Google launches new ‘Ad Settings’ that will help you turn off targeted ads

To protect the sanctity of its brand name, Google has trademarked each letter of their company name. They have also bought the most common misspellings of Google, for example, gooogle.com, gogle.com, googlr.com etc.

Every time you perform a search on Google, say a Yoga mat, it means you need it for use. After a search, Google understands your requirement and its algorithm will start showing you ads based on your search. This could be anything from Amazon or Flipkart's ads about offers/links to a Yoga mat.

However, for some being chased by advertisements and intrusive pop-ups similar to your search session is a little too much.

Now, in what can be considered a significant change, Google is all set to allow the user to restrict these ads. It is extending a set of controls that grants people the liberty to restrict particular ads and personal targeting criteria.

Since 2012, Alphabet's Google has been practising a "mute" feature to help users opt out of certain types of ads. This feature has now been extended to its entire ad suite including YouTube and Gmail. Users will have the choice to restrict selected brands or labels and will instead be shown alternative ads.

"Billions of people trust us with their data every day," said Brad Bender, the vice president who runs Google's display ads business. "We have a strong incentive to be clear about what we collect to make our services, including ads, better for users."

Google made $95.4 billion in ad sales last year and has an absolute interest in keeping their users satisfied with the frequency and content of online marketing.

Now, it's stepping forward more cautiously owing to the fact that the Internet giants target customers by using personal data.

Google has introduced a new online portal called ‘Ad Settings’, which states how it tracks behaviour and targets marketing. The extended features arrive via Ad Settings.  The main concern was whether this improvisation would affect the revenue generated through Ad Sales. However, Bender said he doesn't expect this to depress ad sales. Instead, marketers could gather a more accurate picture of what types of ads annoy people.