Are the ads on the Dope region specific?

About This Message Board
1

As asked: I’m in Sydney, Australia and the ads ( provided by Google ) on the main Dope page are:

  1. Dell computers

  2. Mastercard ( from a particular bank ) and

  3. McAfee anti-virus.

Between the threads I have an anti smoking quit thing and a drug warning link from the Australian Federal government.

Now, I can imagine these ads are tailored to whichever country i log on from, but are they more specific?

i.e. State by state? city by city?

And as an aside what is the weirdest ad you have seen?

( mods feel free to move this thread if not appropriate to GQ )

2

I think this is probably more suited for ATMB than GQ.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

3

I’m not sure how specific they are, but I get adds in dutch. I doubt you get those as well…

4

I’m sure that the IP address is used to determine this. I’d be willing to bet money.

Why am I so confident? Because when I browse from work I get ads for “Dayton mom discovers secret to white teeth” and “Columbia mom earns $[some forgotten/ignored amount] working from home!”

“But you don’t live in Dayton or Columbia!” I can hear you saying. “If I remember from your posts, you live in Winnipeg!”

True, and I work here too, but the world headquarters for my company is in Dayton. My office also has a sister office in Columbia, South Carolina. Both of those offices (as well as my own, sadly) are moving to Atlanta in a few months and I sometimes get Atlanta ads as well. Now, while I find the switch in ad locale somewhat jarring at times, it at least proves my theory that it’s IP based. I never see Winnipeg-branded ads (not even at home, for some reason the “local mom” ads never show up at home, making me think it’s an American thing.)

This also helps when I encounter the odd website (like hulu) that doesn’t work in Canada, I don’t have to cross the border to view the content, I just wait until I’m at work!

5

Yes, the ads you see are based on IP numbers – Google figures where you are and tailors your ad experience accordingly.