Starting this summer searchers will begin to see advertiser diclosure beginning.
Following on from its identity verification program for political ads launched in 2018, Google will be extending this program to cover all advertisers. This announcement will require businesses to submit incorporation documents, personal identification and other information to prove who they are and the country they operate in.
Searchers will be able to see the disclosures and listing information about the advertisers behind the adverts that they are seeing beginning this summer. Domestic advertisers will be initially verified with the rollout beginning in phases with a full worldwide rollout expected to take atleast a couple of years to complete.
Why we care
Google’s decision to rollout their identity verification program will help searchers to find out more about who is advertising to them and will allow them to make more informed decisions on whether to click on those adverts.
The program might also clean up the overall state of Google’s network of advertisers by rooting out bad advertisers before they can reach a wider audience. Althought this does appar to be a one-time process, it may slightly increase the background work that advertisers will have to go through in order to keep the campaigns running, especially fro those who are working alongside multiple clients.
In order to help advertisers stay up to date on the latest Google has also released a help page.