Are Google Search Ads a Risk to Your Brand

Search ads that you bought could be getting served on random websites some of which could prove to be detrimental to the brand. New research suggests that the Google Search Partners network could be causing ads to be served on non-Google websites that include pornography websites and others on governmental blacklists. 

The report prepared by ad quality and transparency platform Adalytics says it found instances of search ads purchased by Google being served on websites that are definitely not part of the targets required by the business. As an example, it said Google ads were served on Breitibart.com, which is a news site with far-right views. 

The report says brand safety could be compromised

Titled Does a lack of transparency create brand safety concerns for search advertisers, the report  said these samples raise questions of whether ads are served on websites despite the business’s efforts to ensure brand safety and control over their media investments. It refers to a Fortune 500 brand whose ads appeared on pirated content sites and some others that were potentially on the US sanctions list. 

Just so readers are clear, advertisers running paid search campaigns on Google are opted into the additional display network that Google monetizes essentially from third-party websites, including those embedded on Google’s custom search widget and not opted out of displaying the search ads. So much for targeted ads!  

So, what has changed within the GSP network?

While the GSP network is by itself not a new entity, something seems to have changed at Google whereby adding advertisers into this sub-network by default. What this means is advertisers buying a campaign with Google Ads need to actively opt out fo the Search Partner Network, else the ads get served randomly. 

It is a known fact that Google does not provide access to its third-party sites who make up their search partnership network, but Adalytics says it was able to identify thousands of websites that are or have in the past been part of the GSP grouping. The report focuses on websites that seem to fall outside of Google’s terms and conditions for participating as a GSP. 

There are rules, but are they enforced?

According to their publisher policies that search partners sign-up to, Google does not permit ads to be served alongside content that infringes copyright or is graphically sexual. The terms also insists that sanctions and export control norms of governments would be maintained, which effectively means its ads are out of bound for some countries or locations. 

There is also a rule that GSPs cannot use deceptive tactics such as redirects or pre-scripted searches to manipulate the display of search ads. But, Adalytics claims that it has documented several such instances where GSPs are in breach of one or more of these rules, which raises questions over the ad-tech giant’s enforcement approach itself.

The report said it could also identify examples of controversial websites featured in its report that set up Google’s ad display that potentially allowed them to earn revenues from clicks. This raises serious questions about how Google’s ad customers would be able to verify that their marketing spend is not being displayed where it shouldn’t. 

Of course, the entire report needs to be seen from the perspective of Adalytics’ motives, given that their business focuses on selling analytics services to media buyers via their own ad quality and transparency platform. The report itself lists out instances of websites that had the Google code on their pages, domains that engage in copyright violations etc. 

The report already has generated some heat for Google with some US lawmakers claiming that it was the final straw for action on what they called a long-pending ad fraud and safety concerns. At the other corner of the spectrum, academics specializing in algorithmic auditing say Google itself may not be fully aware of what’s going on within its ads delivery space.