Table of contents
How Google uses your information for display advertising on partner websites, apps, and other services in the European Economic Area (EEA), Switzerland and United Kingdom (UK)
When you use websites and apps (or similar online services like connected TV), you may see image or video ads appear on the page you are visiting. This is called display advertising. These display ads keep many of these websites, apps and services free of charge.
Publishers use Google display advertising tools to show you ads in spaces available on their pages, sometimes known as “ad slots.” These tools enable publishers to connect with advertisers (or advertising partners working on the advertiser’s behalf) to:
- provide these companies with information about the ad slot, page and/or content you are looking at,
- with your consent, provide advertising partners with information that enables them to:
- show you personalized ads based on the information they may have about you,
- learn your content preferences (such as the topics of websites and apps that you frequently visit or use) to show you ads that are personalized to be more relevant to you,
- display the ad on the property you are visiting or using.
When you visit a property that uses Google display advertising tools, your web browser sends certain information to Google. This includes the URL of the page you’re visiting and your IP address. We may also set cookies on your browser or read cookies that are already there. Apps and connected TV devices that use Google display advertising services may also share information with Google, such as the name of the app or channel and a unique resettable identifier for advertising.
How can I control what information Google collects and discloses in display advertising?
When you visit a property that uses a Google display advertising tools on the page you are visiting, that property must show you a message that:
- asks for your consent before (a) a personalized ads profile about your interests can be generated and used to show you personalized ads, and (b) cookies, mobile IDs or other information can be stored or read from your device, whenever the law requires your consent, and
- tells you about the “vendors” (companies) that can receive information about you and your device in order to help advertisers or advertising partners deliver relevant ads and measure their effectiveness.
Learn more about who can receive information about you and your device.
How do I contact Google if I have questions?
If you have additional questions or requests related to your rights, you can contact Google and our data protection office. For other important data protection information, you can read our Privacy Policy.
More information on how Google display advertising tools use your personal data
Key terms
Advertisers
Advertisers are companies that own or operate properties that use Google display advertising tools to: show ads that promote their products and services, understand more about the people visiting their properties; measure the effectiveness of their ad campaigns; and improve the way they can show you ads on other properties.
Advertising partners
These are companies working on the advertiser’s or publisher’s behalf. For example, they help advertisers buy ad slots on publisher properties. They also help publishers sell ad slots. Learn more about advertising partners.
Properties
Websites, apps or similar online services such as connected TV apps or channels.
Publishers
Publishers are companies that use Google display advertising tools to show you ads on properties they own or operate.
Categories of data used by display advertising tools
The exact information Google processes about you and your device depends on the consent(s) you have given, and the legitimate interests that have been established, for processing your personal data. The property you are visiting will ask for your consent and establish these legitimate interests on the property you visit (for example in pop-up messages or “consent banners”). The information being processed also depends on choices you make in the browser or device you are using. Choices you make in your ad settings can also limit how Google uses information about you.
Consent banners presented to you when you visit properties must let you choose whether advertising partners (including Google), publishers or advertisers can process information about you and your device for certain purposes. For example, whether advertising partners can learn more about your interests and, therefore, understand what type of ads would interest you. This information can be stored in a personalized advertising profile. Google, publishers, advertisers and advertising partners using Google display advertising tools are not permitted to build or use these personalized advertising profiles without your consent.
The exact information Google collects about you may also depend on instructions we receive from publishers and advertisers. For example, publishers may choose to send Google identifiers that are used for things like frequency capping (limiting how often you see the same ad), audience segmentation and targeting (showing ads that are relevant for you), ad rotation (ensuring you see different versions of an ad), and other audience-based ad delivery controls across devices.
The below tables provide more information on the categories of data that Google processes when display advertising tools are used.
