Google had actually announced back in March that it would cease to allow pornographic ads on its AdWords network. The sponsored results that you see in Google searches are supplied by this ad network. It has taken Google a few months to implement this change though. It has just recently started to inform advertisers that previously used AdWords for this purpose that in the coming weeks no AdWords ads will be allowed to contain any content that “promote graphic depictions of sexual acts.”
Even though Google says that its policy on such ads has been restrictive for quite some time, few advertisers tell a different story. Theo Sapoutzis, the chairman and CEO of AVN Media Network, tells CNBC that he was caught by surprise with this change as AVN was one of the first advertisers for AdWords way back in 2002 and they have been largely left undisturbed for 12 years.
While many adult companies have moved to other ad networks that are more open to this sort of content, many “Tube” streaming sites still used AdWords to get the word out. AdWords’ reach was what attracted most advertisers since “porn” happens to be one of the most common searches on Google, the most popular search engine in the world.
Some even ask if Google will go as far as to block adult content from its search results, its mere speculation at this point in time but when contacted by CNBC, a Google spokesperson did not comment.
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