Google AdWords Bans Crypto PPC Ads

Bad news for cryptocurrency-related advertisers like the Google AdWords agency PowerTraffick: potential for ad space portals just got a lot smaller since Google will soon initiate a ban similar to the one Facebook initiated earlier this year against crypto ads.

Cryptocurrency Ads Are A No-Go For Top Digital Advertising Portals

In 2016, almost 18 billion dollars was spent on digital ad space, a 20% bump from 2015. While there a multitude of companies offering digital ad space, a look at the concurrent profits from those purchased ads shows that Google and Facebook are the major players. Of the 60 billion in ad profits, Google alone claimed $30 billion of it and Facebook claimed $8 billion of it.

The translation is that cryptocurrency ads have a major problem.

Google To Follow Facebook’s Cryptocurrency Ad Ban

Google will no longer allow ads with cryptocurrency-related content. This ban includes ads offering cryptocurrency trade advice, initial coin offerings, and wallet offerings. These updates are being placed on Google’s Financial Services Ad Policies, and they will take effect June 2018. A similar ban has already taken effect within Facebook.

Even Legitimate Cryptocurrency Ads Are A No-Go.

Google’s ad products place advertising on both their own and third party sites, both of which will be off limits to cryptocurrency ads. It doesn’t matter if the company offers legitimate, legal, ethical, and upfront offerings, the ban is still zero tolerance.

Scott Spencer, Google’s director of sustainable ads, says that they [Google] do not have any idea what’s in store for cryptocurrency. They do have enough evidence, however, of the current harm and potential future harm crypto presents. As such, it’s an area Spencer says Google wants to approach cautiously.

Indeed, the cryptocurrency marketing boom is responsible for just as many stories of wealth and success as it is losses and victims of scams. The central concern is that cryptocurrency is an unregulated space.

As such, many businesses feel it presents a potential trust and safety risk to be associated with it. In fact, Google just released its annual trust and safety ads report, in which it claims to have taken down over 3.2 billion in ads that violated its 2017 policy. This is twice the amount from the previous year.

Alphabet, Google’s parent company claims over 80% of their revenue from AdWords PPC advertising, making it crucial for them to sustain a safe and trustworthy advertising ecosystem; banning potentially risky cryptocurrency ads is a logical step to maintain such an ecosystem.