Martech: Martech is Marketing Logo
  • Topics
    Digital Transformation
    Marketing Operations
    Data
    Customer & Digital Experience
    Performance Marketing
    Marketing Management
    Special Reports
    MarTech Topics
  • Conference
  • Webinars
  • Intelligence Reports
  • White Papers
  • What is MarTech
    Mission
    Staff
    Newsletter
    Search Engine Land
    Third Door Media

Processing...Please wait.

MarTech » Performance Marketing » Google will stop mining Gmail content for personalizing ads

Google will stop mining Gmail content for personalizing ads

The move brings ad personalization methods for Gmail in line with other Google products.

Ginny Marvin on June 23, 2017 at 2:00 pm

Google’s long-running practice of mining email content in Gmail accounts to target ads will soon come to an end.

The company announced Friday that the more than 1.2 billion Gmail users will no longer have their email content scanned for personalized ad targeting, starting later this year. The practice has been controversial and has apparently caused confusion among potential (paying) G Suite customers concerned about scanning practices in that product. The announcement came from Diane Green, SVP of Google Cloud in a blog post titled, “As G Suite gains traction in the enterprise, G Suite’s Gmail and consumer Gmail to more closely align.”

With this change, ad personalization in Gmail will be based only on the user’s Google account settings, as is the practice with ad personalization in other Google products such as Search ads. When a user opts out of ad personalization in their Google account, that will now apply to the ads they see in Gmail as well.

Google currently explains to consumers that Gmail messages are tailored based on content in their emails in addition to account settings.

This marks the final nail in the coffin of a practice that has been under fire from privacy advocates for years. In 2014, in response to a lawsuit, Google agreed to stop scanning email content in the student version of Gmail for advertising purposes. In December 2016, Google said it would scan emails in standard Gmail accounts only after the messages arrived in users’ inboxes, again in response to legal action.

Google also announced Friday that G Suite’s customer base more than doubled in the past year. There are now more than 3 million companies using G Suite, the portfolio of apps that includes versions of Gmail, Drive and Docs and Google Calendar tailored for business use. G Suite users will continue to have an ad-free version of Gmail.


Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.


New on MarTech

    How clean, organized and actionable is your data?
    Replacement Survey: The top 5 solutions replaced
    What’s the biggest hidden secret in Google Ads?
    Native video tops social media in brand awareness study
    Worsening economy has more shoppers getting online info before making in-store purchases

About The Author

Ginny Marvin
Ginny Marvin was formerly Third Door Media’s Editor-in-Chief, running the day-to-day editorial operations across all publications and overseeing paid media coverage. Ginny Marvin wrote about paid digital advertising and analytics news and trends for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land and MarTech Today. With more than 15 years of marketing experience, Ginny has held both in-house and agency management positions. She can be found on Twitter as @ginnymarvin.

Related Topics

Performance Marketing

Get the daily newsletter digital marketers rely on.

Processing...Please wait.

See terms.

ATTEND OUR EVENTS The MarTech Conference logo.

September 28-29, 2022: Fall

Start Training Now: Master Classes

Start Discovering Now: Spring



The SMX Conference logo.

Start Training Now:: SMX Advanced

November 14-15, 2022: SMX Next

March 8-9, 2022: Master Classes

Webinars

Agencies: Grow Revenue Streams Through Web Accessibility & Compliance

Protect Your Paid Advertising Spend Against Ad Fraud and Invalid Traffic

Build an Integrated Search Strategy Across Google, Amazon and YouTube

See More Webinars
Intelligence Reports

Enterprise SEO Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

Enterprise Identity Resolution Platforms

Email Marketing Platforms: A Marketer’s Guide

See More Intelligence Reports
Featured White Paper

Site Search 101

See More Whitepapers

Receive daily marketing news & analysis.

Processing...Please wait.

Topics

  • Transformation
  • Operations
  • Data
  • Experience
  • Performance
  • Management
  • All Topics
  • Home

Our Events

  • MarTech
  • Search Marketing Expo - SMX

About

  • What is MarTech
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Marketing Opportunities
  • Staff

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Newsletters
  • RSS

© 2022 Third Door Media, Inc. All rights reserved.