Sign in / up

back to article Google gives fat fingers the flick before they click

Google has admitted what an awful lot of people have learned first-hand (or perhaps first-finger): in the cramped environs of a smartphone's screen, it’s easy to mistakenly click on an ad. The ad giant says “most accidental clicks on in-app image ads happen at the outer edge of the ad … when you’re trying to click or scroll to …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Finally! Although they should get rid of the arrows altogether. This was one of the worse decisions Google has ever done since it's often so easy to mistake with site navigation.

    Then again maybe it wasn't such an accident since it must have kept Google's money machine going with all those pointless click-throughts.

    I guess their customers just figured their Adwords bill now and noticed click-troughs went through the roof with no increase in conversions.

    1 0
  2. Esskay
    Joke

    "The fingers you have used to dial this number are too fat"

    Perhaps a special fondling wand would be a good idea?

    4 0
    1. Steve Brooks
      Reply Icon

      Re: "The fingers you have used to dial this number are too fat"

      Don't know about you but I use a fing-longer and a pair of binoculars for the really small buttons!

      3 0
  3. JaitcH
    Happy

    I've got 'Fat Fingers' but I have no trouble ...

    but I use a Galaxy Note 2, a wonderful device with screen space measured in, it seems, square feet.

    Still Google responded, which is a plus.

    2 0
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Easy solution

    Use the front facing camera. Only count it as a click if your pupils have dilated. If not, then you're not really that interested.

    4 0
  5. John Hawkins

    Just block the ads...

    Root the device and install an ad blocker. Admittedly not for the average user, but it works.

    1 1
  6. Detective Emil
    Meh

    Well, it would also help if app designers did not purposely position the ads where they're likely to get touched by mistake.

    Now that you've applied a Band Aid to that issue, Google, perhaps you could do something about graphics-heavy start-up ads that take so long to load when I can't get a fast data connection that I decide that I do not need to use the app after all.

    2 0
    1. Stewart Atkins
      Reply Icon

      It would help the marketers and google if the app designers put them in sensible places, but the app developer wants you to click them, since they get paid whether you meant to or not.

      1 0
  7. Idocrase

    What are ads?

    I installed Adblocker on my phone on day one, never seen an ad on it yet, and it genuinely puzzles my why everyone else doesn't do the same. No-one wants to see ads. No-one really likes them, yet we are buried in the damn things day in, day out.

    (I have sometimes boycotted products purely on the basis I found their TV or website advert particularly irritating, sure I'm not the only one either. Take note ad makers.)

    8 1
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Adblocker

      I am pretty sure the Adblocker I have installed needs root permissions. So that may be one of the factors...

      0 0
    2. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Adblocker

      Presumably you pay for your software then. You must be one of my paid downloaders who make up the 0.004% of the users who have downloaded my game. Thanks!

      1 1
      1. Anonymous Coward
        Reply Icon
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Adblocker

        If you name the game, I can tell you if I have bought it.. There are a few reasons why I have an adblocker installed - browsing the web is one.

        0 0
  8. Paul Leigh
    Meh

    Completely agree

    Looking at the normal bounce rate on my site from web adverts compared to bounce rate for mobile adverts is a shocking difference, 14% vs 85% - Of course it's easy to argue that the audience is very different but having accidently triggered ad clicks myself a number of times, the stats were not overly surprising.

    I don't have much faith in mobile advertising as a consequence.

    5 0
  9. pcgamer1206
    Thumb Up

    I, as an Android user with 4XL size hands (not exaggerating), think this is great!

    0 0
  10. mattper
    Meh

    Be prepared to pay for more apps now...

    This will significantly reduce the revenue for some app developers, leaving them with the only option of charging for their apps. True, these devs shouldn't have relied on "fat fingers" in the first place, but a lot free apps depend on this effect. Ultimately Google will suffer as paid apps won't drive ad revenue, which is Google's core business.

    0 0
  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Here's some free market research.

    Everyone hates advertisers and advertisements. Everyone.

    We don't care if or apps are £2.00 instead of £0.99 - we'll pay more for no adverts.

    In an ideal world parasites like CBS Outdoor (sic) would just quietly wither away.

    0 0
  12. silent_count

    Interesting

    Google sees a "fat finger" problem.

    I see a "fat add" problem.

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like