How To Stop Google Ads Once and for All

Being bombarded with ads wherever you go never feels good. It is especially frustrating when you are in action — making a banger dish to treat yourself and following the recipe on your handheld — you get constantly showered with irrelevant ads for kitchen gadgets. Or when you’re searching for something on the go to save some time but instead of the info you were looking for you get loads of targeted ads.

Intrusive Google ads can seriously disrupt your online activities to the point where you forget what you were even searching for.

Luckily, you’ve found this guide. It equips you with powerful strategies to stop Google ads on mobile devices and PCs. Let’s explore methods for various devices and browsers, and make you take control of your online experience. 

Contents

• How to Stop Google Ads in Mobile?
• Blocking Unwanted Ads in Google Chrome
• How to Turn off Certain Google Ads
• How to Remove Google Ads in Firefox
• How to get rid of Google ads using AdLock
• Other Google Ad Blockers
• Conclusion

How to Stop Google Ads in Mobile?

Google continually improves its advertising technology to simplify the process for advertisers to target you. Previously, to opt out of personalized (interest-based) ads, users could toggle an option with the same name. However, Google now utilizes technology akin to cookies, known as the advertising identifier. This identifier links your ad preferences on apps to a cookie stored on your device, synchronizing ads across your apps and browser.

Blocking Google ads (or reducing their number) implies several approaches:

• Fiddling with the ad center/advertising ID;
• Installing a full-fledged ad blocker like AdLock.

These methods apply to both iOS and Android operating systems. Now let’s see closer.

All the ads you encounter are based on your Advertising ID. You have the option to reset this ID to receive new ads or delete it for less personalized content. Nonetheless, it won’t completely stop ads on Google, as your shared app information still influences the advertisements you see. Here’s how you can modify your advertising ID on an Android device:

1. Open Settings;
2. Tap Privacy => Ads;
3. Select Reset advertising ID or Delete advertising ID, then confirm your changes.

If you want to stop ads on Android not just in Google, you should jump to our article on this topic.

Now let’s consider another thing. Why does one get Google Play ads and what should they do?

There are a couple of reasons for getting Google Play ads. First of all, it might be a third-party app that keeps barraging you with popups. Second, it might be a malware script or virus (adware) lurking on your device.

Logically, the first workaround implies checking your recently installed applications. Usually, the ad-serving app is located somewhere near the top of the list. Here’s how you can spot the naughty one:

• Go to the Google Play Store and tap your profile icon;
• Tap the Manage apps & device, select the Manage option;
• Sort the list by Recently updated to find the active ad-serving app;
• Review the permissions of the application;
• Revoke the permission to display ads (if it’s not essential for the app to function).

Through the Ad Center settings, you can either report a problematic ad to prevent reencountering it or disable ad personalization. To report an advertisement on the Google Play Store, follow these steps:

1. Click the ellipsis (three-dot) icon next to the ad post;
2. Tap Report ad;
3. In the new window, select the reason and tap Submit to proceed.

Otherwise, the only efficient and reliable method to remove ads from Google Play is by using a third-party ad blocker. 

Now on iOS devices.

Safari, like any web browser, defaults to sharing user browsing data with advertisers to serve personalized commercials. You can easily prevent advertisers from accessing your data though. To disable Google ads tailored specifically for you based on your online activity:

1. Open the Settings, find and tap Safari;
2. Scroll down to the Privacy & Security;
3. Switch the Prevent Cross-site Tracking toggle to ON.

This is not the way to block Google ads on iPhone, it just prevents advertisers from tracking your web browsing. While you’ll still encounter advertising, it may become more irrelevant, perhaps amusingly so, as it drains someone’s ad budget. 

To enhance your web browsing experience, consider blocking pop-ups. Remember, pop-ups aren’t solely advertisements; they include alerts, notices, and offers, and blocking them might not sit well with certain websites. Yet, who needs such sites in their life? To block pop-ups, follow these steps:

1. Open Settings=>Safari=>Privacy & Security;
2. Scroll down and toggle on the Block Pop-ups feature.

Last but not least, limit the ad tracking in applications and games.

1. Go back to Settings;
2. Find and tap Privacy & Security;
3. Tap Tracking.

The list here shows which apps want to keep tabs on you. You can decide for each app if you want to let them track you. To stop all apps from requesting tracking permission, toggle off Allow Apps to Request to Track at the top of the screen.

So, we’ve considered the conventional built-in features of blocking and limiting Google ads. While these methods do help you stop Google ads on your phone (some of them, at least), the best way to get rid of intrusive adverts is to get a reliable ad-blocking tool. And you know what? You’re at the right place because here you can learn how to stop Google ads on iPhone and weigh up all the pros and cons of the best ad blocker for iOS.

Blocking Unwanted Ads in Google Chrome

It was determined a long time ago that ​​targeted personalized commercials are somewhere on par with pop-ups concerning the level of annoyance. Personalized Google ads are like those customized recommendations you get on shopping sites or streaming platforms. They look at what you search for, the sites you visit, and what you click on to show ads that match your interests. It’s like having a personal stalker picking up ads just for you based on the stuff you do online.

Back in the summer of 2023, Google introduced its new Topics API, a feature within the Privacy Sandbox aiming to maintain user privacy while allowing browsers to share interest-related information with third parties. This API is set to replace the long-standing third-party cookies, which have been tracking our movements and purchase behaviors.

