Google is rolling out a new tool that will stop so-called reminder ads from following you around the internet, typically used to try to get users to come back after virtual window shopping.

The new settings will allow users to “mute” these reminder ads , but only on a case-by-case basis, not as a setting to stop them in their entirety.

Jon Krafcik, group product manager for data privacy and transparency at Google, said: “You visit Snow Boot Co’s website, add a pair of boots to your shopping cart, but you don’t buy them because you want to keep looking around.

The next time that you’re shopping online, Snow Boot Co might show you ads that encourage you to come back to their site and buy those boots.

“Reminder ads like these can be useful, but if you aren’t shopping for Snow Boot Co’s boots anymore, then you don’t need a reminder about them. A new control within Ads Settings will enable you to mute Snow Boot Co’s reminder ads.”

The new tool allows users to view all the reminder ads currently tracked to your profile from one of the over 2m sites that use Google’s advertising services.

Users can then choose to mute individual reminder ads and view those that they’ve already muted with their Google Ads settings.

Once on the page, users can click the X next to the companies they no longer want to see ads from.

“We plan to expand this tool to control ads on YouTube, Search, and Gmail in the coming months,” said Krafcik.

Muting lasts for 90 days, but Google is quick to point out that it only affects sites and services using its ads platform and that other ad services also provide similar reminder ads, meaning this will not be a magic bullet for all irritating ads.

Google has also beefed up its general ad muting tool to allow users to mute more ads on more apps and sites.

When users mute an ad they don’t like on one device, that preference will now be carried over to other devices on which they are logged in.

Source:theguardian.com