Late last year Google rolled out their latest feature, Google Ad Preferences. You have probably seen it already without even knowing it, Google added a simple hyperlink in paid search ads that says ‘Why these ads?”.
Google’s Ad Preferences manager gives you the ability to view and edit the information that Google uses to determine which interest-based ads to display in your search results and web browsing. Interest based ads are found on many websites, the most common example of where you can find these types of ads can be found news and article websites. Google records your search habits in an advertising cookie, it uses this information to determine which ads to show you.
This process is designed to show you more relevant ads, exposing you to more information that you are interested in. You are able to access your settings through the Ad Preferences Manager through your Google account. From there you are able to see what assumptions Google has made about you based on your searches, such as your gender and age range. You are able to adjust all of this information, as well as add and remove interests from your list. Not into Google interfering with which ads are displayed? No problem, you have the option of Opting Out of the tracking. These cookies are browser-specific, meaning that when you clear out your cookies or change browsers, the settings will go away and start over again.
These ad preferences have an effect on Google’s Paid Search Results as well. From the Ad Preferences Manager you are able to see the exact reason why each paid ad showed up during your search. In the screenshot below you can see the options available to you on that screen. I conducted a search for “Google Ad Preferences” and I was able to see the reason why this ad showed up (This ad matches terms similar to the ones you entered), and from this screen I am also able to make the decision to ‘Block this Advertiser’. This gives me a little more control over what shows up in my paid search results.
This new style of tracking is still in the early stages, but it represents a new frontier of online advertising. The ads that you see online are going to be more directly targeted to your interests. This is beneficial to consumers because they will be exposed to ads that are related to their interests. The benefit for the advertiser comes from their ads being shown to an audience that has already expressed an interest in their products, which gives them a higher chance of consumer interaction.
Additional Resources:
https://www.google.com/ads/preferences/html/intl/en/about.html
Google Explains Ad Preferences: http://youtu.be/zoEXifWBtAs
What is a Cookie? : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eDcWwUHmd0&feature=relmfu
