VPNs

[csdude55]

I pay for Google One, and yesterday had an email encouraging me to install their VPN... included with Google One.

So I did.

Sure enough, it not only blocks ads, but also blocks Analytics from even seeing that the user was ever there!

Meaning that Google is encouraging people to download software that blocks... Google.

I did some digging into my server logs, and it looks like close to half of my traffic is using a VPN. And a significant percentage of the remainder are using an ad blocker.

No wondering I'm rotting on the vine! More users than ever, but money is about 1/6th of what it was in 2016.

When you're even fighting Google, there's just no way to win.

[not2easy]

Even without VPNs, browsers are defaulting to blocking third party tracking, Often using a shield icon near the address bar to indicate whether the site you are on uses cross site tracking. If you check your browser's privacy settings you can see more about that.

[tangor]

and it looks like close to half of my traffic is using a VPN

... and that number is merely growing larger by the day.

[csdude55]

Without the VPN on, @not2easy, I see the shield on Firefox but the ads still come through. They're totally irrelevant, though. The current ATF banner on my site is for a psychic that's 2,500 miles away! My site has nothing to do with psychics or anything like it, and I have no personal interest in psychics, so I can't even begin to imagine why that ad is there.

No wonder I'm making less and less money each month :-/

[not2easy]

The browser does not block ads, it blocks trackers. You can look at your privacy settings in Firefox > Preferences > Privacy
If you did not make any changes from the default settings it defaults to blocking all third party trackers.

[csdude55]

I really just have Firefox so that I can see what my users see, so I keep all of my settings on their defaults.

If it's preventing ads from being customized, though, then it might as well block them. If that psychic is paying for the impression then it's a waste of their money, and no one on my local-targeting sites is going to click on it.

[engine]

I wonder about this experiment and what difference it'll make. [webmasterworld.com...]