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Ad blockers don't just block ads on the internet - they actually break websites such as British Airways and Vodafone, a new study has found.

According to tests conducted on the UK's 100 most popular websites, ad blockers didn't just block pop-ups, but accidentally corrupted useful parts of a website, such as an airline check-in screens or retail order tracking pages. If you were browsing, all you would see is an error message or simply a chunk missing on screen, but no explanation for what was behind it.

In the study by London ad-tech company Oriel, the researchers tested 24 common ad blockers, including Adblock, Adblock Plus and uBlock Origin, on a range of popular websites including BA, Aer Lingus, RyanAir, Vodafone, P&G and Land Rover.

"For me it was triggered by the genuine fact that I couldn't check into British Airways and wanted to find out why," said Aidan Joyce, CEO of Oriel.

For instance, they found that the software prevented users from checking in online on the BA and RyanAir websites, because it blocked the terms and conditions check box.

Rather than notifying you that an ad blocker is active, you just get an error message.

They also found that the ad blockers prevented them from tracking an order delivery on the Vodafone site, and blocked videos on the Land Rover site, among other problems.

According to Oriel, ad blockers often tend to be 'blunt instruments' which indiscriminately delete harmless bits of code that are not related to advertising. "The effects of this varies from small issues to problems which can render the site non-functional for its users, even where advertising does not exist," the study said.

"Some of the more aggressive browser extensions like uBlock Origin actually have a filter list for anti-ad blocking sites," Joyce warns.

For instance, if a legitimate media site tries to reach out to its audience and requests them to allow ad viewing, they are filtered, and automatically have their request message blocked.

Mobile ad blockers are still in their 'infancy'

While ad blockers are estimated to be installed on roughly a third of computers, the $100 billion-a-year mobile advertising industry is yet to take a hit.

Sample of UK news website readers on mobileAccording to recent data, mobile ad-blocking is still in its infancy in UK and Europe.

Estimates from Oriel suggest that mobile ad blocking is only at 2.5pc of which is typical for UK and European users. In the UK, this is slightly higher at 7pc.

The days when we needed desktops and laptops to surf the internet are totally behind us. The Internet today has moved from just being accessed from the desks to being with us anywhere and everywhere we go.

Mobile Phones with internet access today has become the most basic amenity of any household. This has also give rise to the term "Internet at your fingertips" or "Internet on the go".

The internet on mobile has also moved on from GPRS to GPRS edge to 3G to 4G. In some countries users today have access to the 4G LTE(Long Term Evolution). Some of the top trends of the year like the Instagram and Dropbox are popular just becomes of the smartphone devices, thus increasing the importance of mobile friendly websites for brands!

If you own a website that best fits in a PC browser then it is very difficult for users try and access your site because of the screen size of the mobile and also because of the loading time your website takes. On many smartphones a normal website could be accessed but chances are that the website might look real crappy and ensure that user logs out right away! Thus, a mobile friendly websites a must for business owners and brands.

1. Missing Out On Prospective ClientsIn todays scenario, many small and medium businesses have a website for promoting their products or services. But, what is the use of a website which is not in the reach of millions of users? Take a scenario, suppose there are two restaurant owners A and B.

   Both of them have their websites, the only exception being A also has a mobile-optimized website but B does not. Thus, when a mobile user searches for a restaurant nearby, he would be getting the details of the A restaurant and B loses out just because it did not have a mobile friendly website. According to a survey, 40% of users have turned to a competitor's site after a bad mobile experience. Google claims it to be 80%!

2. Sheer Growth of Mobile UsersAccording to a research, mobile Internet usage is growing 30% every year. In May 2012 alone, 10.11 percent of Website hits/pageviews come from a handheld mobile devices. The below graph shows a comparison of web usage through PC Vs Mobile. In Jan 2009, just a handful of users, apprx. 0.1% of Internet usage worldwide was through mobile devices. But in just 3 years the figure has risen to 10.11% worldwide.

   The same statistics when compared in India alone the figure has risen from 0.2% in Jan 2009 to a staggering 48% in May 2012.

3. Increase in Moblie-only Web UsersMany mobile Web users are mobile-only, i.e. they do not, or very rarely also use a desktop, laptop or tablet to access the Web. In many developing nations the majority of Web users are mobile-only.

   Egypt: 70% India: 59% South Africa: 57%While in developed nations this percentage is less but still is significant: US: 25% UK: 22% Russia: 19%

4. Local MobileMost of the mobile users use mobile internet to search for local information like a shop address or phone number, for restaurants, etc. About 60% call or visit the location after searching for them through mobile devices and the average time to take an action after searching on mobile is about 1 hour. This is huge. Thus, if you are a local business and do not have mobile optimized site then you are surely losing big bucks!
5. Google's way of indexing mobile content is differentYes, when it comes to mobile content, Google indexes the content in a totally different manner. Dues to this, ranking higher on google becomes much easier as Google does not have much data yet. Thus, if you get your mobile websites now you have a great chance of ranking higher in google when your competitors come around!
6. Websites are better than AppsMany might argue, why not just have apps for mobile users. But, according to a survey users prefer websites to their counterparts apps by 4:1 thus making mobile websites ever more important. Many users do not even know what apps are and how to use apps. but they surely know to surf the web in search of information!

   If you're going to search for any type of business, you're going to search the mobile web, not an app store, People don't look for apps that will give them information.

7. Google's Recommendation!Even Google is out with an initiative to make business owners aware of mobile friendly websites. Google launched GoMo that aims to help businesses go mobile. Google also created website HowToGoMo to provide information on the topic and even includes a feature that lets you see how your site looks on mobile devices.

So What Next?So, by now, if you have decided to go mobile! then you really have three options: 

• Go for a Responsive Website, which would work on any device, desktop, laptop or tablets! (Highly Recommended)
• Go for Separate Mobile sites
• Go for Separate Mobile Apps(Not recommended)