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How Google uses your information for display advertising on partner websites, apps, and other services in the United States

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,
  • 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 do I control what information Google collects and discloses in display advertising?

When you visit a site, app or service that uses a Google display advertising tool on the page you are visiting, that property may show you a message that:

  • describes how it may use cookies, mobile IDs or other information stored on your device, including to show you personalized ads,
  • 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, and
  • gives you controls over the information these vendors can receive about you and your device when serving personalized ads on the page you are visiting.

You can also control whether to allow personalized advertising and whether to allow advertising partners to use additional information from your browser or device to inform the selection of ads on sites and apps that partner with Google. If you turn off this control, bid request data sent to advertising partners will omit more specific details about your browser or device.

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. For other important data protection information, you can read our Privacy Policy.

More information on how Google display advertising tools process 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 processed by display advertising tools

The exact information Google collects about you and your device depends on choices you have made in your ad settings, and the browser or device you are using. It may also depend on the permissions you give in consent messages (sometimes known as “cookie banners”) that appear on some properties, or in the privacy controls offered by those services.

Consent messages may be presented to you when you visit a site, app or other service. The consent messages may let you choose whether companies (including Google) collect information about you and your device to 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.

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 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 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 Privacy settings you select in your browser or operating system; privacy signals a publisher sends to us
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 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 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; network information; 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
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.

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.
  • Advertisers: We disclose data to advertisers as part of features in the display advertising tools that are designed to help advertisers understand how their ads are performing on sites, apps or services, and to help them improve their ad campaigns (including enabling advertisers to personalize ads that you see).
  • 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.

    You can also control whether to allow personalized advertising and whether to allow advertising partners to use additional information from your browser or device to inform the selection of ads on properties that partner with Google. If you turn off this control, bid request data sent to advertising partners will omit more specific details about your browser or device.

    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.

  • 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.