Ad Serving

Yahoo! displays ads both on our network of owned and operated web sites, such as the sites on the Yahoo.co.uk domain and sites like Flickr.com and others (see our Acquired Companies page for a list of other domains where Yahoo! may serve ads) and on non-Yahoo! web sites. Yahoo! serves display ads, also known as graphical ads, that appear as images, animation or video as well as text ads that appear as text links.

When you visit one of Yahoo!’s web sites or view ads that Yahoo! serves off of its network, you may see multiple kinds of ads, like text ads next to search results and graphical ads shown on web pages. Sometimes these ads are based on the content of the page on which they appear. Other times these ads are generated by matching the ad to your interests. Either way, Yahoo! tries to show you ads that are relevant to you. To do this most effectively, we may use information we know or receive about you like your gender, location or interests. We may also analyze your use of our products and services, including whether you view or click on ads we show you. We offer you a choice of whether or not we will use information about these activities to influence the ads we show you on our web sites and through our ad network.

Details

• Yahoo! serves ads on our owned and operated web sites, and on other publisher web sites through networks for ad serving. Our ad networks include Yahoo! Search Marketing, the Yahoo! Ad Network and Blue Lithium.
• Yahoo! also operates the Right Media Exchange that provides the means for advertisers, agencies, publishers and ad networks to manage their advertising business.

Cookies & Web Beacons

• Yahoo! uses tools called cookies and web beacons in the ad serving process.
• Cookies are small text files that are stored within a browser. They are accessed and recorded by the web site visited and by the companies that show ads on that site to enable them to “recognize” the same browser or user. They are used as part of the ad serving process and also help us collect information about a user’s online interactions.
• Web beacons are small electronic files that allow a web site to count users who have visited that page or to access certain cookies. Web beacons can be used to identify audience segments and to do analytics and research.
• Without cookies, many common features of most web sites will not work the way you expect. Cookies allow us to personalize and customize content at your request, such as My Yahoo! pages that remember which postal code you prefer for local weather and what your Zodiac sign is. Cookies and web beacons also help us understand how our site is used so we can improve our performance and provide better experiences for our users, advertisers, and publishers.

Interest Customization

• Some of the ads served by Yahoo! on our owned and operated sites through our ad networks are customized to reflect your interests. We look at browsing activity, including the type of content accessed, ads clicked on, and searches conducted. Based on this, we infer certain interests to show you more relevant ads. For example, for people who like to check out the golf scores on Yahoo! Sports, we may show ads that focus on golf-related products and services.

Contextual Ads

• Sometimes we display contextually relevant ads alongside related content. For instance, if you are viewing a Yahoo! News article about a recently released album, we may show you an ad for a music store that sells that album.
• Similarly, ads in Yahoo! Finance are more likely to be related to financial services, just as Yahoo! Entertainment will display more ads about movies and television programs. These ads are shown to anyone who visits the page and are often not specifically tailored to the user visiting the page. Advertisers often purchase specific advertising placement in areas like these that relate to their products or that represent the audience they’d most like to reach.
• When showing you sponsored search ads, we may use information about you and your search query to display you a more relevant ad.

Other Ways to Tailor Ads

• Yahoo! may tailor ads based on a user’s location determined by a recently entered postal code or by an IP address.
• Yahoo! may use declared information, such as your gender, age or job category to tailor ads when you are logged in or if you have stored this information with a Yahoo! service.
• Yahoo! may tailor ads to you based on what people you know have demonstrated or declared an interest in.

Transparency, Choice and Opt-Out

• Yahoo! offers you transparency and insight into how we serve ads. Yahoo offers you the following choices with regard to customized advertising:
• The choice to opt out of advertising customized to your interests, both on the Yahoo! network of sites and third party networks where we serve ads. You will still see ads on these web sites, but they won’t be customized to your interests.
• You can also opt out of allowing other advertisers, agencies, networks or publishers that use our Right Media exchange to target customized advertising to you based on your interests.
• You can see and, in many cases, opt out of receiving targeted ads from the third parties that serve ads on Yahoo! by visiting our Third Party and Affiliate Cookies page.
• You can edit your Yahoo! account information at any time.
• Yahoo! is a member of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), a cooperative of companies committed to building responsible advertising policies across the Internet. Learn more about other ad serving companies and opt-out from each of them at the NAI web site.
• Yahoo! does not provide any personal information to the advertiser or publisher when you interact with or view a targeted ad. However, by interacting with or viewing an ad you are consenting to the possibility that the advertiser will make the assumption that you meet the targeting criteria used to display the ad.