You plan to buy joggers and search about it on Google. Then boom! Now all you see in your social feeds are ads about joggers. Does the same happen with you? If yes, maybe you’re a victim of what we call ‘targeted ads’. While this can be helpful temporarily, it is mostly a nuisance. Are you getting stalked by targeted ads and wondering what to do about it? If so, you must read this article.
Since radio and T.V. commercials, ads have generally been a real annoyance. However, online ads are doubtlessly the worst kinds. Okay, they can be helpful temporarily. For example, you check out a site of digital marketing agencies in Mumbai and leave it for later to consider. Then such ads can work like reminders and help you make a better purchase.
But what happens after you close the deal? The ads still keep following you even when you don’t need them anymore. It can become such a pain.
No one likes being stalked – be it by the persistent salesman in your neighborhood market or by online ads. Except that online targeted ads just keep getting worse. Below, we are going to talk about ways you can get rid of such ads. However, it’s important to first understand how it works.
What are targeted ads?
Targeted ads are “directed towards an audience with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting.” (Wikipedia)
In simple terms, online companies use tracking technologies like website Cookies to collect information about the consumer’s browsing activities. Our browsing activities can tell a lot about our likes, dislikes, preferences, buying behaviors, etc. And the tracking technologies are now smart enough to read and analyze them. Based on what eCommerce sources you visit and products you search, they chase you with those specific ads to push you to make the purchase.
Why do businesses use targeted ads?
Targeting is important in marketing. The days are gone when you spray and pray. In the absence of effective targeting, your digital marketing efforts can go in vain. Not to mention how it will waste your resources.
The point behind target marketing is similar. Instead of showing you anything and everything, targeted ads show you things that you are more likely to be interested in. This helps businesses save costs while improving conversions.
Targeted ads can be both good and bad
Ads targeted with the aim of actually helping the consumer would make it a point to not annoy them too much. Hence, such ads may show up only sometimes and will stop as they detect that you have made the purchase.
On the other hand, badly targeted ads trail you relentlessly. They’d just keep popping up continuously.
Things get all the more messed up when a company has hired more than one ad tech company. Such companies would naturally have different approaches. One may be following you on YouTube and as you go to some other app for respite, you may find another following you on there.
How can I get rid of targeted ads?
While these ads are a good thing from a marketer’s perspective; as customers, they can be a real pain. And in many cases, the ads won’t stop sharing even after you have made the purchase. Hence, it is important to know how to get rid of targeted ads.
Listed below are some of the ways to make it stop following you:
➠ Clear your Google ad history
Clearing your Google ad history can help you get a respite from targeted ads. In fact, it is best to make this practice a habit. You should purge your Google ad history every once in a while. This can be done by going to Google’s My Activity tool at myactivity.google.com. There, you can find all the data that Google has stored about you. It’ll help you find what ads you have loaded. You can select and delete accordingly.
➠ Remove cookies
Cookies are the whole reasons why targeted ads follow you. If you clear your browser cookies, you can get some respite from targeted ads. For different browsers, there are different steps to be followed for clearing web cookies. Google, Apple, and Microsoft provide their users with the guidelines for removing cookies.
➠ Resetting the advertising ID
Apart from cookies, marketers use advertising ID to track you. But the good news is, it easy to reset it. Google settings app in android phones has a reset button in the ads menu. As for iPhone users, follow the given direction—Google settings app > advertising > privacy menu > reset button.
And for prevention, you can:
- Use incognito mode for product related search
- Install an ad blocker
- Set up a tracker blocker
Conclusion
Targeted ads can be really irritating. While it is beneficial for digital marketing, it can be a real nuisance for the customers. But thankfully, you can get rid of targeted ads and prevent them from bugging you. With the steps mentioned above, you can keep from getting stalked by targeted ads.
Hey reader! Did this article solve your problem? Kindly let us know in the comments below.
