Interest Based Advertising

Hi, I'm Shuman Ghosemajumder, Business Product Manager for Trust and Safety at Google. Our goal is to help you, our users, find the information you're looking for. We do this by giving you search results, but also by showing you ads that you might be interested in. Some of these ads are on sites around the web, such as news sites or blogs, that partner with Google to show ads. And some are on our video site, YouTube. You can recognize many of our ads by the "Ads by Google" label. We want these ads to be as relevant as possible for you. Sometimes we show ads related to the content on the page you're currently viewing. Other times we'll show you ads based on interest categories. So if you love to travel and frequently visit travel-related websites, you more likely to see interest-based ads about vacations and travel deals as you surf the web. Here's how this works. When you visit a website that shows "Ads by Google," Google stores a cookie, a string of random numbers and letters, in your browser to remember your visit. If many of the websites you visit or YouTube videos you watch are about travel, Google puts your cookie number in the travel interest category. Now, when you visit websites that show interest-based ads by Google, Google recognizes your cookie number and shows you more travel ads. Google also uses your cookie number to allow advertisers to show you ads based on your previous interactions with them, such as visits to their websites. For example, if you visit a website that sells pet supplies, you might see an ad from that particular website the next time you browse other sites showing interest-based ads from Google. It's important to remember that when you see interest-based ads by Google, they're not based on any information stored in your Google account, such as your email, or any visits to websites with sensitive content, such as medical information. Your cookie doesn't tell Google who you are or any personal information about you, such as your address or phone number. And we don't collect personal information or share it with others without your permission. Google lets you edit the interest categories associated with your cookie using our Ads Preferences Manager. This helps you customize which interest-based ads you see so they're even more relevant to you. To set your Google Ads Preferences, type google.com/ads/preferences into your browser. Or, in many cases, you can click on Ads by Google, then click on Ads Preferences. Click Add Interests to scroll through a list of interest categories. If you're interested in sports, just add the sports category, and we'll show you more sports-related ads. You can also remove interest categories if you'd like to see fewer of those types of ads. Your preferences also apply to ads you see on YouTube. If you're curious, the Ads Preferences Manager shows you the cookie number that Google associates with your interests. If you prefer not to see interest-based ads from Google, you can opt out at any time with one click. After you opt out, Google won't collect interest category information, and you won't receive interest-based ads. You'll still see the same number of ads, but they may not be as relevant to you. Remember, if you set your Ads Preferences or opt out of interest-based ads, this information is only stored on the browser of the computer that you're using at the time. And if you delete your browser's cookies, you'll need to reset your preferences or opt out of interest-based ads again. You can also save your opt-out settings permanently. After you opt out, just click the download button, and follow the instructions to install a browser plug-in that saves your opt-out settings even when you clear your cookies. I hope this gives you a better idea of how Google shows interest-based ads and how you can set your Ads Preferences. Thanks for watching.