psst.. this blog is on hiatus.

Never see another Google text ad… ever!

Perhaps text ads are less annoying than banners, and perhaps they’re more effective, but I still don’t want to see them. No, I don’t care if it’s Google, the daahhhling of the “in” geek crowd, serving them up—they’re still ads.

Even though I use Firefox, I was never able to get rid of these text ads. Via a built-in Firefox function, I could easily ignore domains of images (via the right-click menu), but text was a different animal. I thought I was stuck. I was wrong.

Google serves their text ads in an iFrame, which to the non-techies out there, is basically an area of a page in which another page is loaded. It may not be clearly distinguishable from the parent page, but it’s coming it’s an external page. Therefore, the key is to block iFrames coming from ad servers, and in this case, Google’s ad servers. Here’s how to do it:

  1. Download and install Mozilla Firefox. It’s a superior browser, and it should be your default browser. Internet Explorer (IE) just doesn’t cut it anymore.
  2. Install the Adblock extension.
  3. Restart Firefox to complete Adblock’s installation.
  4. Go to the Tools > Extensions menu, highlight Adblock, and click the Options button.
  5. In the New Filter: input box, paste this: http://*.googlesyndication.com/*
  6. Ensure that in the Adblock preferences window, it is set to Remove ads, not Hide ads.
  7. Never see another Google ad!

UPDATE: This userContent.css technique by Neil Jenkins is probably even better. It will catch and block most ads (including Google text ads). The ones it doesn’t get can be defeated manually by Adblock.

BY THE WAY: Yes, I do run ads on my site, and if you block them, well, more power to ya.

87 Responses to “Never see another Google text ad… ever!”

Pages: « 1 2 [3]

  1. 61
    jane Says:

    can u ppl tell what really “INSPIRES ” proxy sites to provide free services? i do use a proxy tho , r there n e benifit besides ads to them ? do they monitor our ip for own benifits .

    also plz mention free proxy that u think is really useful + safe i do use a few already but just wanna know ur list

  2. 62
    Que Says:

    Thank you.

    I hate to do it..but these ads have taken over my computer and slowed down my dialup. I can see the ads loading once but constantly flashing and reupdating every 3 seconds is ridicluous!

    I always made an effort to check out any ads that were interesting(when I felt like it)…just to say thanks for providing me with access to your site..but like I said…the google ads were obtrusive and worse than a telemarketer on a Sunday!

    Perhaps I will figure out to block all the google ads except on my free forums where I am a member. Though, those are the ones that annoy me the most.

    BTW, is there a way to zap those macromedia flash ads?

    Those are worse than google because the graphics are huge!

  3. 63
    arctanck Says:

    @Shashi
    Didn’t know that I can block google ads using zone alarm, cool. These poorly targeted ads are getting a bit annoying these days.

  4. 64
    Darran Edmundson Says:

    Given your opening paragraph, I’m surprised that you would then foist Google ads on visitors to your blog …

  5. 65
    Tom Sherman (blog owner) Says:

    Man, I am too.

  6. 66
    Jeff Says:

    To all those people who say blocking ads is wrong.. I say, shoving ads in my face on EVERY page is wrong. If I want or need something, I’ll go FIND it myself.. I don’t need someone to try to guess what I want or need every page I visit.

  7. 67
    Terry Says:

    A BIG thank you for that tip. So nice to get more information on the screen than Google junk advertising.

  8. 68
    Jason Says:

    If people are still using dial-up, better join the rest of the world with high speed connection. ;)

  9. 69
    Arseny Says:

    Hmm. all suggestions are work but with the gmail.com service

  10. 70
    Peter Says:

    I don’t hear people moaning about the tv channels that we watch. You wouldn’t have them if it wasn’t for the ads. Same with just about all other forms of media, including the mags that you pay good money for. Unless of course you get BBC.
    See Ya!

  11. 71
    nigel348 Says:

    Thank you, can now see much more useful content.

  12. 72
    Tom Says:

    Wow, this method is so fantastic.
    Thank you very much, now I don’t have to be bothered by Google Ad anymore :D

  13. 73
    Tom Says:

    Come on man. What type of nonsense is this. Why in the world would you place Google ads on the very site you don’t want them? get real.

