Advertising allows you to use Google and many other websites and services for free. We strive to ensure that ads are safe, non-intrusive, and as relevant as possible. For example, Google does not show you pop-up ads, and every year we terminate hundreds of thousands of publisher and advertiser accounts that violate our policies, while removing ads that contain malware, promote counterfeit goods, or attempt to misuse your personal information.
Google Ads is exploring new ways to support the delivery and measurement of digital advertising, aiming to better protect users' online privacy through the Privacy Sandbox program on Chrome and Android. If a user has enabled the relevant Privacy Sandbox settings on their Chrome or Android device, Google Ads may show them relevant ads based on Topics or Protected Audience data stored in their browser or mobile device . Google Ads may also use Attribution Reporting data stored in the user's browser or mobile device to measure ad performance. Learn more about Privacy Sandbox .
Google's use of cookies in advertising
Cookies help improve the effectiveness of advertising. Without cookies, it would be much more difficult for advertisers to reach their audience or to track the number of ads displayed and clicked.
Many websites (such as news websites and blogs) partner with Google to display ads to visitors. In our partnerships, we use cookies for several purposes, including: preventing you from being shown the same ads repeatedly, detecting and blocking fraudulent clicks, and showing ads that may be more relevant (such as based on the websites you've visited).
We store records of ad delivery in our logs. These server logs typically contain your web requests, IP address, browser type, browser language, the date and time of your request, and one or more cookies that uniquely identify your browser or (if you are logged in) your identity. We store this data for a variety of reasons, but the most important reason is to improve our services and maintain system security. We anonymize the log data after a certain period of time, specifically by removing some IP addresses (after 9 months) and cookie information (after 18 months).
Our advertising cookies
To help our partners manage their advertising and websites, we offer a range of products, including AdSense, AdWords, Google Analytics, and a suite of DoubleClick branded services. When you visit/see a webpage/advertisement that uses one of these products (whether on Google services or on other websites and apps), your browser may be sent various cookies.
These cookies may be set across several different domains, including google.com, doubleclick.net, googlesyndication.com, googleadservices.com, or the domains of our partners' websites. Some of our advertising products allow our partners to combine other services with our services (such as ad evaluation and reporting services), and these services may send their own cookies to your browser. These cookies will be set across the domains of the respective services.
Learn more about the types of cookies Google uses and the types of cookies our partners use, and how we use those cookies .
How to control advertising cookies
You can use the ad settings to manage the Google ads you see and turn off the "Personalized Ads" feature. Even if you turn this feature off, ads will still be shown to you based on various factors, such as your browser type, your search terms, and approximate location information inferred from your IP address.
You can also manage cookies used by many companies’ online advertising through consumer choice tools developed under self-regulatory schemes in many countries (e.g., aboutads.info choices in the US or Your Online Choices in the EU ).
Finally, you can manage cookies in your web browser .
Other technologies used in advertising
Google's advertising system may use other technologies, including Flash and HTML5, to enable features such as displaying interactive ad formats. For example, we may use IP addresses to identify your approximate location, measure ad performance, and show you ads that are more personalized to your needs based on your settings. When using information to measure ad performance, we may infer whether activity across different devices or accounts is relevant. We may also select ads based on information about your computer or device, such as time and date, device model, browser type, or sensors such as the accelerometer in your device.
Location information
Google's advertising products may receive or infer your location information from various sources. For example, we may use your IP address to determine your approximate location, collect precise location information from your mobile device, infer your location based on your search queries, and use your declared residential or work address. Websites or apps you use may also send us your location information. Google uses location information in its advertising products to infer audience characteristics, show you more relevant ads, evaluate ad performance, and report aggregated statistics to advertisers.
Advertising identifiers for mobile applications
To serve ads in services that cannot use cookies (such as mobile apps), we may use technologies similar to cookies. Google sometimes associates identifiers used for ads served in mobile apps with advertising cookies on the same device to coordinate ads displayed in mobile apps and mobile browsers. For example, Google might make this association if an ad you see in an app opens a webpage in a mobile browser. This also helps us present advertisers with more compelling campaign performance reports.
The ads you see on your device may be personalized ads displayed based on the device's ad ID. On Android devices, you can:
- Reset your device's Ad ID - This action will replace the current ID with a new one. The app will still be able to show you personalized ads, but in the short term these ads may not be as relevant or aligned with your interests as before.
- Delete the device's ad ID - This action will delete the current ad ID and will not assign a new one. The app can still show you ads, but these ads may not be as relevant or aligned with your interests as before. You will no longer see ads based on this ad ID, but you may still see ads based on other factors, such as information you share with the app.
