Google AdSense matched content being shut down on March 1, 2022
Google announced that it is shutting down the AdSense Matched content ad unit types beginning on March 1, 2022. To go along with the change, Google is also rebranding Matched content as “Multiplex ads.” This is due to decreasing usage of the content promotion service and positive customer feedback and performance results from the ads-only Matched content ad format, Google said.
Google AdSense Matched Content units launched in April 2015 as a free recommendation service that offers you a simple way to promote your content to your site visitors. It allowed you to embed a widget on your pages that look at the content relevancy of your web page and then shows relevant articles or pages from your website in the widget box. Matched content recommendations are based on topic similarity and are personalized for the reader.
Well, it is going away and that means if you do nothing, Google will replace your Matched Content units with ad units. This also applies to Matched content units that have the “Monetize with Ads” option turned off.
So, if you do not want that, then you need to remove the Matched content code from your pages before this change happens, Google said.