  14. 74
    Shane Says:

    “I don’t hear people moaning about the tv channels that we watch. You wouldn’t have them if it wasn’t for the ads.”

    wouldnt you? dont you pay about 50 bucks a month for your TV service? and even at that, they still feel they have the right to shove commercials down your throat every 15 minutes? that, my friend, is why i do not watch TV. youre right, we dont moan about it, cause theres absolutely nothing we can do about it. but on my own computer that i baught with my money i think i should have the right to choose not to have ads shoved down my throat left and right all the time, that i will never, EVER click on. when i want something, ill go find it.

    thanks so much for this wonderful ad removal technique! i’d like to add that adblock also allows the removal of those terrible horrible intellitxt ads. man if that isnt the most annoying thing ever when youre trying to follow what youre reading with your mouse.

    in the same way you add the http://*.googlesyndication.com/*
    bit to adblock, add
    *intellitxt*

    and theyre gone forever. thank cripes!

  15. 75
    Shane Says:

    To everyone who says this is stealing, open your eyes. these sites only make money when people click on the ads. i have never, not one single time in my life, intentionally clicked on an ad on a site. ever. is that stealing? NOT clicking on an ad is stealing? shoudl they pass a law requiring you to click on at least 1 ad per site you go to?

    foolishness. thats the word for it. the people who will be implementing this technique are the people who DONT click on ads to begin with. this is not a loss for the sites they visit, it is simply a relief for the people visiting those sites, who werent going to click on the ads anyway.

    if it was stealing it would be illegal, and also someone would be losing something because of it.
    kthx.

  16. 76
    Andrew Says:

    Firefox is such a terrible browswer. I don’t know how you can call it superior to IE in any way. It’s slower, more bulky, and doesn’t integrate with the rest of Windows.

    You are also a huge idiot, because your own website uses Google ads.

  17. 77
    MarioTheMusiclover Says:

    Hi all!
    I ve found this music portal. Wow. The prices there are very cheap and they have really big collection of mp3 music. Try, see by yourself
    legal mp3 music download

  18. 78
    rast Says:

    ty for this post.

  19. 79
    Nick Says:

    I tried to install the Adblock, but right at the end it said it is not compatible with the latest version of Firfox 2.0.011

    Is there an Adblocker that is copatible with 2.0.0.11 ?

    Thanks
    Nick

  20. 80
    mag00n Says:

    “”Andrew Says:
    September 16th, 2007 at 8:43 pm

    Firefox is such a terrible browswer. I don’t know how you can call it superior to IE in any way. It’s slower, more bulky, and doesn’t integrate with the rest of Windows.”"

    ***Are you kidding me?
    Slower? Wrong
    Bulky? Very wrong
    No integration? Wrong again, have you even used firefox little man?

    In a quote from a distinguished website editor/operator Preston Gralla, he gives firefox the win hands down. He was a die-hard IE guy before this incase you cared.

    his quote~
    “Even putting security vulnerabilities aside, Firefox is a superior browser. It’s not bloated like IE, and it loads sites more quickly. The interface is simpler and cleaner. Its tabbed browsing will be a revelation to those who haven’t used tabs before.”

    So Andrew, I suggest you give it an actual look… test drive firefox for one FULL week without using Internet Explorer and try to switch back…. bet you wont!

  21. 81
    natlustafis Says:

    Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanxxxxxxxxx

  22. 82
    John Says:

    Goodbye horrible ads
    who clicked on that shit anyway?
    I hate how the internet is becoming a snake oil monster market
    10 years ago internet was much cooler
    because everyone with IQ less than 0 didn’t know how to use (polute) it

  23. 83
    Anonymous Says:

    http://www.mediafire.com/?mniwlimgksy - try this new FF3 extension, it is built specifically for blocking text ads and right now it will block google ads in the right column. It allows you to see the ads if you want to by clicking a link though

  24. 84
    Penis dickins Says:

    Woo, why isn’t this installed by default?!

  25. 85
    JG Says:

    Thanks. Now I will never see those punk ass Google ads again.

    Ads used to be cool but now the cart is BEFORE the horse. Let me explain. If a site has useful information that people need then I see nothing wrong with an ad here and there. But now, thanks to eff-the-web-up Google, millions of useless pages are being put up for the sole purpose of displaying Google ads. And often they are disguised as the rest of the page so that one might accidentally click them. That’s BS man.

    Thanks for the solution.

  26. 86
    kervin Says:

    THANKSSS!!! goodbye ads sense….

  27. 87
    Anna D Says:

    thank you so much for this. I didn’t mind the ads too much till the ads started to take over half the web sites I visit. Most of which are poorly targeted and or contain scamming web sites. Lol any time ya see “get a free credit card” on a google ad then ya know somethins up.

    Many thanx!

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