Data received by Google when a publisher requests ads (“ad request data”)
| Data type | Examples of information |
|---|---|
| Information about an ad space (slot) | Ad slot identifier; ad slot dimensions; supported formats or types of media; location of the ad slot on the page |
| Content surrounding an ad space | Web page URL; mobile or connected TV app ID; video content description |
| Publisher information | Publisher identifier; advertising partners involved in selling ad space (supply chain) |
| Publisher-provided information | Publisher-provided identifiers and signals |
| Information about your device or browser | User-resettable advertising identifiers for a browser, based on cookies, or a device (depending on privacy settings and environment); device model and brand; browser brand and version; operating system brand and version |
| Information about a browsing or in-app session | Identifier of the current web page view or in-app session; information relating to your session, such as session duration, whether you are interacting with the page, the prior number of clicks you made and referrer information |
| Network information | IP address; HTTP and other network headers; information about your mobile network carrier; network state |
| Privacy settings | Signals that indicate the legal grounds that have been established for processing information about you (for example whether you have given your consent for personalized ads); privacy settings you select in your browser or operating system; privacy signals a publisher sends to us, such as signals that apply protections for children |
| Supported advertising technologies | Application programming interfaces (APIs) supported by your device; the publisher ad tag or the advertising software development kit (SDK) type and version |
| Third-party demand information | Bid responses and bids received from a publisher’s direct advertising partners |
| Signals for detecting and preventing ad fraud and abuse | Proprietary signals collected from a device or a web browser that help detect invalid activity (ad fraud) |
| Google Analytics information | Session ID identifying your page view or in-app session |
| Experimental and debugging information | Information indicating that whether the display advertising tools are functioning appropriately, such as ad load times, system health metrics and crash analytics and reports; information about active experiments |
Data disclosed to advertising partners in the bid request (“bid request data”)
| Data type | Examples of information |
|---|---|
| Information about an ad space (slot) | Ad slot identifier; the ad slot dimensions; supported formats or types of media; location of the ad slot on the page |
| Content surrounding the ad space | Web page URL; mobile or connected TV app ID; video content description |
| Publisher information | Publisher identifier; billing country; advertising partners involved in selling ad space (supply chain) |
| Publisher-provided information | Publisher-provided identifiers and signals |
| Auction information | Information provided to advertising partners relating to their own participation in buying ad slots |
| Publisher configuration settings | Categories of ads disallowed by the publisher; information about direct deals between a publisher and an advertising partner; pricing rules set by the publisher |
| Information about your device or browser | Approximate geolocation; IP address or truncated IP address; user-resettable advertising identifiers for a browser, based on cookies, or a device (personalized ads only); device model and brand; browser brand and version; operating system brand and version |
| Information about a browsing or in-app session | Identifier of the current web page view or in-app session; other information relating to your session, such as whether you are interacting with the page, the prior number of clicks you made |
| Network information | Network connection type (for example 3G/4G/5G/Wifi) |
| Privacy settings | Signals that indicate the legal grounds that have been established for processing information about you (for example whether you have given your consent for personalized ads); privacy settings you select in your browser or operating system |
| Supported advertising technologies | Application programming interfaces (APIs) supported by your device; the publisher ad tag or the software development kit (SDK) type and version |
| Technical, experimental and debugging information | Set of active experiments specific to the advertising partner; bid response deadline; whether the request is a test request |
Data disclosed to advertising partners regarding auction outcome
| Data type | Examples of information |
|---|---|
| Auction information | Information relating to an advertising partner’s previous participation in an auction; information relating to the auction outcome, ad opportunity and bid request data |
Data received by Google when an ad is shown
| Data type | Examples of information |
|---|---|
| Information about the related ad request | The ad request that resulted in selecting the ad; data about the selected ad |
| Information about your device or browser | User-resettable advertising identifiers for a browser, based on cookies, or a device (personalized ads only); device model and brand; browser brand and version; operating system brand and version |
| Network information | IP address; HTTP and other network headers |
| Signals for detecting and preventing ad fraud and abuse | Proprietary signals that help detect invalid activity (ad fraud) |
