Google Will Bring Ad Blocking Features To Chrome Browser

Ads have long been a necessary part of web browsing, but it’s only been in recent years that users have fought back against ads they’ve found distracting. Soon, they’ll also have a notable company in their corner: Google.

In a post Thursday, Google confirmed it will begin to integrate its own ad blocking features into its Chrome browser starting in early 2018. Google plans to follow existing standards set up by the Coalition for Better Ads, an industry group of online advertisers, to determine which ads to block.

Read: Google Reportedly Planning To Put Native Ad-Blocking Feature In Chrome

Ads that the Coalition for Better Ads considers problematic include pop-ups, full-screen ads and auto-playing videos. Google’s announcement said the move to start actively supporting smarter ad blocking came from the way most users experience sites today.

“The reality is, it’s far too common that people encounter annoying, intrusive ads on the web — like the kind that blare music unexpectedly, or force you to wait 10 seconds before you can see the content on the page,” Google said. “These frustrating experiences can lead some people to block all ads — taking a big toll on the content creators, journalists, web developers and videographers who depend on ads to fund their content creation.”

Publishers will be able to audit their sites through Google’s Ad Experience Report tool to determine what ads would violate its new standards and learn about ad formats that would follow new guidelines.

Google also plans to pair its ad filtering tools with other support features. The company is currently testing a whitelisting feature called Funding Choices with several publishers. Through the feature, publishers can show a message to readers who have enabled a third-party ad blocker encouraging them to either enable ads or pay a small fee to go ad-free. CNBC reported Google will take an estimated 10 percent of payments made through Funding Choices.

Google’s move reflects a shifting attitude among readers, publishers and advertisers toward online advertising. While ads have been a major way for publishers to earn income to fund their sites, readers have become increasingly opposed to ads they find disruptive.

Read: Best Chrome Extensions To Help You At Work, Keep Organized

In the past, users have simply had to bear with advertising but with tools like ad blockers and video filtering, users can now block and disable ads that they find distracting. As a response, publishers have increasingly turned to appeals to readers about the effect ad blockers have on their bottom line and offered alternatives like ad-free micropayment passes. Google’s willingness to take on ad blocking services means publishers can outsource this work directly to another company.

Third-party extensions like Adblock have filled in the gap for many users, but on Google’s end, they likely want to bring such functionality in-house. In April, Google was rumored to be looking into bringing ad blocking to Chrome.