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GOOGLE ADVERTISING TOOLS (FORMERLY DOUBLECLICK) OVERVIEW
Last Updated October 1, 2019
Millions of advertisers use Google marketing tools to place ads alongside Google services, search results, or on third party websites. Google also leverages its vast stores of user data to provide advertisers with sophisticated – and often uncanny – insights into their ads' performance.
KEY ADVERTISER-FACING PRODUCTS
Google Marketing Platform, previously known as DoubleClick, is Google's premium advertiser- facing product. Google acquired DoubleClick in 2007 for $3.1 billion, more than $1 billon over the seller’s valuation.^1 At the time, DoubleClick was a leading provider of display ads to popular third party sites like AOL, MySpace, and the Wall Street Journal.^2 In 2018, Google unified DoubleClick's advertiser tools and its enterprise analytics product under the Google Marketing Platform brand.^3
As a part of the 2018 rebranding, Google also rechristened its products that allowed web publishers to sell advertising space, formerly known as DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange. Although these products are now branded as Google Ad Manager, DoubleClick code still appears on 4.5 million websites.^4
Google Marketing Platform vs. Google Ads
Google Marketing Platform is the premium counterpart to Google’s flagship ad purchasing platform, Google Ads (formerly known as AdWords). AdWords began as an outgrowth of Google's search monopoly, placing ads alongside search results and allowing advertisers to target their ads to specific search terms.^5 Launched in 2000 with 350 customers, the service was Google’s flagship advertising property.^6 The service now places ads across Google services and on the more than two million third party websites that sell ads through Google.^7
Google refers to its own domains and the third party sites that sell ads through Google Ad Manager and AdSense (its sales platform for small publishers) as the Google Display Network.^8 According to Google, more than 90 percent of worldwide internet users interact with Display
(^1) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/technology/14DoubleClick.html, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/04/business/media/04adco.html (^2) http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/14/technology/14DoubleClick.html (^3) https://www.blog.google/technology/ads/new-advertising-brands/ (^4) https://archive.fo/xnpse, https://policies.google.com/technologies/types (^5) https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/oct/25/advertising-google-adwords (^6) https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/oct/25/advertising-google-adwords (^7) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^8) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/
Network sites.^9 Both Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform customers can access Display Network inventory. Google Marketing Platform customers access the Display Network through a "sales channel" called Authorized Buyers, formerly known as DoubleClick Ad Exchange for buyers.^10
Table 1: Key Google Advertising Products
Product Name Pre-2018 Name Audience Description
Google Marketing Platform
DoubleClick advertiser tools and Google Analytics 360
Premium advertisers
Tools to help large advertisers target ads, automate bidding on ad exchanges, and track conversions
Google Ads AdWords Small advertisers
A marketplace to buy advertising space on the Google Display Network, which includes more than 2 million third party domains in addition to Google sites and apps.
Google Ad Manager
DoubleClick for Publishers and DoubleClick Ad Exchange
Premium publishers
Premium tools for third-party publishers in the Google Display Network to sell advertising space on their websites and apps
Authorized Buyers DoubleClick for buyers
Premium advertisers
A tool for Google Marketing Platform customers to buy ads on the Google Display Network (via the Google Ad Manager exchange), AdMob, and AdSense
AdSense AdSense Small web publishers
A tool for third party publishers to sell advertising space on their websites
Whereas Google Ads targets small businesses, Google Marketing Platform is intended for major advertisers and agencies that manage large advertising campaigns.^11 Google Marketing Platform offers advertisers more advanced targeting, analytics and campaign management tools.^12 AdWords advertisers must spend more time identifying the groups of users that they wish to target and managing bids, although Google does allow AdWords customers to
(^9) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^10) https://support.google.com/authorizedbuyers/answer/ (^11) https://www.blog.google/technology/ads/new-advertising-brands/ (^12) https://support.google.com/authorizedbuyers/answer/
(depending on their country of residence), they must upgrade to the paid service.^23
MARKET SHARE
More than 47.6 percent of the top 10,000 websites use DoubleClick ad-serving code, and another 40.8 percent use AdSense.^24 While a handful of publishers use both technologies, most use one or the other, suggesting that Google may be present on well over 80 percent of top domains.