To change the advertising ID on your Android device, follow these instructions.
Android
Reset device advertising ID
To reset your device's advertising ID, follow these steps:
- On your Android device, open Settings .
- Click on Privacy > Ads .
- Tap Reset Ad ID and confirm your changes.
Remove the device's advertising ID
To remove the device's advertising ID, please follow these steps:
- On your Android device, open Settings .
- Click on Privacy > Ads .
- Tap Delete Ad ID and confirm your changes.
Your ad ID will be reset or deleted, but each app may have its own settings that use other types of identifiers, which may also affect the type of ads you see.
On some older versions of Android systems
If your Android device is running version 4.4 or lower:
- Open Settings
- Click Privacy > Advanced > Advertising
- Enable the option to disable ad personalization and confirm your changes.
iOS
iOS devices can use Apple's Advertising Identifier. To learn more about the options related to using this identifier, open the Settings app on your device.
Internet TV/OTT services
Advertising identifiers for connected TVs
Connected TVs are another area where cookies cannot be used, so Google will instead rely on device identifiers specifically designed for advertising purposes to deliver ads. Many connected TV devices support advertising identifiers that are functionally similar to mobile device identifiers. These identifiers are specifically designed to allow users to choose whether to reset them or disable the "personalized advertising" feature entirely.
You can find the corresponding setting on TVs that use the same terminology as one of the following "Advertising" settings:
- Reset Ad ID
- Delete Ad ID
- Choose to disable personalized advertising features (on/off).
- Google Ads (link to "An Introduction to Google Ads Personalization")
- Your Ad ID (long string)
The above "Advertising" settings are located in the following paths on Google TV and Android TV, respectively.
Google TV
The consistent path to the "Advertising" settings:
- set up
- Privacy
- advertise
Android TV
The "Advertising" settings will appear in two regular paths on Android TV, depending on the TV manufacturer/model. Partners can freely adjust the "Settings" path on Android TV. Partners can choose the most suitable path based on their customized TV experience; the paths for "Advertising" settings are listed below.
Path A:
- set up
- about
- Legal Information
- advertise
Path B:
- set up
- Device preferences
- about
- Legal Information
- advertise
Non-Google devices
Many connected TV devices support advertising identifiers and offer users the option to disable personalized advertising. The Network Advertising Initiative ( https://thenai.org/opt-out/connected-tv-choices/ ) provides a detailed list of these types of devices and the options available to disable them, and it is continuously updated.
What factors determine which Google ads I see?
Many factors determine which ads you see.
The ads you see are sometimes targeted based on your current or past location information. The system can often determine your approximate location based on your IP address. Therefore, you might see advertisements for upcoming movies in your country on the YouTube.com homepage; or when you search for "pizza," the search results might show local pizzerias.
Sometimes the ads you see are targeted based on the content of a webpage. For example, when you visit a webpage about gardening tips, you might see ads related to gardening equipment.
You may also sometimes see ads on the website that are dynamically delivered based on your app activity or Google services, in-app ads that are delivered based on your web activity, or ads that are delivered based on your activity on other devices.
Sometimes, the ads you see on a webpage, though placed by Google, are actually selected by other companies. For example, you might register on a news website. The website can then decide which ads to show you based on the information you provide, and may use Google's ad placement products to deliver those ads.
When we target ads to your home devices (such as smart TVs or other connected TVs), we may take into account network or app activity across your devices.
In addition, you may see ads in Google products and services, including Google Search, Gmail, and YouTube, that are targeted based on specific information, such as an email address that you provide to advertisers, who then provide it to Google.
Why am I seeing Google ads that are related to the products I've browsed?
The system may show you ads related to products you've previously viewed. For example, if you visit a website selling golf clubs but don't buy anything on your first visit, the website owner might want to encourage you to return and make a purchase. In this case, the website operator can use Google's services to target ads to users who have previously visited their page.
Therefore, when you visit this golf website, Google reads cookies that are already in your browser or inserts cookies into your browser (if your browser allows it).
When you visit other websites that work with Google (which may not be related to golf), you may see ads related to these golf clubs because your browser sends the same cookie to Google. We can use this cookie to serve you ads and encourage you to buy these golf clubs.
When you search for golf clubs on Google later, Google may also use data from your previous visits to that golf website to show you personalized ads.
We have restrictions on this type of advertising. For example, we prohibit advertisers from selecting audiences based on sensitive information such as health information or religious beliefs.
Learn more about Google Ads .