| Interaction data | Information on how you interact with an ad, such as whether you click on it; interactions with a video in an ad (such as whether it is muted or paused) |
| Information related to the rendering of the ad | Information relating to the rendering of the ad, such as error messages; ad selection information; ad visibility information |
Data received by Google from our advertising partners when they submit a bid for the ad slot
| Data type | Examples of information |
|---|---|
| Information about the ad | The ad’s dimensions; the advertiser landing page if you click on the ad; code used to request the ad |
| Information about the bid for the ad slot | The bid amount; the identity of the advertising partner winning the bid; information used for aggregated ad purchases reporting to advertising partners |
| Information for measuring ad delivery and performance and debugging technical integration | Information about the ad, the ad and ad opportunity; information provided to application programing interfaces (APIs); bid response timescales |
| Experimental information | Information related to whether certain privacy enhancing technologies or application programing interfaces (APIs) are used |
Data disclosed by Google to publishers about ad transactions
| Data type | Examples of information |
|---|---|
| Information provided by the publisher about the request in relation to you and the ad slot | Ad slot parameters; publisher-provided rules relating to selling the ad slot; information about your browser and approximate location; publisher-provided identifiers (provided you have consented to ads personalization) |
| Information about the ad that was returned | The buying advertising partner; information about direct deals between a publisher and an advertising partner; the detected advertiser; the publisher payment for the ad; the ad image |
| Information about the ad’s visibility and your interactions with it | Whether the ad was shown on screen; whether you clicked on an ad; whether you muted an ad |
Data Google uses to deliver the ads
| Data type | Examples of information |
|---|---|
| Network information | IP address; HTTP and other network headers, including cookies |
| Information about an ad space (slot) | Ad slot identifier; allowed ad width and height; supported formats or types of media; location of the ad slot on the page |
| Information about the ad | Information used to decide which ad to show to you, such as information about the winning bid and interests that have been inferred from your interactions with different properties |
Data used for “cookie matching”
| Data type | Examples of information |
|---|---|
| Information about your device or browser | Approximate geolocation; browser and operating system type and version; device model and brand (as part of user-agent information) |
| Network information | IP address; HTTP and other network headers |
| Pseudonymous cookie-based user identifiers | User-resettable advertising identifiers for a browser, based on cookies |
| Information specific to an advertising partner | Partner-provided cookie-based identifiers; redirect URL; advertising partner account identifier |
| Privacy settings | Signals that indicate the legal grounds that have been established for processing information about you (e.g., whether you have given your consent for personalized ads) |
| Technical and debugging information | Timestamp of when the cookie matching request started; information about any security protocols used for the request |
Cookie matching
Some of our advertising partners use a feature called “cookie matching.” This feature allows our advertising partners to match cookie-based identifiers that they associate with your browser with cookie-based identifiers used by the display advertising tools. These cookie-based identifiers are stored by display advertising tools in “match tables” and can be shared subsequently in bid requests with an advertising partner who stored a given identifier in those tables. Match tables may be used by our advertising partners for a number of reasons, including to personalize ads. For example, an advertising partner can use the cookie matching service to store a cookie-based identifier that they assigned to your browser when you visited one of their partner advertiser’s properties in match tables provided by display advertising tools, so that they can later receive their cookie-based identifier in bid requests from the display advertising tools.
Non-personalized ads and limited ads
We can show you non-personalized ads if you decline to provide consent for personalized ads but do consent to the use of cookies, mobile IDs and other local storage (where such consent is legally required). Although non-personalized ads don’t use cookies or mobile ad identifiers for ad personalization, they do still use cookies or mobile ad identifiers for purposes such as frequency capping, ad measurement and reporting, and contextual ad serving.
We can show you limited ads if you decline to provide consent for both personalized ads and the use of cookies, mobile IDs and other local storage (where such consent is legally required). Limited ads disable all personalization and features that require use of identifiers and data stored on device or in a web browser (for example, cookies will not be used to limit the number of times you see the same ad). However, publishers can still choose to use user-resettable advertising identifiers (including cookies) to detect and prevent invalid activity (ad fraud).
