Say "so long" to annoying web ads, with Google's Mute feature

Over the next few weeks, Google will be allowing users to "Mute" Google adverts they don't want to see.

You'll know when it's available to you, because a small [x] will appear in the corner of the advert (see image below).



If you click on the [x], you "mute" the advert and you'll be shown a confirmation. Muting an advert means that the advert won't be shown to you again via the Google advertising network.

The system doesn't guarantee that you will never see the advert again - other advertising networks may show it, for example, but it should cut down on your exposure to ads that are poorly targeted or just plain annoying.

We're all for innovations that let you have more control over which adverts you see.

Note that the Google ad muting will be based on your ad preferences, which uses a Google Cookie. If you use InPrivate or incognito browsing or other methods of anonymising or erasing cookies, your preference and your mute, may not be retained from session to session, but will still send an advertiser a message about the advert.

Note that if you go to the Ad Preferences page, you can see which "interests" Google has assigned to your cookie, and switch off adverts for a specific interest to mute all ads from a category.

The muting also means that advertisers also gain valuable information about which adverts people don't want to see, and muting will help ensure that they'll no longer show adverts to people who aren't interested in them.