Ads are intrinsically connected to the web and are one of the main ways companies profit from providing services on the internet. Just like us here at Dr. tech tips. But in most cases, it can be hard to tell which ad provider is serving ads on a certain web page.
Furthermore, information about why a specific ad was shown to you is even less transparent. But it doesn’t have to be so, at least according to Google — one of the most prominent tech companies providing advertising services to big and small businesses. The tech giant has gone ahead to launch a special Chrome extension that helps you know such hidden information.
Google has a new Chrome extension that shows you information about ads loaded on a web page. The extension is known as Ads Transparency Spotlight.
Google’s Ads Transparency Spotlight extension shows you everything from the number of ads on a web page, list of ad providers responsible for serving the ads, and why the ads were shown. Ads Transparency Spotlight also lists all companies and services with a presence on the page, including content delivery networks and even analytics providers.
The extension, according to Google, is meant to give users information about how ads are being shown. It’s part of Google’s initiative to give people more visibility into the data used to personalize ads and provide them with more control over that data.
Google began showing info about its own ads via the “Why this ad” link on each ad a while back.
Limitations
Ads Transparency Spotlight currently only works with ads purchased via Google Ads and have implemented Ad Disclosure Schema.
That means information on ads from other third-party Ad companies won’t be shown – like OutBrain. For now, Google hopes such companies will implement similar solutions so the extension can work broadly.
How to view Ad Information on Chrome
1. Download Ads Transparency Spotlight from the official Chrome Web Store here. (You’ll see the extension’s icon at the top of Chrome’s window)
2. Visit any website with Ads
3. Click the Ads Transparency Spotlight icon
4. In the Ads Transparency Spotlight flyout, you can navigate to the Ads tab to view information about ads. To view all companies that have a presence on the page, click the Entities tab.
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