Throughout 2014, the search engine Google conducted a crackdown on online adverts and internet marketers that it believes are scamming netizens.
With its efforts seemingly ongoing, last year the firm disabled around 524 million web ads that it deemed could lead to sites full of malware and scams, as well as those that could be supporting various other criminal elements and activities.
Highlighting the importance of using reputable search engine optimisation (SEO) copywriting services, Google also barred more than 214,000 businesses and individuals that it termed “bad actors” from its marketing stream, AdWords.
With various analysts claiming that Google controls between 60% and 70% of all online searches, being dropped from the rankings could be devastating to companies that are caught up in the crackdown.
Writing in a blog post for Google, the search engine’s ads engineering director, Vikaram Gupta, stated that while the vast number of adverts and marketers banned from its service represented but a small fraction of its total market, the firm would continue to be “vigilant” to keep its users safe from what it deemed “bad advertising practices”.
Of those barred from operating on Google AdWords, Gupta claimed that 7,000 were promoting counterfeit products, 5,000 were attempting to phish users and 250,000 websites had hidden malware.
Keeping Google’s services clean of marketing malpractices would be beneficial to the search engine in the long run; not only would it mean that its users can surf the net with more confidence, but the company itself can avoid hefty fines and penalties.
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