Why and how we process your information and Google's legal grounds for processing it
Google processes your information to provide the display advertising tools for the purposes, and on the legal grounds, described below:
| Why and how we process your information | What data is processed | Legal grounds |
|---|---|---|
|
To display ads. We process your information so we know where to send ads that are served using the display advertising tools. For example, we process your IP address in order to send ads to the web page you’re reading on your device. We also use information about the ad slot to make sure the ad we serve is appropriate (such as to make sure it is the right size to fit into the ad slot on the page). |
Where necessary for the legitimate interests of Google, publishers, advertisers and/or advertising partners in providing advertising services that display ads (and when ads are personalized, we rely on your consent for such personalization, which you have the right to withdraw at any time). |
|
|
To select ads that you will see (whether or not the ad is personalized to you). We process data to determine the types of ads you see and which advertising partners are eligible to receive certain data. The data collected and disclosed will depend on the permissions you give, such as in the consent banner that is presented to you when you visit the publisher’s property and in your ad settings. Ads are shown to you according to factors like the time of day, the topic of the property you are visiting or your approximate location. For example, you might see a restaurant ad for lunch specials because you’re reading a blog about lunch recipes. Or you might see an ad for a roofing business because you are reading an article about home repair. We process data to limit the number of times you see the same ad. Depending on the permissions you give, we will collect ad request data and disclose bid request data to our advertising partners, who use it to decide whether they want to make a bid for an ad slot on the publisher’s property. If one or more of our advertising partners decide to submit a bid for the relevant ad slot, Google processes the data we receive from them to determine the winning bid and show the relevant ad on the publisher’s property. Cookie matching can be used to select the ads you see. For example, to limit the number of times you see the same ad. |
|
The legal ground will depend on the property you are visiting, but will be one of the following:
|
|
To personalize ads. Provided you have given your consent, we use data to show personalized ads on publisher properties. Ads can be personalized based on your inferred interests. These inferences are drawn from your previous interactions with properties that were associated with the same identifiers for your browser or device (for example cookies or device advertising IDs), or other information provided by publishers, advertising partners or advertisers (for example publisher-provided identifiers and signals). We process data to determine the types of ads you see and determine the advertising partners which are eligible to receive data for ads personalization. The data collected and disclosed will depend on the permissions you give, such as in the consent banner that is presented to you when you visit the property and your ad settings. When showing personalized ads, we will collect ad request data and disclose bid request data to our advertising partners, who use it to decide whether and how they might bid for the ad slot on the publisher’s property, including selecting a personalized ad. If one or more of our advertising partners decide to submit a bid for the relevant ad slot, Google processes this information to determine the winning bid and show the relevant ad on the publisher’s property. Advertising partners may use the data they collect to create an ads profile about you and show you personalized ads. For example, if you visited a property and looked at red shoes, an advertising partner’s profile might record that you are interested in red trainers. If the advertising partner works on behalf of an advertiser that sells red trainers, they could then choose to serve you a personalized ad for red trainers when you visit another property. Cookie matching and information accessed from application programming interfaces (APIs) supported by your device can be used to show you personalized ads. |
|
With your consent, which you have the right to withdraw at any time. |
|
To measure the effectiveness of ads. We use data for analytics and measurement to understand how the display advertising tools are used. For example, we measure the performance of ads placed via the display advertising tools, including by analysing the performance of different types of ad formats. This includes collecting and analysing metrics such as viewability (whether an ad displayed on a page is visible to you), click through rates (how often people click on an ad) or conversions (for example whether you bought the product or service being advertised). These metrics can help publishers, advertisers and advertising partners understand how ads are performing. These metrics help advertisers, advertising partners and publishers improve campaign performance using automated and manual optimizations. They are also used for billing and payment purposes. To do this, we:
We collect identifiers from your device and share them with publishers to help them understand the effectiveness of the ads they show on their properties. This allows publishers to more effectively analyze and optimize the performance of their ad slots. Cookie matching and information accessed from application programming interfaces (APIs) supported by your device can be used to measure the effectiveness of ads. |
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The legal ground will depend on the property you are visiting, but will be one of the following:
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Provide, maintain and improve the display advertising tools for publishers, advertising partners and advertisers, and understand how the display advertising tools are being used. We use data to make sure our display advertising tools are working properly and to provide services that meet the needs of publishers, advertisers and advertising partners that use these tools. For example:
To do this:
Cookie matching can be used to improve the display advertising tools for publishers, advertising partners and advertisers. |
|
The legal ground will depend on the property you are visiting, but will be one of the following:
