Beware Of Browser Hijacks & Fake Google Ads

May 22, 2018 - 8:23 am 7 by
Filed Under Google

Google Hijack

Image credit to Shutterstock

Every now and then I see people post screen shots of Google search ads that look suspicious because (a) they are irrelevant to the query and (b) kind of hidden and hard to see. More recently, I've been seeing more and more examples of these in the forums and on social media.

They most often come because there is malware or some sort of extension on your browser, hijacking the Google search results, to show forms of adware or malware instead of Google's real ads.

John Mueller from Google responded to one of these recently on Twitter saying "Yeah, that looks more like a plugin or other kind of browser hijacker than a normal search result...."

Here is a screen shot of what it looks like (click to enlarge):

click for full size

So if you see this, it does look very similar to normal Google search results, but they are off and someone who has experience, will pick up on it.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: January 14, 2026

Jan 14, 2026 - 10:00 am
Google

Google: We Prohibit Showing Different Prices In Search/AI Mode vs Website

Jan 14, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Linking Brand Websites Together At Reasonable Scale Is Fine

Jan 14, 2026 - 7:41 am
Google AdSense

Google AdSense Earnings Dropping Again eCPM/RPM - Complaints

Jan 14, 2026 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Faster Account Set Up With Campaigns

Jan 14, 2026 - 7:21 am
Bing Ads

Microsoft Advertising Releases Guide To AEO & GEO

Jan 14, 2026 - 7:11 am
 
Previous Story: Google "Similar To" Carousel For Local Search Results