A recent study published by Adalytics reports Google Search Partners ads appeared on content that doesn’t adhere to its publisher policies.
Per Google’s Publisher Policies, ads are not permitted to serve alongside content that:
- Is illegal or promotes illegal activity
- Infringes copyright
- Sells or facilitates the sale of counterfeit products
- Incites hatred or promotes discrimination against individuals or a group of people
- Misrepresents, misstates, or conceals information about the publisher
- Makes demonstrably false claims
- And more.
The report found examples of search ads on far-leaning political websites despite advertisers’ attempts to add those domains to a block list.
The report raises questions about the lack of transparency and brand safety concerns for advertisers.
What is the Google Search Partner network?
Per definition, the Google Search Partner Network (GSP) is:
A group of search-related websites and apps where your ads can appear.
The GSP network is not new to Google Ads.
It was established in 2003 to expand its reach beyond the Google search engine.
While Google has never published a complete list of websites that belong to the partner network, the Adalytics report found over 51,000 websites that contained the Google Custom Search engine JavaScript enabled.