Google Reveals New Ad Settings Page That Offers Greater Clarity

• Google has decided to make the language on its Ad Settings page as clear as possible to avoid tech transparency controversy.
• The company has also expanded its “Why This Ad?” service to encompass practically the entire Google network.
• The move offers more transparency about the data Google collects about its users.

It appears that Google takes the ideas of transparency stirred up by recent events in the tech industry very seriously.

At least that’s the conclusion that you can draw from the company’s recent announcement that it’s updated its Ad Settings page. The changes aim to make targeted advertising a less murky experience for users. On top of that, Google has also expanded its “?” feature to all of its service and any websites using its advertising network.

Google claims these changes will give people more control over the ads that they see. According to Philippe de Lurand Pierre-Paul, Google’s product manager, “With these improvements, you can browse the web confidently knowing that you have the information and control to make Google work better for you.”

So, what do these changes mean?

Google has offered its Ad Settings page for several years. Up until now, it mostly allowed users to turn targeted advertising off if they so choose. However, it also offers you the ability to see and change the information that Google collects on you. The most recent changes clear up the language this page uses in an effort to provide more clarity to users.

The “Why This Ad?” feature displays with the actual adverts that you see. Clicking it shows the users the information that Google used to decide the advert was something that’s worth seeing for you. This hasn’t changed. Instead, you’re just more likely to see it on any platform that uses Google ads.

The idea is to make the processes behind Google’s ads as transparent as possible. That’s important too, as Google’s ad network lies at the heart of its revenue stream. The fact that it helps businesses to reach specific audience segments makes it valuable. But recent tech transparency concerns have resulted in such services coming under increased scrutiny.

With this move, Google hopes to make people more comfortable with the type and amount of data that it collects about them.

What it hasn’t really changed are the fundamentals behind what it does.