicks are avoided,” according to Huang.
The blog continues: “This is only the beginning. As devices continue to converge there will be new challenges in the fight against what many have called the ‘fat finger’ problem. But implementing confirmed clicks is an important step that we think will benefit users, advertisers, publishers, and the mobile ecosystem overall.”
