Google tackles accidental ad clicks with fixes for fat fingers

Google is now blocking clicks on mobile ads and in-app interstitial ads that are likely to be unintentional.

Referencing third party studies that claim up to half of mobile ad clicks are accidental, Google is now blocking:

• Clicks occurring close to the image edge of mobile image ads (as users can inadvertently click on ads when trying to scroll past them).
• Clicks on the app icon of an in-app interstitial ad (which is typically close to the ad close button). Valid clicks now require users click on the call-to-action button to visit the app store page and install the app.
• Clicks occurring before the ad has been onscreen for a short time (allowing users enough time to examine the content of the ad before clicking).

Why should you care?

AdWords advertisers running multi-device display campaigns or promoting their apps can expect to see changes in campaign performance. While click-through rates may drop, conversions should increase.

In announcing the recent changes, Google says that after introducing the new rules mobile ad conversion rates have improved by 15 percent.

Other search marketing news this week:

• Why Yahoo could become your default web browser
  Yahoo resorts to sneaky tactics to trick people into setting Yahoo as their default homepage and search engine.
• Bing outdoes Google with new Video Search
  Bing’s updated Video Search could become the starting place for an increasingly large number of searches.

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