# Advertisements **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 9, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487 "2006-12-09T18:04:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/1 "2006-12-09T18:04:52Z")
Does whatever generates the ads use a SDMB cookie or my profile? It seems to know what state I live in. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/2 "2006-12-09T18:55:26Z")
It is triggered off the composed page. I presume that “Location: South of the Mason-Dixon” is on some site’s Google word hot list. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/3 "2006-12-10T15:40:07Z")
AFAIK google scans the posts and selects ads relevant to the subject, and throws up ads “local” to the person reading… I nearly always get ads for Irish sites ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/4 "2006-12-10T17:42:33Z")
According to Pliny, there is no way Google ads are being triggered by the location field since EVERYBODY’s location is in the composed page. Pretty sure it sticks to the content of posts/titles. I always assumed local ads were based on your IP when you request the page/ads. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/5 "2006-12-10T17:50:40Z")
I’m going to post the word Arkansas and see if I get those tornado advertisements again. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/6 "2006-12-10T18:44:52Z")
[QUOTE=CarnalK] According to Pliny. . . I always assumed local ads were based on your IP when you request the page/ads. [/QUOTE] That’s not how it worked when I tried it here [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8040572](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=8040572) The ads came up for Texas, where I ain’t at. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2006, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/7 "2006-12-10T21:59:51Z")
No Texas and no Arkansas in my ads yet. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/8 "2006-12-11T07:42:35Z")
**According to Pliny** , yes if you mention texas you’ll likely get texas ads, that’s not quite what I’m saying. **Lobelia Overhil** often gets Irish ads cuz she’s in Ireland\*, even if Ireland doesn’t happened to be mentioned in the thread. \*I’m assuming?? both sex and location?? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/9 "2006-12-11T13:20:23Z")
All my ads now are about advertising. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/10 "2006-12-11T13:42:51Z")
I posted in the “I miss” thread…three words. “I miss aha” and I get the “Arkansas Floods” ad. :rolleyes: Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/11 "2006-12-11T13:50:13Z")
Ireland could be triggered by IP. I can see that. Google would want to do that because they buy little goods directly from US companies. Others ads are going to to trigger off the composed page. That’s the main premise. And those are the only two things Google really has to have. Other things they can pick up, like browser version and screen dimensions, they probably can’t make use of. I’m pretty sure the cookie and profile are not going to be involved. The reason is that all boards store those differently, and Google doesn’t have the time or interest to modify their product for each brand of board software. Or even to know whether this is a board at all. Most of their ads run not on boards but on generic sites like news feeds. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/12 "2006-12-11T15:11:14Z")
I believe ads are selected through a combination of IP# and thread titles, though I can’t state that with 100% certainty. The ways of Google are mysterious. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/13 "2006-12-11T15:20:04Z")
> [@](#): > > The AdSense program uses geotargeting to serve Google ads to your pages - ads are specific to a user’s region and language, based on their IP address. This means that the ads that are served to a user from Australia may be different than those that appear for a user from Canada. Geotargeting makes the ads even more relevant for visitors to your site, and also means that you may not see all of the ads that can be served to your pages. > > If you’d like to see what ads your users from other regions are seeing, our AdSense preview tool gives you the ability to preview the ads that would show on any web page, from a number of different locations. > **[What ads users from different locations see - Google AdSense Help](https://support.google.com/adsense/answer/9720?ctx=en:search&query=location&topic=&type=)** > > The AdSense program uses geotargeting to serve Google ads to your pages - ads are specific to a user's region and language, based on their IP address. This means that the ads that are served to a us ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/14 "2006-12-11T18:49:01Z")
[QUOTE=CarnalK] \*I’m assuming?? both sex and location?? [/QUOTE] :eek: you’ll have to buy me dinner first… cheeky monkey 😉 ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/15 "2006-12-11T18:54:42Z")
I see “Sierra Leone Ringtone” right now. huh? ---
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/16 "2006-12-11T19:04:23Z")
Perhaps because the page contains “There is always something new out of Africa.” ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2006, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advertisements/383487/17 "2006-12-11T19:41:50Z")
Right now I’m seeing an ad that says “earn revenue with AdSense”. Talk about recursion! 🙂