Google also commands the largest market share in digital advertising overall, with nearly twice the market share of its nearest competitor, Facebook.^25 In 2019, Google is projected to earn more than $103.7 billion in global advertising revenue.^26 Facebook is projected to earn just $67.4 billion over the same period.^27 No other digital ad platform has a market share of more than 7 percent.^28
Google limits third party tracking technology on its advertising platform.^29 Google’s tracking policies mean that advertisers who serve ads through both AOL and Google, for example, cannot use AOL’s technology to see how their ads perform across both networks.^30 Under the guise of compliance with GDPR, Google further restricted third party pixels on its ad network in
2018.^31 Google Marketing Platform customers who want consistent data about ad performance must manage all of their campaigns through Google.
GOOGLE ADVERTISING AND USER DATA
Google’s restrictions on third party trackers serve as tacit acknowledgement that user data is the key component of Google's success as an advertising company. Tracking cookies, present on any site that serves Google ads, allow the company to observe the browsing habits of more
(^23) https://www.google.com/DoubleClick/publishers/small-business/terms/. The impression limit for free ad serving is 90 million for publishers based in United States, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand; 200 million impressions for publishers located in the Russian Federation, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Greece, Slovenia, Lithuania, Romania, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Kenya, Morocco, Estonia, Latvia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Columbia, Guatemala, Uruguay, Peru, India, Taiwan, Malaysia, Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Pakistan, Thailand, Philippines, China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, or Sri Lanka; and 150 million impressions per month for publishers located in all other countries. (^24) https://archive.fo/We2r (^25) https://www.emarketer.com/content/us-digital-ad-spending-will-surpass-traditional-in- (^26) https://www.emarketer.com/content/global-digital-ad-spending- (^27) https://www.emarketer.com/content/global-digital-ad-spending- (^28) https://www.emarketer.com/content/us-digital-ad-spending-will-surpass-traditional-in- (^29) https://support.google.com/adspolicy/answer/94230, https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^30) https://digiday.com/media/google-dmp-rules/ (^31) https://adage.com/article/digital/google-shuts-roi-tracking-analysis/
than 90 percent of people who use the internet.^32 Google combines that data with users’ personal profile information to create ‘super profiles’ that afford the company unparalleled ad targeting capabilities. Google notes to advertisers that “Only Google can deliver this level of precision and scale.”^33
Google places tracking cookies on the browser of any user that visits a webpage that serves Google ads, uses Google Analytics, or contains embedded Google services like YouTube.^34 Once a user visits a site with a Google tracking cookie, the cookie stores a constantly-updated record of the user’s web activity on their browser.^35
Although the cookie tracks everything that a user queries, clicks on, and reads online, Google maintains that its cookies contain no personally identifiable information.^36 Google does, however, associate these cookies with personal information in users’ Google profiles, including email metadata, signed-in search and YouTube viewing history, location data from their Android phones or other mobile devices signed in to Google services, and the contents of files stored on Google’s servers.^37 The result is a ‘super-profile’ that grants Google unparalleled insight into users’ interests and habits.^38
A Brief History of Google's Growing Appetite for User Data
Google began combining DoubleClick advertising cookie data and personal profile information following a change to its privacy policy in June 2016. Google presented the change to users as a “new feature,” failing to disclose the fact that the change made users’ browsing histories personally identifiable.^39 The change realized the fears that privacy advocates voiced during Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick in 2007:
The combination of DoubleClick’s Internet surfing history generated through consumers’ pattern of clicking on specific advertisements, coupled with Google’s database of consumers’ past searches, will result in the creation of ‘super-profiles,’ which will make up the world’s single largest repository of both personally and non-personally identifiable information.^40
The FTC declined to intervene in privacy issues surrounding the acquisition, arguing that “the Commission lack[s] legal authority to require conditions to this merger that do not relate to antitrust.”^41 Regarding the competitive advantage that Google would gain from having access
(^32) https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2404190, https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites (^33) https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/09/New-Digital-Innovations-to-Close-the-Loop-for-Advertisers.html (^34) https://policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites, https://policies.google.com/technologies/ads/ (^35) https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/ (^36) https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/ (^37) https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/ (^38) http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/ftc_google_complaint_12-5-2016docx.pdf (^39) https://www.propublica.org/article/google-has-quietly-dropped-ban-on-personally-identifiable-web-tracking (^40) https://epic.org/privacy/ftc/google/cpb.pdf (^41) https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_statements/418081/071220googledc-commstmt.pdf
as cookies.^48 In 2014, one Google insider told a reporter, “What Google really wants is for everybody to be signed in to their Google accounts all the time.”^49 When a user signs on to any Google service, such as Gmail, YouTube, or Search, Google associates the browsing history stored in the DoubleClick tracking cookie with their profile.^50 Once a user signs in to a Google service, they remain signed in on that browser until they affirmatively sign out. As long as the user remains signed in, Google continues to collect browsing data in real time. When a signed- in user visits a site with Google tracking technology, it joins a user identifier with the site’s own traffic data.^51 This allows Google to show re-target the same user across platforms and devices.
