• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, August 31, 2023

Google on Thursday announced a new approach to improving ad clarity, with a “get-to-know-you” program that affects advertisers Google is less familiar with.

The policy, Limited Ads Serving, aims to reduce the risk of scams and help prevent confusing and misleading ads.

“While we want to allow users the opportunity to interact with relevant and helpful ads, this policy will reduce the chance that they'll see a misleading or confusing ad from an advertiser with an unproven track record,” Alejandro Borgia, director, product management, ads safety at Google, wrote in a blog post.

The policy, which will gradually roll out, will apply to those advertisers when they target certain brands with their ad campaigns.

For example, Google will implement this policy when the relationship between an advertiser and a brand referenced in their ad is unclear. This is an area where Google wants to ensure that users have a clear understanding of who they are dealing with when they interact with an ad.

Advertisers that do not have a positive, standing record of good behavior may have their impressions limited under this policy as they build their track record on the platform.

Google has also provided advertisers with tips they can use in campaigns to create clear ads — including pinning their domain to the title of the ad, especially if they are not a widely known brand on the internet.

It is also important to us that we keep our platform open to new advertisers and give them the opportunity to deliver a helpful experience,” he wrote. “This policy won't block or remove any ad from our platform, and any limitations on an ad will only apply in certain scenarios like when a user could be confused by an advertiser's brand identity.”