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Ad Blocking: Even Google’s Getting On Board

Over the past few years, the number of Internet users worldwide actively using ad blocking software has grown exponentially. It’s a shift that has occurred for two important reasons – the first of which being that ad blocking software is more effective and easy to use than ever before. But more importantly still is the fact that millennial audiences in particular generally view traditional promotional content with nothing but contempt.


They don’t want to be told what they should and shouldn’t buy, so they use advanced software to prevent the ads from appearing in the first place.
But here’s the thing – it’s looking like we may soon enter an era where ad blocking software is no longer required. At least, for the tens of millions of people all over the world who choose Google Chrome as their browser.


A report published in the Wall Street Journal earlier this month revealed that Google is apparently well on the way to completing and launching its very own ad blocker for Chrome. Which would basically mean that from then on, Chrome would automatically block promotional content even more effectively than any third party ad blocking software currently available.


Which prompts two important questions. The first of which being – why would Google decide to bring an ad blocker into the mix, given that it is in its own right a spectacularly enormous advertising company? The answer in this instance is actually pretty obvious. That being, Google’s ad blocker won’t apply to any of its own ads whatsoever. Instead, it will be used to block the kinds of ads that don’t stuff further cash into Google’s already substantial coffers.


As for the second question – does this mean something of a doomsday scenario for the average everyday marketer? If Google really does plan to begin blocking promotional content in most of its forms, won’t this prove seriously problematic for those who work in digital sales and marketing?
It might, but only for those who have already chosen to completely ignore current trends and consumer preferences.


As already mentioned, the simple fact of the matter is that today’s consumer is already getting to a point whereby conventional approaches to marketing are if anything counterproductive. Flashing animations, irritating pop-ups, banners that block half the screen – all the kinds of things that are more likely to send your prospects in the opposite direction. Not to mention, the kinds of ads that are already being effectively blocked by the kind of software that’s already on the market.


So really, the whole thing shouldn’t make a great deal of difference whatsoever to those who are working hard to keep in line with current trends. These days, successful digital advertising isn’t about simply bombarding prospective customers with the hard sell. Instead, it’s about using creative content marketing, social proof and other forward-thinking approaches to build authority and value in your prospects’ eyes.


And these are the kinds of things that are completely immune to ad blocking software, given the way in which they don’t actually constitute advertising in the first place.