This makes Gmail, Google’s core authenticated service, essential to its advertising ecosystem. Although Google stopped its longtime practice of scanning the contents of users’ emails for keywords to augment their advertising profiles in 2017, Gmail logins remain a critical gateway to personally-identifiable browsing histories.^52 More than 1.5 billion people sign in to Gmail every month.^53 When a those users sign in to their accounts, data from the DoubleClick tracking cookie stored in their browsers is associated with their private user profiles.
Google also exploits single sign on (SSO) to monitor signed-in users. When a user signs into Gmail or any other Google service, they are automatically logged in to all other Google services, including YouTube, Google Drive, Google Docs, and Search. There is no way to untie these services.^54 Google automatically stores signed in users’ search histories, You Tube viewing habits, email metadata, and Google Drive contents in their advertising profiles.^55 In 2018, Google quietly pushed an update to Chrome that signed users in to the browser whenever they signed in to a Google service.^56 An outcry from privacy advocates prompted Google to allow users to opt-out of the forced sign-in policy, but the setting remains activated by default.^57
Google closes the loop by requiring users to sign on to their Google accounts from their mobile devices, too. Android phones prompt users to log in to a Google account during device setup.^58 If a user bypasses that step, they will be unable to use most Google apps, including the Google Play store, the primary gateway to third-party Android apps.^59 As a result, virtually all Android phones in the United States and Europe are associated with a Google Account. Once Android
(^48) https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/26/google-ads/ (^49) https://qz.com/194032/googles-sneaky-new-privacy-change-affects-85-of-iphone-users-but-most-of-them- wont-have-noticed/ (^50) https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/7549925, https://support.google.com/dcm/answer/ (^51) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^52) https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/23/technology/gmail-ads.html (^53) https://twitter.com/gmail/status/ (^54) https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/updating-our-privacy-policies-and-terms.html (^55) https://venturebeat.com/2014/10/06/the-cookie-is-dead-heres-how-facebook-google-and-apple-are-tracking- you-now/ (^56) https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/24/security-experts-say-chrome-69s-forced-login-feature-violates-user- privacy/ (^57) https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/26/google-to-give-chrome-users-an-opt-out-to-forced-login-after-privacy- backlash/ (^58) http://www.itworld.com/article/2832391/mobile/can-an-android-phone-run-without-google-.html (^59) https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/
users are signed in, Google tracks their location, activity level, searches, voice commands, and use apps and services.^60 Google associates all of this information with users’ private accounts and uses it for ad targeting.^61 In addition, Google tracks Android users with a unique Advertising ID – the mobile equivalent of browser-based tracking cookies.^62 Both of these technologies allow advertisers to target users as they switch between their computers and their Android phones.
