Digital Smarts - Taking Control of Those Ads Google Sends You

As you probably know by now, when you do a Google search, Google tracks you and sends you ads from places you have visited and ads based on your interests. In fact, it keeps a detailed list of your interests. Want to see what they are? Go to https://www.google.com/settings/ads. You'll see a different screen depending on whether or not you're signed in to a Google account. If you are signed in, you’ll see a list of the interests Google has collected, and you can deselect the ones that aren't really interests of yours, or that you don't want to see as the subject of ads. You can also add interests if you want. If you scroll down a bit you can also turn the ads off completely. Just turn "Ads based on your interests" to "Off."

If you're not signed in to your Google Account when you visit https://www.google.com/settings/ads, or you click the "Control signed out ads" button as described above, you'll land in the area where you control what happens to your information off of Google's sites and in Google Search.

This is a good reminder that even if you aren't signed in to a Google account, Google still records what you search for on Google Search and builds an interests list using cookies stored on your computer. The upside is that it can't link your information to a name, but Google is still tracking your interests and using them for ads. Want to know more? Visit the Google Ads Help Center.