Content publishers work extremely hard to attract and engage visitors, creating a positive experience for these users to come back for more. However, there are some websites that attempt to trick users in order to generate deceitful interactions.
Search engines and browser developers like Google have implemented different measures that tell users when they enter one of these malicious sites, but these features don’t always flag dangerous pages.
As a matter of fact, it’s common for reliable websites to see Google abusive experience reports. But, just because you received one of these warnings it doesn’t mean that your platform is doomed. If this does happen to you, there’s a variety of different steps you can take to get your site out of trouble.
PropellerAds works with many leading publishers across several industries, so our team has helped these platform owners remove abusive experience warnings from their sites countless times.In this article, we’ll go over Google’s abusive experience reports and tell you how to remove these warnings from your site.
What Is an “Abusive Experience” According to Google?
According to Google, an abusive experience occurs when one or more elements in a website are designed to mislead visitors. For example, auto-redirects that send users to another website without taking any actions or adverts that use malicious techniques to garner more interactions.
In simple terms, Google will hit websites with an abusive experience warning if they:
- Have automatic redirects
- Display an overwhelming number of pop-ups
- Mislead users or trick them into clicking or otherwise interacting with them
- Violates preset ad type coalition standards
Google is actively seeking websites that have violations, sending examples of ads that trigger these warnings to the owners of the sites that fail its evaluation. If a website receives an abusive experience warning, the webmaster has 30 days to log into Google Search Console, see the warning, and fix the problem.
The silver lining is that Google has also set up a system where publishers that fail their evaluation can make improvements and get back on track even after the 30-day window has passed.
Understanding Abusive Experience Notifications
Google abusive notifications are generated automatically. If you receive one, your Google Search Console will contain an explanation, and in some cases, an image or a short video with the element of your site that triggered the warning.
Once you get a warning, you need to disable ads or fix the issue in order to remove the warning. Then, you can submit a review right through the Google Search Console.
A moderator manually checks your website after submission and the warning usually disappears after 24 hours. Note that you have the chance to submit 2 reviews in a row. After that, you need to wait 30 days between review submissions.
The Publisher’s Playbook: How to Monetize with Interstitials
To minimize issues, some webmasters create a welcome page for their site and avoid putting ads there. This means that their homepage will never be down because of a Google warning.
Why Are My Ads Triggering These Warnings?
There are many reasons why an ad or set of ads may be triggering these warnings, which include:
- Misleading ads
- Ads containing viruses or tech support links
- Unclosable ads
- Ads that redirect users on the same page instead of opening a new window
To avoid these scenarios, you should always partner with reliable networks and avoid partnering with platforms that use shady monetization schemes.
How to Solve an Abusive Experience Violation
If you have an abusive content violation from Google, you should:
- Pay special attention to the user experience on your site. Avoid using unlimited pop-ups or any other element that negatively impacts the way users view or interact with your content.
- Additionally, the ads should not block your content fully or send users to other websites in the same window
If you’re experiencing issues, our PropellerAds account managers can help. Simply contact us and we’ll be glad to help.
Having issues with Google abusive reports? Contact PropellerAds and our team will be glad to guide you through everything you need to know.