Thanks to the success of Google apps for iOS, many Apple users also log on to their Google accounts from their mobile devices. Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Google Drive, Chrome, and Google Maps for iPhone and iPad all prompt users to sign in to their Google accounts. In 2014, Google introduced single sign-on for iOS, so when a user signs in to one Google app on their mobile device, they are automatically signed in to all of their Google apps.^63 By default, these apps track location history and store that information in users’ Google accounts.^64 This allows Google to track iOS users much like it tracks Android users, and to associate that information with users’ accounts and activity on other devices.^65
User Data and Ad Targeting
Google uses the ‘super profiles’ created by combining users’ personal information with cross- device browsing data to sell hyper-targeted advertising to Google Marketing Platform and Google Ads customers. The company combines these profiles with other data sources to serve “relevant” ads. Google allows customers to target advertising based on the following criteria:
Context
Both Google Marketing Platform and Google Ads (formerly DoubleClick and AdWords) allow advertisers to target ads based on the contents of the webpage on which the ad will appear.^66 Google classifies pages into topics by automatically scanning the words on the page and classifying them using artificial intelligence.^67 The company then sorts pages into one of over 2,200 predetermined topics according to the best content match, and advertisers choose which of these topics to target.^68 Google encourages advertisers to create “ad groups” that
(^60) https://digiday.com/media/brands-normals-know-googles-new-activity-pages/ (^61) https://www.theverge.com/2016/6/1/11824118/google-android-location-data-police-warrants (^62) http://www.techrepublic.com/article/pro-tip-how-to-opt-out-of-interest-based-ads-on-your-android-phone/ (^63) https://gmail.googleblog.com/2014/03/get-your-mail-faster-on-gmail-ios-app.html (^64) https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/ (^65) https://qz.com/194032/googles-sneaky-new-privacy-change-affects-85-of-iphone-users-but-most-of-them- wont-have-noticed/, https://venturebeat.com/2014/08/17/yes-google-maps-is-tracking-you-heres-how-to-stop-it/ (^66) https://support.google.com/authorizedbuyers/answer/2873487, https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^67) https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/ (^68) https://support.google.com/authorizedbuyers/answer/2873487, https://developers.google.com/adwords/api/docs/appendix/verticals
In-market audiences also rely on interest categories to help advertisers target their campaigns.^78 The key difference is that the interest categories for in-market targeting focus on something that the user already wants to buy, rather than things that the user likes but may not be shopping for. Google identifies in-market audiences by analyzing “trillions of search queries and activity across millions of websites to help figure out when people are close to buying.” 79
Google's advertising customers can also create "custom intent audiences" to identify users who are in the market for specific items.^80 As with custom affinity audiences, advertisers can use keywords and URLs that appear in users' browsing histories to build custom intent audiences.^81 Google also uses machine learning to suggest custom intent audiences based on user activity; if an advertiser targets users in the market for sporting goods, Google will suggest product searches made by users of sporting goods websites.^82
Life Events
Google analyzes user activity to identify individuals who experience major life changes like getting married, graduating from college, moving, or a new baby.^83 According to Google, this allows advertisers to target individuals who are in the market for a variety of complimentary goods and services.^84 Google does not disclose the data that it uses to identify users who are experiencing a major life event, nor does it appear to disclose users' inclusion on life event marketing lists to the end user.
Demographics
Google allows Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform advertisers to target ads based on demographics.^85 This includes not just basic demographics like age and gender, but also household income, education level, employer size, employer industry, homeownership status, marital status, parental status, and children's ages.^86
(^78) https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/6213232, https://support.google.com/google- ads/answer/ (^79) https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/05/powering-ads-and-analytics-innovations.html (^80) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9069938, https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/ (^81) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9069938, https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/ (^82) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^83) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2497941, https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/6260055, https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/advertising- channels/video/automotive-brand-loyalty/ (^84) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^85) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2497941, https://support.google.com/google- ads/answer/2580383, https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/ (^86) See spreadsheet at https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/
While Google asks for users’ age and gender when they sign up for an account, it infers the most useful demographic information from tracking users across the web. Google determines demographics by tracking what users search for, click on, buy, and view across the web and on their mobile devices, and infers characteristics based on those behaviors.^87 The company also compares each user’s browsing history to the browsing histories of survey participants to determine parental status, income, and other demographic information.^88 Once the company knows how a sample of people in a particular demographic group behave on the internet, it can infer demographics en masse using nothing but browsing behavior.
