Google's decision to remove ads from its search engine results pages (SERPs) was made in order to provide a better user experience. By including fewer options, it also provides a more cohesive experience between mobile and desktop search, something that Google has been prioritizing for a while, especially with last year's major algorithm change.
Google also noted that it canceled the accounts of more than 1.2 million publishers and removed ads from more than 21 million web pages from its publisher network for policy violations. The most cynical question one could ask here is whether Google removed fewer ads to improve its bottom line.
Luckily, users have a lot of control over the ads they receive, partly because Google has responded positively to customer feedback. Last week, Google announced that it will gradually implement its advertiser verification program beyond political advertisers. Google is quite deliberate with these kinds of changes and queries a mountain of data before doing so.
If you're still scared that Google knows too much private information about you, you can turn off Google's ad targeting. Scroll up the screen until you see that ad personalization is turned on. From now on, you'll avoid ads on Google based on your browsing history, although that doesn't mean you won't receive ads at all. This only happens for what Google calls “highly commercial inquiries”, which is when Google trusts that a user's intention is to make a purchase. These ads only appear in Google search results and on Google-affiliated search engines.
By removing the ads on the right side of the SERP, Google can clean the page without deleting a frequently used ad unit. You can't turn off ads completely, but you can prevent Google from directing you to brands and products that the algorithm thinks you're going to like.
Google remembers it and now spies on you with its personalized ads based on your browsing history. There is no need for additional extensions or add-ons to disable Google ads in Chrome, Mozilla or Opera.
In conclusion, Google has removed ads from its search engine results pages in order to provide a better user experience and to reduce policy violations. Users have control over the ads they receive by turning off ad personalization and preventing Google from directing them to brands and products that the algorithm thinks they will like. Lastly, there is no need for additional extensions or add-ons to disable Google ads in Chrome, Mozilla or Opera.