|
|
Develop new services and features. We process data to develop new features that are useful for publishers, advertisers and advertising partners. For example:
To do this, we:
Cookie matching can be used to develop new services and features. |
|
The legal ground will depend on the property you are visiting, but will be one of the following:
|
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Customize the display advertising tools, including by providing recommendations to publishers, advertisers and advertising partners. We process data to customize certain features in the display advertising tools that publishers, advertisers and advertisers partners use. For example:
To do this, we:
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Where necessary for Google’s, publishers’, advertisers’ and advertising partners’ legitimate interests in customizing the display advertising tools to provide publishers, advertisers and advertising partners with a better experience. |
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Communicate with publishers, advertising partners, advertisers and the public. We use the data we process in providing the display advertising tools to inform marketing campaigns aimed at publishers, advertisers and advertising partners, and to inform communication strategies about upcoming product changes. For example:
To do this, we:
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Where necessary for our legitimate interests in marketing to inform publishers, advertisers and advertising partners about our services. |
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Protect Google, our users and the public. We use data to improve the safety and reliability of the display advertising tools. This includes detecting, preventing and responding to fraud, abuse, security risks, and technical issues that could harm Google, our users, or the public. For example:
To do this, we:
Cookie matching can be used to detect, prevent and respond to ad fraud. For example, to detect invalid traffic. |
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The legal ground will be one of the following:
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Using information from advertisers and our advertising partners
Advertisers and advertising partners can also use some of our display advertising tools to help them learn more about the people visiting their properties, to measure performance of ads they show using display advertising tools, and to improve the way they show ads to you in their advertising campaigns when you visit other properties. Learn more about how Google uses data from our advertising partners.
Disclosing your information
When we provide the display advertising tools, we may disclose information with the below categories of recipients. The individual recipients of information is subject to the choices you make in the consent banner and the exact advertising partners that the publisher or advertiser choose to work with:
- With publishers. We disclose data to publishers as part of features in the display advertising tools that are designed to help publishers understand how ads are performing on their properties.
- With advertising partners. Google partners with advertising partners working on the advertiser’s or publisher’s behalf, such as:
- Advertising partners who facilitate the purchase of ad slots: These are companies working on the advertiser’s or publisher’s behalf that facilitate the purchase of the ad slots on publisher properties, including:
- Ad networks: companies that aggregate and sell ad slots to advertisers.
- Ad exchanges: virtual marketplaces where publishers and advertisers trade digital ad inventory.
- Demand-side platforms: companies that help advertisers automate the process of buying ad slots on publisher properties in real time.
- Supply-side platforms: companies that help publishers sell ad slots, fill them with ads, and receive revenue.
- Data partners: companies that help other advertisers (and advertising partners working on their behalf) deliver greater insights about the purchase of ad slots in a way that meets advertisers’ campaign goals, and streamlines the way ad slots can be purchased.
- Advertising partners who provide ad measurement services. These companies provide services to advertisers that measure how users click on and view ads.
- Advertising partners who protect against fraud and abuse. For example, these companies protect against bots clicking on ads.
- Advertising partners who deliver the ad to the ad slot. These companies deliver ads onto the page you are visiting.
We also disclose data to our advertising partners to help them understand how ads are performing and to debug issues that our partners may experience when using the display advertising tools.
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For legal reasons, including government authorities, courts or with our external advisors, as described further in our Privacy Policy.
Retaining your information
Your information that we collect when providing display advertising services is retained in accordance with the Retention periods for Google storing information not in the user’s Google Account section of our Google Ads User Data Retention Policy. However, retention periods may be longer or shorter for certain specific business and legal purposes, as described below:
- Samples of the data disclosed to our advertising partners as part of our Authorized Buyers service, and which we and our advertising partners use to identify and debug issues that may occur with the product: are retained for up to 8 days.
- Information that identifies you or your device that is necessary for spam and abuse prevention when showing ads (for all display advertising tools): is retained for up to 3 years from the time of collection.
- Data necessary for financial record keeping purposes: is retained for up to 11 years from the time of collection.
- If you have directly communicated with Google, through a customer support channel, feedback form or bug report, records of these communications: is retained for up to 7 years.
- Information that is associated with cookies and user-resettable identifiers that are available for use at ad serving time in our Authorized Buyers service undergoes deletion from our data stores earlier than described in our Google Ads User Data Retention Policy if our systems do not see any requests for that identifier for 180 days.
- Event-level data that is made available to publishers undergoes deletion from our data stores after a period of up to 60 days.