Remarketing
Google's advertising customers can also target users who have engaged with the advertiser's business in the past.^89 Advertisers place a snippet of Google code called a “global site tag” on their websites.^90 The code automatically adds visitors to “remarketing lists” for future ad targeting.^91 Google provides advertisers with an “audience insights” report that lists the demographics, locations, devices, and interests of users on the advertiser’s remarketing list.^92
Similar Audiences
Both Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform advertisers can target “similar audiences” who share characteristics with people who have already patronized their businesses.^93 Google analyzes the most recent 30 days of browsing activity for all of the customers on an advertiser's remarketing list to determine their interests and characteristics.^94 The company then draws upon its detailed user profiles to find other users who have displayed similar interests and characteristics in their browsing activity or other data that Google collects, and adds these individuals to a custom "similar audiences" list.^95
(^87) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^88) https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/06/20/adwords-parental-status (^89) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^90) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2476688, https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/ (^91) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^92) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^93) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2676774, https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/ (^94) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^95) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/
User Data and Conversion Tracking
Google also analyzes the behavior of users who visit an advertiser’s site in order to provide information about ad performance. Traditionally, this meant tracking “conversions” like site visits, online purchases, or signing up for an advertiser’s mailing list. Google also draws upon its repository of user data to provide uncanny insights into physical store visits and offline sales.
Website actions
Google provides Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform customers with source code that helps them track whether a customer who was referred by an ad made a purchase, signed up for a mailing list, clicked on a referral link, downloaded a file, clicked on the advertiser’s phone number, or made a payment on a third-party page. 106 Websites with this code place a cookie on the user’s browser that Google then uses to document users’ behavior both on the advertiser’s site and, if applicable, on third party sites relevant to a purchase, download, or subscription enrollment.^107
Phone calls
Google gives advertisers source code that routes phone calls to a number displayed on an advertiser’s website through a google forwarding number in order to capture phone call conversions. 108 Google also allows Google Marketing Platform advertisers to import call logs to identify the phone calls that were initiated by viewing an ad.^109 In addition, Google uses website action tracking to track clicks on a phone number on a mobile website.^110
App downloads and in-app purchases
Google also tracks app downloads that follow ad clicks on a mobile device. Developers who use Google’s Firebase development platform, which serves both iOS and Android, can add tracking code to monitor first-opens and in-app purchases originating from an ad served by Google. 111 Android Apps sold on the Google Play store automatically associate app downloads and in-app purchases with Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform ad clicks, without the developer adding any code to their app. 112
(^106) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722022, https://support.google.com/displayvideo/answer/ (^107) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/1722022, https://support.google.com/authorizedbuyers/answer/ (^108) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6095883, https://developers.google.com/search-ads/v2/how- tos/conversions (^109) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^110) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^111) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^112) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6100665, https://support.google.com/authorizedbuyers/answer/
Imported conversions
Google allows advertisers to import sales data associated with Google’s unique ad click ids back into the Google Ads and Google Marketing Platform systems. 113 Google then associates these click ids with user data in order to tell the advertiser which keywords, queries, and user interests are associated with sales.^114
Cross-device conversions
Google now provides advertising customers with detailed information about the ‘paths’ that users take between viewing an ad and making a conversion, even if the conversion happens on a different device than the one that served the ad. 115 In order to provide this information, Google identifies and tracks users across all of their devices, going far beyond the browser- based tracking cookies that power traditional interest-based advertising. By combining browsing and web activity data into a user’s Google account, the company can determine which signed-in users saw an ad on one device and purchased the advertised product on another.^116 The company has also filed a patent application that could allow it to track signed-out users by passing a temporary tracking code between devices for the purposes of cross-device remarketing and conversion tracking. 117
Data-driven attribution
While “last-click” conversions capture a significant portion of all online conversions, Google relies on machine learning and the company’s vast stores of user data to assess the impact of each element of an advertiser's campaign on the likelihood of conversion.^118 Google now offers a "data-driven attribution" product, which compares the "click paths" of customers who convert to the paths of customers who don't to identify inflection points that impact the purchasing decision. 119
Store visits
Google can also tell DoubleClick and AdWords customers whether users have visited their physical stores. By combining its constant queries of mobile users’ locations with detailed maps of commercial buildings, Google boasts that it can determine with 99 percent accuracy whether
(^113) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2998031, https://developers.google.com/DoubleClick-advertisers/guides/conversions_upload (^114) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^115) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/6359141, https://support.google.com/marketingplatform/answer/ (^116) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/ (^117) http://pdfaiw.uspto.gov/.aiw?Docid= (^118) https://adwords.googleblog.com/2017/05/powering-ads-and-analytics-innovations.html, https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/ (^119) https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/
