In this article
- Control your Google Account info
- How categories are used to personalise ads
- How your activity on Google is used to personalise ads
Keeping you in control of your data is our priority. In My Ad Centre, you can control and update what info Google uses to show you ads, including:
- Info from your Google account
- Categories used to show you ads
- Activity used to show you ads
- Areas where you’ve used Google
If you’ve turned off personalised ads, your info isn’t used to personalise ads on Google sites, like Search and YouTube.
Learn more about how to turn personalised ads on or off.
Control your Google Account info
If personalised ads are on, some of your Google Account info is used to show you ads that are relevant to you and to make sure that they follow local laws and our policies. For example, if your Google Account info shows that you’re under 18, when you’re signed in to your Google Account, your ads are never personalised.
The Google Account info used to show you ads includes:
- Your gender
- Your age range
- Your language preference
To update your Google Account info:
Learn more about changing your Google Account info.
How categories are used to personalise ads
You can see which categories you’re currently getting ads for in My Ad Centre’s Manage Privacy tab. When a business places an ad, it often chooses which categories of people it wants to show their ads to. For example, a roofing service may choose to show its ads to homeowners rather than renters.
Your activity on Google sites and apps is used to infer which categories are most relevant to you – and then to show you ads meant for people in that category. Sometimes our estimates are wrong, and you can update or turn off any category.
Let’s say you use Google Search to look for nappies for a toddler. Based on this, Google might estimate that you’re interested in other products meant for people in the category 'Parents of toddlers'.
Control what categories are used to personalise ads
Update a category
When you update a category, your changes will be saved within My Ads, and you may start to see ads meant for people in that category in a few days.
To update a category:
- Go to My Ad Centre.
- Select Manage Privacy
.
- Under Categories used to show you ads, select the category that you’d like to control or update.
- Select the option that fits your interests
If you turn off personalised ads, all of your category info will be deleted and won't be used to personalise ads.
Turn on or off a category for ads
When you turn off a category, your info for that category will be deleted and that category won't be used to show you ads.
To turn on or off a category for ads:
- Go to My Ad Centre.
- Select Manage Privacy
- Under 'Categories used to show you ads', select the category you’d like to turn on or off.
- Turn on or off that category.
If you turn off personalised ads, all of your category info will be deleted and won’t be used to personalise ads.
Verify a category for ads
To verify that you are interested in ads meant for a category:
- Go to My Ad Centre.
- Select Manage Privacy
- Under 'Categories used to show you ads', select the category that you’d like to verify.
- Select Verify.
If you turn off personalised ads, all of your category info will be deleted and won’t be used to personalise ads.
How your activity on Google is used to personalise ads
Your saved activity can be used on Google for both personalised recommendations and personalised ads.
Personalised recommendations use your activity to give you faster searches, better recommendations and better experiences in Maps, Search and other Google services. For example, if you use Google Search to look for 'chocolate cake', and then search again for 'how to make…' Google might recommend 'how to make chocolate cake'.
Learn more about how to find and control your Web & App Activity.
Personalised ads use your activity to help show you more relevant and interesting ads on Google services like Search and YouTube. For example, if you search for a video about running on YouTube, on a future visit, you might see an ad for running shorts.
Learn more about how to turn personalised ads on or off.
Control what activity is used to personalise ads
With My Ad Centre, you can control if your activity is used to personalise ads. You can turn on or off:
- Your Web & App activity for ads
- Your YouTube History for ads
- The areas where you’ve used Google
If you turn off personalised ads, none of your activity is used for ads.
Control your Web & App Activity for ads
To control your Web & App Activity for Ads:
- Go to My Ad Centre.
- Select Manage Privacy
- Under 'Activity used to personalise ads', select Web & App Activity.
- Turn on or off Use Web & App Activity to personalise ads.
- Confirm your selection
This setting affects the ads you see on Google Search and YouTube.
When you turn off Web & App Activity for ads, it won’t be used to help personalise the ads that you see. Turning off Web & App Activity for ads, however, doesn't turn off personalised recommendations on Google services like Search.
This setting affects the ads that you see on Google Search, YouTube and Discover.
When you turn off this setting, your saved Web & App activity won’t be used to help personalise the ads that you see. Your Web & App activity may still be saved to your Google Account, and you may still get personalised recommendations on Google services.
Learn more about how to turn off or delete your Web & App Activity.
Control your YouTube History for ads
To control your YouTube history for ads:
- Go to My Ad Centre.
- Select Manage Privacy
- Under 'Activity used to personalise ads', select YouTube History.
- Turn on or off Use YouTube History to personalise ads.
- Confirm your selection.
This setting only affects the ads that you see on Google Search and YouTube.
When you turn off this setting, your YouTube History won’t be used to help personalise the ads that you see. Your YouTube History may still be saved to your Google Account, and you may still get personalised recommendations on Google services.
Control if the areas where you’ve used Google are used for ads
When you use Google service, Google estimates the general area that you’re searching from and saves that info with your Web and App activity. These areas where you’ve used Google help show you more relevant ads. You can turn on or off using these areas for personalised ads at any time.
For example:
- If 'Areas where you’ve used Google' is on and you search for coffee, you might see an ad for a local coffee shop.
- If 'Areas where you’ve used Google' is off and you search for coffee, you might see an ad for a coffee shop in a different town.
To control whether the areas where you’ve used Google may be used for ads:
- Go to My Ad Centre.
- Select Manage Privacy
- Under 'Activity used to personalise ads', select Areas where you’ve used Google.
- Turn on or off Use areas to personalise ads.
- Confirm your selection.
This setting affects the ads that you see on all Google sites and apps.
When you turn off areas where you’ve used Google for ads, it won’t be used to help personalise the ads you see. The areas where you’ve used Google may still be saved to your Google Account and you may still get personalised recommendations on Google services.
Learn more about how to manage the areas where you’ve used Google.