Ever Wonder How Google Picks Personalized Ads for You? Here's the Answer

If you have ever paid any attention to the ads associated with your Google searches, you may notice that they can sometimes seem a bit off, not directly related to your current search. Google, in an effort to be transparent and give their users more choices, sheds some light on how it personalizes your ads.

Watch Google's lead software engineer Diane Tang explain it here:

On its blog, Google writes:

By considering the language you’re using, your geographic location and various other indications, we’re able to show you the best ads possible. We’ve been showing ads in this way for years as a way to help you quickly find what you're looking for.

But as Tang points out in the video, you'll soon be able to actually get the rationale behind an ad choice made for you by clicking on "Why this ad?" Google is also giving users more control by letting them adjust preferences in the Ad Preference Manager. This will allow users to block certain advertisers as well as block personalized ads all together.

This new transparency comes as Google was and continues to be under fire for how it personalizes ads and speculation that it favors its own companies. In September, The Blaze reported Google's Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt appearing before a Senate committee to defend Google's ad and search practices.

[H/T Gizmodo]