Google has started rolling out its new My Ad Centre feature to users, designed to give individual consumers greater control over the ads they see on Search, YouTube, and Discover.
The plans were announced at Google’s I/O conference in May and the changes allow users to control what information is used to personalise the ads they see and even switch off personalisation altogether.
As cookies go through their slow, protracted death, the new My Ad Centre controls are will give advertisers better information about the type of users they reach on Google’s platforms, whilst providing those users with a feeling of personalisation and responsibility over the ads they receive.
In a blog post, Google Ads vice president/ general manager, Jerry Dischler, said:
“Online advertising doesn’t need to be confusing or out of your control. Whether you’re watching tutorials on YouTube or looking up recipes on Search, you should have a say in the ads you see online.
“My Ad Centre was designed to give you more control over your ad experience on Google’s sites and apps. When you’re signed into Google, you can access My Ad Centre directly from ads on Search, YouTube, and Discover, and choose to see more of the brands and topics you like and less of the ones you don’t.”
When using Search, YouTube, or Discover, users can tap the three dots next to an advert to access My Ad Centre and chose to see more or fewer adverts like the type they clicked on. Users can also “like” an ad, block an ad, or remove it completely.
Users can also limit ads by topic. For example, if a user doesn’t want to engage with topics such as alcohol, dating, weight loss, gambling, pregnancy, and parenting.
Users can also turn off personalisation complete. Google says it is putting this control “easy to find” by putting it “front-and-centre.” These changes will also apply across users’ entire Google account.
My Ad Centre will even let users decide what information is used to help advertisers target, independent of the ads that they are shown. For example, if a users YouTube History was used to personalise ads in the past, users ca now turn it off without impacting relevant recommendations in their feed.
Users may also see ads meant for certain audiences based on their Google activity – categories such as education, relationship status, or the industry they work in. Now they will be able to choose and adjust how categories inform the ads they see, or turn them off completely.
What’s more, users can control the ads they see on other sites and apps that use Google tools. These can also be turned off.
Whether any significant portion of users will find Google Ad Centre and use it remains to be seen but, for marketers, the tools represent a huge change. It seems unlikely that users will want to see more of an advert but being able to remove and hide ads that they don’t want to see will give a new, more relevant and engaged audience.
