Google Rolls Out a New Verification Program

There has been a significant announcement from Google, and it’s not often that Google makes an announcement that affects their entire platform and advertisers. With that said, Google has announced that going forward; all advertisers will need to verify their identity for Google Ads. The new update is a huge announcement and has an impact on every advertiser on the platform. When Google decides to roll out this update, every advertiser will have to identify who they are and provide documents to prove it.

Why Did Google Come Out with this Update?

The reason why Google has done this is to increase visibility and transparency for people who are searching for services on Google. Therefore, if you go to Google and type in a search, you will now have the opportunity to find out precisely who the company is paying for those advertisements.

Google has already started doing this for political advertising in 2018. However, now they’re rolling this out to all advertisers. Now let’s take a look at this implementation from Google and what it means for yourself and your ads.

Impact of the Update

If you’re a business operating on Google Ads, then you will probably have a lot of the documentation Google is asking for. Google will be asking for business incorporation documents. Therefore, whichever states or country you have incorporated in that documentation could be provided to Google to verify your business. Furthermore, they will need personal identification, as well. Google hasn’t specified what kind of documents would be personally identifiable and what they require. Still, it will probably be things such as driver license, passport, or documentation that verifies who you are.

These two pieces of information are already required for advertisers who are in the political sphere and are spending money on political adverts. This is going to start in the US, and then it will roll out across the rest of the world. They are rolling this out by industry niche as well. Google hasn’t disclosed which industries will be targeted first, but eventually, it will be across industries. The people who will be targeted first will be contacted directly by Google.

Timeline of the documentation

When Google reaches out to you about the proper documentation, you will have 30 days to get all your documentation sent over to them. If you don’t provide the appropriate documents, your ads will stop running.

What Can Users do with this Information?

When users go to Google and perform a search, and your advert comes up, they will have the option to click on where they can specifically see who your business is in terms of the business name and which areas you operate in. They will also have the opportunity to block seeing your ads on an individual basis. So, it’s like using an ad blocker for themselves, and Google has opted themselves into an ad blocker.