Important update: Policy for advertising based on interests and location

Google provides translated versions of our Help Centre as a convenience, though they are not meant to change the content of our policies. The English version is the official language we use to enforce our policies. To view this article in a different language, use the language drop-down at the bottom of the page.

In late May 2016, we’ll update our policy for advertising based on interests and location.

Which Google Ads features will be impacted

All the current Google Ads features that comply with our interest-based advertising (IBA) policies must continue to comply with upcoming policy changes. These features are:

• Remarketing
• Affinity audiences
• Custom affinity audiences
• In-market audiences
• Similar segments
• Demographic and location targeting

This will be a global policy change.

Starting on 1 May 2023, similar audiences (or segments) will be gradually phased out as a targeting feature. Learn more about this latest change to audience targeting

What this means for you

We want to provide increased accessibility, clarity and understanding of our interest-based advertising policies for advertisers and users alike. You’ll notice the following changes to the IBA policy:

• more transparency into why we have each content policy
• additional policy examples for added clarity
• increased detail in our policy definitions

In addition, we’ll introduce some new IBA content policies that no longer allow advertisers to create interest-based ads on the following:

Example: bereavement products or services

Example: domestic abuse shelters or victim advocate services

Example: immigration services or legal services for refugees

Example: information about gender transitioning or transgender discrimination lawyers

• Content that reveals personal hardships related to relationships and family
• Content that reveals personal hardships related to victim support
• Content that reveals the user’s identity related to potentially marginalized social groups
• Content that reveals the user’s identity related to transgender identification

After the new policy goes into effect, the policy description will be updated to reflect this change.

(Posted March 2016)