Products · Product
Google Ads
Raised as a usability problem by 189 people on Hacker News over 20 years (2007–2026), in 182 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Ads styled like search results get clicked by mistakeUnreviewed
20072026- Ads are hard to tell apart from real search results, so users click them by mistake2023-09-14
- Ads load slower than results and replace the first result just as you click it2023-09-14
- First ad fills the whole mobile screen, forcing scrolling past it to reach results2023-06-28
No clear route to appeal a ban or learn its reasonUnreviewed
20072026- Appeal form gives no reason for ban, so the user can't tell what went wrong2023-01-19
- No clear information about what caused the suspension, forcing weeks of guesswork to fix it2021-04-27
- No clear route to appeal a ban or learn the reason for it2021-03-11
Fake download ads lead users to click the wrong download linkUnreviewed
20072026- Ads disguised as green download buttons, hard to tell apart from real controls2026-04-07
- No option to report a misleading fake download ad, and no way to attach a screenshot2017-05-14
- Ad's report option is a tiny logo, and ads mimic download buttons2016-10-31
Cannot fix a banned account after payment errorsUnreviewed
20072026- Suspended accounts get no phone support, so users can't reach a person to resolve problems2023-07-12
- Account managers couldn't see which accounts were suspended or explain why2023-02-28
- Could never figure out how to fix the banned account after payment errors2022-07-26
Auto ads flood pages with about 15 ads and mobile interstitialsUnreviewed
20072026- Auto ads flood pages so an ad is always visible on screen2025-06-21
- Aggressive ads make web pages practically unusable without an ad filter2020-10-21
- Auto ads flood pages with about 15 ads and mobile interstitials, ruining the site experience2020-01-25
Hard to get through the process to spend money on adsUnreviewed
20072026- Ads silently fail to show with no indication in the dashboard2026-08-05
- Small businesses give up trying to set up ads because they can't figure out the interface2024-02-27
- Ads spend without errors, ignore set rules, and give no explanation of failures2022-07-26
Ad console is so complicated few people can operate it efficientlyUnreviewed
20072026- Ad console is so complicated few people know how to operate it efficiently2026-09-12
- Ad platform interface is hard to learn and feels poorly designed2025-02-16
- Users are nudged to enable ad optimizations without any explanation of what they do2023-10-09
Default location setting targets unintended countries unless an obscure setting is foundUnreviewed
20072026- Location targeting defaults to interested people, not those physically in the country, and the fix is buried2023-10-16
- Default location setting is hidden under a toggle, easy to miss, causing wasted clicks2022-09-18
- Default location setting targets unintended countries unless user finds obscure setting2020-09-08
Site never finishes loading in Chrome, and Firefox blocks running an adUnreviewed
20072026- Chrome never finishes loading the site and Firefox won't let them run an ad2024-02-08
- Google Ads is practically unusable when accessed through Firefox2021-07-31
- Ad editors show blank or endless spinning bars outside Chrome2019-07-10
Opting out of in-app ads means excluding over a hundred app categoriesUnreviewed
20072026- Restricting app ads to the Play Store only is inconvenient to set up2026-09-12
- Opting out of in-app ads requires manually excluding over a hundred app categories2026-01-07
- Opting out of targeted ads leaves apps nearly unusable with strobing banners2017-07-07
Dark patterns push advertisers into spendingUnreviewed
20072026- Ads are designed with dark patterns that push users into clicking them2021-09-17
- Interface is full of dark patterns that push advertisers into spending2021-05-06
- Interface is a jumble of dark patterns that push advertisers into surrendering bidding control2019-04-30
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Ad console is so complicated few people know how to operate it efficiently2026-09-12
- Restricting app ads to the Play Store only is inconvenient to set up2026-09-12
- Ads silently fail to show with no indication in the dashboard2026-08-05
- Ads disguised as green download buttons, hard to tell apart from real controls2026-04-07
- Opting out of in-app ads requires manually excluding over a hundred app categories2026-01-07
- Admin console is a dark pattern that drains advertising budget with no effect2025-11-29
- Advertisers can't control targeting; features removed and setup made convoluted, forcing automation2025-09-28
- Auto ads flood pages so an ad is always visible on screen2025-06-21
- Basic ad types removed, pushing advertisers into automated campaigns they struggle to control2025-05-15
- Ad platform interface is hard to learn and feels poorly designed2025-02-16
- Tables don't fit a normal browser window, so users need an extra-wide window to see data2024-07-28
- Paying to bid on own brand keyword consumes large share of paid budget2024-05-16
- Google adds irrelevant search terms that eat budget, forcing daily manual cleanup2024-05-08
- Advertisers can't tell what drives quality score, so low scores are unexplained2024-05-06
- Small businesses give up trying to set up ads because they can't figure out the interface2024-02-27
- Chrome never finishes loading the site and Firefox won't let them run an ad2024-02-08
- Can't see which keywords were clicked, so spend burns unnoticed2024-01-17
- Location targeting defaults to interested people, not those physically in the country, and the fix is buried2023-10-16
- Bids rejected as too low with no stated reason, and UI pushes user to grant Google bidding authority2023-10-09
- Users are nudged to enable ad optimizations without any explanation of what they do2023-10-09
- Ads wrongly flagged as clinical trials with no way to reach anyone to override2023-09-19
- Ads load slower than results and replace the first result just as you click it2023-09-14
- Ads are hard to tell apart from real search results, so users click them by mistake2023-09-14
- Suspended accounts get no phone support, so users can't reach a person to resolve problems2023-07-12
- First ad fills the whole mobile screen, forcing scrolling past it to reach results2023-06-28
- Can't control daily spend; campaigns keep running after budget unless end dates are set2023-06-14
- User can't tell which hierarchical level they are on2023-05-17
- Ads are designed to look like real links, so users get tricked into clicking2023-03-29
- Account managers couldn't see which accounts were suspended or explain why2023-02-28
- Confusing UI led to accidentally creating several manager and managed accounts2023-02-28
- Appeal form gives no reason for ban, so the user can't tell what went wrong2023-01-19
- Only way to close ad is giving feedback, which sends the ad back into the interest category2023-01-13
- Account linking can't be changed, and admin access to payment profile is missing without the user noticing2023-01-07
- Ad platform is so confusing that a paid Udemy course was needed to understand it2022-12-16
- Page is huge and clunky, overloading computers with JavaScript2022-11-29
- Hard for small advertisers to use its tools2022-10-24
- Default location setting is hidden under a toggle, easy to miss, causing wasted clicks2022-09-18
- Daily manual clicking hard to script, making large-scale ad management tedious and limiting spending2022-07-26
- Ads spend without errors, ignore set rules, and give no explanation of failures2022-07-26
- Could never figure out how to fix the banned account after payment errors2022-07-26
- Confusing interface makes user think they're doing things wrong2022-06-16
- Appeal resubmission is blocked by a waiting period and phone support refuses to talk while account is suspended2022-04-14
- Hard to add UTM tracking, change search keywords, or fix disapprovals2022-04-14
- Ads look like organic results, so people click them by mistake, including older users2022-01-31
- Scrolling over the ad opens a new tab without any tap2021-12-27
- Official docs are slow and cumbersome to navigate when searching for types2021-12-03
- Ads pop up right where the user is about to click2021-11-10
- Sponsored results look like real links, so users click scam ads by mistake2021-09-23
- Recommendations auto-apply after 14 days and Apply All buttons are easily clicked by accident2021-09-23
- Ads are designed with dark patterns that push users into clicking them2021-09-17