Customized Advertising FAQ
Why do you customize my experience on Yahoo!?
Customization features are designed to bring you the news, weather, or other content you want, and to help you find what you are looking for more efficiently. We apply this principle to advertising, believing that relevant ads will be more useful.
Where does Yahoo! show me customized ads?
We show them to you while you are on Yahoo! as well as when you visit some of our partner sites. That means we can provide you with the most relevancy not just while you are on Yahoo! but also across the Web.
Can I opt out of getting Customized advertising?
Advertising helps us bring you all the great free content you’re used to from Yahoo!. While you don't have the option to turn off advertising entirely, you do have the option to opt out of receiving customized advertising while you’re on Yahoo! and Yahoo!'s participating partner sites.
If you have a Yahoo! ID, you can also make your opt-out persistent, meaning that your decision to opt out will be effective even if you clear your cookies, change browsers, or use a different computer. Learn more about this feature.
The Yahoo! Ad Network and BlueLithium are members of the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI), a cooperative of online marketing and analytics companies committed to building consumer awareness and establishing responsible business and data management policies and standards. Learn about your ability to opt-out of relevant advertising on Yahoo! and on our partner sites.
You can also choose to clear your cookies through a setting in your browser. Learn how.
What happens if I choose to opt out?
If you opt out of customized ads, the advertising you will see on our participating partner sites will likely be less relevant to your demonstrated interests.
Can I turn off ads completely on Yahoo!?
No. Advertising revenue supports our ability to offer industry-leading free services like unlimited Mail storage, Flickr™ photo sharing and community products like Yahoo! Groups.
What are "cookies"? How does Yahoo! use them to show me relevant advertising?
Cookies are little bits of text that live in separate files within your browser. They are accessed and recorded by the website you are visiting and by the companies that show ads on that site to enable them to "recognize" the same browser or person navigating around a website. They are used as part of ad serving and as part of collecting information about user interactions online. This is a simplification of how cookies work, but this is how data is collected online to customize your Web experience.
Cookies are essential for personalizing and customizing content and for user authentication online. Nearly all websites use them.
When a user accesses a web page, a cookie is set by the website and often by the company showing ads on that page.
Ad networks that participate in the Network Advertising Initiative (NAI) let you opt out of having this data used to customize your advertising experience. But opting out of customization and interest-matching ads also relies on cookies to set and record the opt-out preference. This means that if you delete all cookies, you will also delete your opt-out cookie.
You can edit your cookie settings within your browser's privacy and Internet settings.
What is Yahoo!'s Privacy Policy?
Yahoo!'s Privacy Policy is the framework within which we work to safeguard your personal information and give you choices about how we use information you give us. Yahoo! has a long history of providing users with consistent and transparent policies about how Yahoo! uses their information to enhance their experiences on the Yahoo! network. This consistency has created trust between Yahoo! and our users. It is the core of our business success. Learn more about our Privacy Policy.
Where can I learn more about these issues?
Many companies, industry organizations, and websites offer great information for consumers. A good list to start with: