{"id":8072,"date":"2023-02-08T13:50:52","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T13:50:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/08\/learning-to-trust-the-lack-of-transparency-from-ad-platforms\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T13:50:52","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T13:50:52","slug":"learning-to-trust-the-lack-of-transparency-from-ad-platforms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/craighordlow.com\/index.php\/2023\/02\/08\/learning-to-trust-the-lack-of-transparency-from-ad-platforms\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning to trust the lack of transparency from ad platforms"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I write this article, I see the irony in the headline\u2026 <\/p>\n

Learning to trust three major platforms \u2013 Google, Bing (I refuse to call it Microsoft Advertising), and Facebook (I still hate calling it Meta) \u2013 which just in the past month have laid off tens of thousands of employees<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then on the first working day back in the office since Google\u2019s mass layoff, the Google Ads UI goes down for 3 hours<\/a> \u2013 the longest I can recall in my 18 years of doing this.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s just pretend to ignore that elephant in the room and discuss how we can learn to trust what we cannot see (anymore) on the platforms.<\/p>\n

With a series of changes on the platform side (Performance Max<\/a>, Facebook Advantage+<\/a> or Bing\u2019s change to networks to include \u201cselect traffic\u201d in it), the current state of transparency of where, when and how our ads will show is fuzzier than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t even bother asking Yelp for detailed reporting (in their defense, they have always remained constant though).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the ability to quantify some of this data smoothly on the analytics side (hello, GA4<\/a>), has become as successful and viable as being a starting New York Jets quarterback for more than two seasons.<\/p>\n

You can say, \u201cWatch me, Jon! I will pull out of Google or Facebook and be just fine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Once I am eventually done laughing and after you\u2019ve explained to your CMO that you stopped one of your website\u2019s largest traffic sources because the big bad conglomerates won\u2019t give you more details, then we can have a serious chat about reality.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing:<\/p>\n

As much as I complain about the platforms\u2019 lack of transparency, the reality is that we, as advertisers, do not have a choice in the matter. In a privacy-obsessed era, ad platforms bend to such demands \u2013 and certain foreign and domestic government bodies.<\/p>\n

So upon facing the reality that the level of transparency and insight we loved is coming back a week after never, it is time to learn to trust the new normal.<\/p>\n

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