If the thought of sharing your interest data doesn’t sit well with you, consider turning it off.  Here’s how to fine-tune Google ads settings to turn off ads in Google search (personalized by the engine specifically for you):

1. Open Chrome => More => Settings; 
2. Find and click Privacy and Security => Ad privacy. (Alternatively, type chrome://settings/adPrivacy into your address field.)

Within this section, you’ll discover three categories:

• Ad topics: Sets your interests based on browsing history.
• Site-suggested ads: Recommends ads from sites you’ve visited.
• Ad measurement: Shares data with sites for advertising effectiveness assessment.

Click on each category. You can dig in to find out what things you like and which websites Google thinks you visit. Or, you can turn off just some of these smaller groups. For example, in Ad topics, you could stop seeing ads about Business and industry but keep getting ads about computers and video games.

But if you want to do it faster, just switch off all three main categories as you go through them. That’s how you get rid of Google ads that are based on your browsing activity.

Keep in mind, though, this won’t completely protect your privacy. Some websites can still use their sneaky ways like cookies or pixels, to collect info about you.

Disabling Google pop-up ads in Chrome 

Google Chrome automatically stops pop-ups from appearing on your screen. When a pop-up is blocked, you’ll see “Pop-up blocked” in the address bar. However, if you encounter pop-ups or redirects, it can’t hurt to check your settings:

1. Open Chrome, click More=>Settings
2. Click Privacy and Security =>Site Settings.
3. Click Pop-ups and redirects
4. Click Block to send pop-ups and use redirects. 

How to Turn off Certain Google Ads

As we’ve previously mentioned in our article, adjusting your browser settings is not a magic click to turn off all ads, but it does allow you to disable unwanted ones. Now, let’s explore how to block unwanted ads specifically on Google.

Removing Unwanted Ads

As we’ve previously mentioned in our article, adjusting your browser settings is not a magic click to turn off all ads, but it does allow you to disable unwanted ones. Now, let’s explore how to block unwanted ads specifically on Google.

When you block a specific ad, it stops displaying commercials from a particular advertiser. Sometimes, a single advertiser runs ads across multiple websites or services, meaning you might need to block several ads. Follow these steps to remove sponsored ads on Google:

Google services

Here’s how to shut ads off on Google Search:

• On Google Search, click the three-dot icon next to the Sponsored tag;
• In the My Ad Center window, select an ad you want to block from the carousel;

• You won’t see that again, but you may encounter other ads from that advertiser. You need another approach to get rid of the ads for Google search, and we’ll tell you further.

The same procedure is relevant for YouTube:

• On YouTube, click the three-dot icon next to the Sponsored video;

• In the My Ad Center window, click Block Ad;

• Click Continue to confirm. 

And as of Gmail:

• On Gmail, click the three-dot icon next to the Ad email;

• In the My Ad Center window, click Block Ad;

• Click Continue to confirm.

It’s become a bit more challenging to opt out of certain commercials, but it’s still possible to block ads on Google. Additionally, we’ve created a comprehensive guide on how to turn off ads in Gmail.

How to get rid of Google ads using AdLock

Why would you want to control Google ads by tweaking app permissions and ad center settings, when you can kill two rabbits with one stone? AdLock elevates ad-blocking and tracking protection, sweeping away ads across browsers, apps, and games. One application does everything, from blocking Google ads to shutting off unwanted adware. We offer three sweet deals for long-term subscriptions. You can check those here.

We guarantee you money back if you’re unsatisfied with our product. Follow these instructions to install and configure AdLock to get rid of Google ads:

• Install AdLock for Android or iOS (also available for mac and Windows devices); 

AdLock will take over the installation process and launch the onboarding procedure. Please, carefully follow the instructions to set up the application properly. If you’re having trouble — feel free to contact our support managers, they will gladly assist you.

1. Choose your plan and get your license key;
2. Launch AdLock, click Activation, and paste your 9-digit license key;
3. Click the Ad-blocking tab, find a humongous ON/OFF toggle, and switch it to the ON position;
4. Enjoy ad-free internet.

Your job is done from this moment, and AdLock starts its service. It will clean up your online activities. It’ll not only disable Google ads on Android, iOS, Mac, and Win but will rid you from all commercials scattered across the web.

Also, AdLock will be your security guard — it’ll disable all online trackers and data collectors, all types of malicious software, and redirects. Protect your sensitive data and block all commercials at once with AdLock!

Other Google Ad Blockers

The market offers quite a few adblocking solutions for every “taste”. Each has its pro et contra. Let’s consider the top 5 ad blockers that will most likely meet your needs in fighting online advertisement.

Depending on what you’re looking for, there’s a suitable piece of software. Of course, a browser extension will never beat a full-fledged adblocker but it can be just enough for you. 

Conclusion

Since the advertisement is the backbone of the Internet, search engines, websites, platforms, etc. will never provide a magic button that would remove all ads forever. It will never be the case. Moreover, advertisers will always fight with adblockers and make the way they serve ads more complicated and sophisticated.

We’ve considered all working solutions to remove Google ads from phone and PC today and they will work just fine. From tweaking the ad preferences to mute some advertisers to using the adblocker to completely turn off Google ads, you have a couple of methods at hand. Obviously, choosing an adblocker like AdLock is the best investment, especially given that it’s a multiplatform solution for all your devices. Give it a shot today and you will never regret your choice!