How to Block Ads in Google Chrome

Taking Back Your Browsing Experience

The internet is primarily funded by advertising. While most websites use reasonable, unobtrusive banner ads to keep their content free, some publishers push the limits of acceptable advertising. You have likely encountered news sites where autoplaying video ads follow you down the page, full-screen pop-ups block the article you are trying to read, or flashing banners make it impossible to concentrate on your work.

If you use Google Chrome as your primary web browser, you are not helpless against this barrage of aggressive advertising. While Google itself is the world’s largest advertising company, Chrome supports a massive ecosystem of third-party extensions—small pieces of software that add new features to the browser. The most popular and powerful extensions available are ad blockers.

By installing a reputable ad blocker, you can instantly strip away banners, stop YouTube video ads from playing, prevent pop-ups, and block the invisible tracking scripts that monitor your behaviour across different websites. Not only does this make the internet far more pleasant to look at, but it also makes web pages load significantly faster and reduces your data usage.

How to Install an Ad Blocker in Google Chrome

Installing an ad blocker takes less than a minute. You do not need to download any complicated software to your hard drive; everything is handled directly within the Chrome browser.

1. Open Google Chrome on your Windows PC or Mac.
2. Navigate to the Chrome Web Store (you can simply search for “Chrome Web Store” in Google, or type chrome.google.com/webstore into the address bar).
3. In the search box located in the top-left corner of the store, type uBlock Origin and press Enter. (Note: While there are many ad blockers available, including Adblock Plus and AdGuard, uBlock Origin is widely considered by technology and cybersecurity professionals to be the most efficient, trustworthy, and powerful option available. It uses very little computer memory and is entirely free and open-source.)
4. Click on uBlock Origin in the search results (ensure the developer is listed as Raymond Hill to avoid copycat extensions).
5. Click the blue Add to Chrome button on the right side of the screen.
6. A small confirmation box will drop down from the top of your browser, warning you that the extension can read your browsing data (this permission is necessary for the extension to scan the web pages you visit for ads). Click Add extension.

The installation is instantaneous. You will see a small, red shield icon appear in the top-right corner of your Chrome browser (next to your profile picture), confirming that uBlock Origin is active.

How to Pause the Ad Blocker on Specific Websites

Some websites rely heavily on advertising revenue to survive, and you may wish to support your favourite independent creators or news outlets by allowing their ads to display. Alternatively, some highly complex websites (like online banking portals) might break if their background scripts are blocked aggressively.

You can easily turn the ad blocker off for one specific website while leaving it active everywhere else.

1. Navigate to the website where you want to allow ads.
2. Click the red shield icon (uBlock Origin) in the top-right corner of Chrome. (If you cannot see the shield, click the grey puzzle piece icon to reveal all your installed extensions, and click it from there).
3. A small control panel will appear. Click the large, blue Power button icon.
4. The power button will turn grey, and a small “Refresh” icon will appear over it.
5. Click the Refresh icon to reload the current webpage.

The website will reload with all its advertisements intact. The ad blocker will remember this choice, so the next time you visit this specific domain, the ads will be allowed. If you open a new tab and visit a different website, the ad blocker will automatically re-engage and block the ads there.