Expect to Find More Advertising in Your Gmail Inbox

There are billions of emails being sent back and forth daily, and while a significant percentage of those are spam, it can be challenging to keep your inbox clean. However, if you use Google’s Gmail, you’ve undoubtedly seen a few advertising emails pop up every now and again. It’s generally relegated to the “Promotions” tab, but that’s about to change.

Tip: make your email work for you with these useful Google scripts to automate your Gmail.

Working Hard for the Money

The sponsored emails are marked as advertising, so it’s somewhat easier to spot and delete them, as they appear above your regular emails. However, some Gmail users have noticed that advertising emails are now showing up in the “Updates” tab on the mobile and desktop browsers. But while they are still easy to ignore, it seems Google is also employing a more sneaky tactic.

Usually, advertising emails are the first one or two in the tab. Now, the tech giant is seemingly inserting the advertising between your regular emails. If you are conscious about not clicking on sponsored content or advertising, this is a huge problem.

The location makes it incredibly easy to mistake it for an important email, leading to it being inadvertently opened. One user tweeted that he had three advertising emails scattered throughout his “Promotions” tab.

It is unclear whether Google is testing the additional advertising placement or it’s simply a glitch in the system. Even on the Google Ads Editor Help webpage, it states that these emails “are expandable ads at the top of people’s tabs in Gmail.” But given the huge number of people seeing the change, it’s hard to believe it’s a mistake. The company is yet to provide clarity or comment.

Tip: if you won’t have access to your email, find out how to set an out-of-office autoresponder in Gmail.

Image credit: Unsplash