Google has added confirmed clicks functionality to all of its in-app mobile banners, which prompt the user to confirm that they intended to click on the ad before taking them to the target, in order to combat accidental ad clicks. 

Google introduced confirmed clicks to text banners a few years ago, but is now bringing this to image-based banners.

According to Google, most accidental clicks on image banners happen at the outer edge of the ad unit – something thats mostly triggered by attempts to click or scroll to nearby content.

“Ads on smartphones are effective, but many of us have at some point clicked on an ad by accident, which ultimately is a bad experience for the user, the publisher, and the advertiser who pays for clicks that may not be valuable,” said Googles product manager of mobile display ads, Allen Huang. “This is only the beginning. As devices continue to converge there will be new challenges in the fight against what many have called the ‘fat finger’ problem.”

In initial tests, Google found that confirmed clicks notably improved mobile conversion rates, with a slight decrease in CTR as accidental clicks are avoided.