Seeking help with Safari not opening websites

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eracode

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#315509 22-Jul-2024 11:55

I have a late-model MacBook Air and Safari. When doing a Google search, when I click on a website labelled as ‘Sponsored’, I get a page saying ‘Safari can’t open the page’ and ‘The URL was blocked by a content blocker’. Usually when this happens I just look for a non-sponsored version of the website - but in this case (Fisher & Paykel support page) I can’t find an unsponsored version.

I guessed this is caused by an ad blocker I have installed but even with that apparently turned off, I still get the problem. I think my google skills are OK but I can’t find a sensible solution. Would really appreciate some advice.

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Benjip

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#3262701 22-Jul-2024 12:02

It'll be either an ad blocker, or Safari's built-in anti-tracking stuff.

When you run into the issue, just click & hold down on the refresh button in the address bar (on the page that says "The URL was blocked"), and click "Reload Without Content Blockers".

eracode

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#3262708 22-Jul-2024 12:14

Thank you very much. None of my googling for a solution found that one.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

turtleattacks

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#3262760 22-Jul-2024 12:25

Can you please try in Private mode/tab.

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eracode

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#3262959 22-Jul-2024 16:35

turtleattacks:

Can you please try in Private mode/tab.

Same result.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

turtleattacks

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#3263115 22-Jul-2024 19:32

eracode:

turtleattacks:

Can you please try in Private mode/tab.

Same result.

Please try to ping the website in Terminal.

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eracode

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#3263229 22-Jul-2024 21:15

turtleattacks:

Please try to ping the website in Terminal.

I don’t know how to do that and not sure where you are heading - a bit more context might help. Even though I don’t know the cause, I’ve been given a very quick and simple workaround - so I will just go with that.

Thanks for your thought.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

lxsw20

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#3263232 22-Jul-2024 21:32

You don't have a pihole or anything on your home network?

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eracode

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#3263234 22-Jul-2024 21:36

lxsw20:

You don't have a pihole or anything on your home network?

Nothing like that. The issue shows up only on Mac - iPad and iPhone are fine - neither of them show ‘sponsored’ hits in google search results.

My googling seemed to indicate something called ‘Google lead services’ as the problem - but I couldn’t get to the bottom of it.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

eracode

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#3315793 4-Dec-2024 08:32

I never resolved the issue I brought up in my OP here - caused by Google results showing ads as 'sponsored content'. Very annoying and the "right-click and Reload Without Content Blockers" approach wasn't working.

Googled the issue just now and found this site . Maybe a lot of people know about this but I didn't. The solution to stop Google showing sponsored content ads is:

"To change your ad settings on Google, follow these steps:

Go to My Ad Center on Google and sign in if needed.
On the upper right side of the screen, you’ll see a drop-down menu next to “Personalized Ads.”
Click on the drop-down menu and switch it to “Off.”
You’ll see a popup window advising you of the advantages of personalized ads. Click “Turn off” at the bottom.
That’s it - you’ll see a second popup window stating that it could take a while for the change to take effect."

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SpartanVXL

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#3315796 4-Dec-2024 08:40

Fwiw I have always had the link of something show up right below the sponsored content. It’s unusual to not have it at least second or third in the search results under the sponsor section, then again I don’t login or keep data for google domains if I don’t need to.

Behodar

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#3315799 4-Dec-2024 08:55

eracode:

‘The URL was blocked by a content blocker’.

[Edit: Sorry, just realised that the issue was from July!]

This indicates that it's a content blocker installed into Safari. It's not DNS or anything else on your network: if it was then you'd get a different message.

Content blockers should appear in the Extensions window:

eracode

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#3315802 4-Dec-2024 09:01

eracode:

I never resolved the issue I brought up in my OP here - caused by Google results showing ads as 'sponsored content'. Very annoying and the "right-click and Reload Without Content Blockers" approach wasn't working.

Googled the issue just now and found this site . Maybe a lot of people know about this but I didn't. The solution to stop Google showing sponsored content ads is:

"To change your ad settings on Google, follow these steps:

Go to My Ad Center on Google and sign in if needed.
On the upper right side of the screen, you’ll see a drop-down menu next to “Personalized Ads.”
Click on the drop-down menu and switch it to “Off.”
You’ll see a popup window advising you of the advantages of personalized ads. Click “Turn off” at the bottom.
That’s it - you’ll see a second popup window stating that it could take a while for the change to take effect."

Hmm - this is weird - maybe it's not the fix I thought it was. Now, if I Google 'Air NZ' I get no sponsored stuff (but I was earlier this morning before making the change) - but if I Google 'F&P', I do get sponsored stuff. I think it's something to do with 'ads' v 'personalised ads'.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

Shindig

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#3315831 4-Dec-2024 10:53

Benjip:

It'll be either an ad blocker, or Safari's built-in anti-tracking stuff.

When you run into the issue, just click & hold down on the refresh button in the address bar (on the page that says "The URL was blocked"), and click "Reload Without Content Blockers".

I did not know that! Thanks for the little nugget of Safari know how.

The little things make the biggest difference.

cddt

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#3315840 4-Dec-2024 11:26

eracode:

Hmm - this is weird - maybe it's not the fix I thought it was. Now, if I Google 'Air NZ' I get no sponsored stuff (but I was earlier this morning before making the change) - but if I Google 'F&P', I do get sponsored stuff. I think it's something to do with 'ads' v 'personalised ads'.

Try DDG - first result for "F&P" is https://www.fisherpaykel.com/nz/

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