Data use in personalized ads on Google Search, Gmail, and YouTube

For personalized ads on Google Search, Gmail, and YouTube, the following first-party and third-party data use policies apply.

All advertisers using personalized ad targeting features must also comply with the Personalized advertising policy.

First-party data 

First-party data is information you collect from your customers, site visitors, and app users during their interactions with your products and services. To be considered first-party data, information must be collected from your own sites, apps, physical stores, or in other situations when people have directly interacted with your products and services. 

Third-party data

Third-party data is user information that you purchase or otherwise obtain from other sources.

First-party and third-party data use policies

The following is allowed:

 Using first-party data to create audiences for ads targeting. 

 Using third-party data to segment your first-party audiences. For example, this would include using third-party data to determine when your remarketing tag can add visitors to your remarketing list.

Example: You sell cruise packages. You can use third-party data to determine which visitors are from households with children, and then configure your remarketing tags to show ads only for households with children.

The following is not allowed: 

 Using third-party data to create audiences for ads targeting.

 Placing your remarketing tags on sites or apps not owned and operated by you, or allowing other sites to put their remarketing tags on your site or app, in order to create remarketing lists. 

Example: If you operate a baby clothing site, you can’t allow an unaffiliated site that sells baby strollers to put their remarketing tag on your site so that they can build a remarketing list of people buying baby products.

Example: You create a display image ad. It can’t contain your remarketing tag in order to build a remarketing list based on visitors to a site other than your own.

Sharing user data between unaffiliated advertisers or businesses. This includes sharing your remarketing lists with, and accessing remarketing lists from, unaffiliated advertisers. 

Example: If you operate a baby clothing site, you can’t share your remarketing lists of visitors looking for baby clothes with an unaffiliated advertiser that sells baby strollers.

 Using data from one managed client to create a remarketing list for an otherwise unaffiliated client. 

Example: A manager account has two managed accounts: one account for an auto loan site, and the other for an auto dealership site. The sites are owned by separate companies. The manager account can’t share remarketing lists from the auto loan site to the auto dealership site.

Sharing lists within managed accounts unless users will recognize clear brand affiliation between the remarketing list owner and the advertiser it is shared with.

What happens if you violate our policies

Compliance review: We may review your business for compliance with the RLSA policy at any time. If we contact you to request information related to compliance, you're required to respond in a timely manner and swiftly take any corrective action needed to comply with our policies. If you’re a manager account, we may also contact your managed accounts to verify compliance.

Notification of non-compliance: If we believe that you're violating RLSA policy, we'll contact you to request corrective action. If you fail to make the requested corrections within the time period given, you may be denied the ability to use remarketing lists for search ads, or your access to your Google Ads accounts may be suspended. In cases of serious or repeated violations, your account may be suspended immediately and without notification.

Ineligible remarketing lists: We may designate remarketing lists that violate our policies as ineligible for use across Google products.

Domain disabling: We may suspend websites that violate the RLSA policy. This means that the website can no longer use Google Ads remarketing or other personalized advertising features until the problem is fixed.

Account suspension: An account may be suspended if it has repeated violations or a serious violation. If this happens, all ads in the suspended account will stop running, and we may no longer accept advertising from that account. Any related accounts may also be permanently suspended and new accounts may be automatically suspended at setup. Learn more about suspended accounts.

Need help?

If you have questions about this policy, let us know:
Contact Google Ads Support