Digital advertising is becoming an increasingly bigger pie in media plans and people are bombarded with seemingly countless ads throughout the day. In a bid to strengthen the way users control their ad experience, Google today announced the global roll-out of My Ad Center on Search, YouTube and Discover wherein users around the world will have the choice to see more of the brands and topics they like rather than the ones they don’t like.
As per Google, this new initiative would also allow users to block sensitive ads and help them know more about the data Google uses to personalize their ad feed. Google says users will also have the option to turn off the ads personalization completely from controls on My Ad Center. Once they do so it will apply to the ads users see on and off Google, and will automatically apply on any device where they are signed in to their Google account.
“Online advertising doesn’t need to be confusing or out of your control. My Ad Center builds on our responsibility to strengthen the ways we keep users in control of their ad experiences, while ensuring that every day, people are safer with Google,” said Jerry Dischler, VP/GM, Ads, in a blog published today.
Key new features
More controls for activities used to personalize ads: My Ad Center expands Google’s privacy controls to allow users more direct control over which data sources, specifically Web and App Activity and YouTube History, are used to personalize their ads across Google Search, YouTube, and Discover.
Expanding user control for sensitive categories: Users have the ability to see fewer ads in five sensitive categories, including alcohol, dating, gambling, pregnancy and parenting, and weight loss. Before, this feature affected ads shown on YouTube and Display. Now, it expands to ads shown on Search and Discover.
Advertiser pages: Google is enhancing ad disclosures with new advertiser pages. Users can access these disclosures in the new My Ad Center panel and see the ads a specific verified advertiser has run over the past 30 days.
Providing privacy controls
Moneycontrol reported in April 2022 that Google was expanding the type of personal information that users can request to be removed from search results.
“Under the new policy expansion, people can request removal of personal contact information like a phone number, email address, or physical address. It also allows for the removal of additional information that may pose a risk for identity theft, such as confidential log-in credentials, when it appears in search results,” the report stated.