Aggressive advertising filtering

From the first week of February 2018, Yandex sites don't use annoying advertising formats that contradict the IAB Russia association's recommendations. Also, Yandex will filter such advertising in the Yandex.Browser. This means that the formats listed below will not appear on Yandex sites or any resources opened with Yandex.Browser. The company also doesn't sell such formats on the Yandex advertising network partner sites.

To check if there is any annoying advertising on your website, go to the Troubleshooting page in Yandex.Webmaster.

  1. Annoying ad formats
  2. “Safe Harbor”

Annoying ad formats

  • Static advertising block that occupies the whole screen and appears immediately after the page is loaded. You can only close it after a countdown.

    Example


  • A large popup window in the center of the screen, covering the page content. Can be closed immediately or after a countdown.

    Example


  • A screen-wide banner 200 pixels high, fixed to the top of the screen. Can't be closed.

    Example


  • A screen-wide banner 250 pixels high, fixed to the bottom of the window. Can be closed.

    Example


  • Advertising video clip with sound, placed before the page content. The sound is turned on automatically after you download the clip and you can mute it.

    Example


Note. Research conducted by IAB Russia indicates that “advertising video clip with sound that plays when pointing the cursor inside the content” is also considered an annoying ad format for desktop devices. However, these ads will not be filtered until March 1, 2018 at the earliest. Discussions are ongoing within the Association.

“Safe Harbor”

Yandex supports IAB Russia's “Safe Harbor” project, which lists sites that follow the IAB Russia advertising guidelines.

If annoying ad formats are detected on one of these sites, the association contacts the site owner and allows 30 days to remove the ads. If a site repeatedly violates the guidelines, it will be removed from the “Safe Harbor” list.

To join the “Safe Harbor” list, submit an application to the association.