How to block interest based ads

Many a times the ads we see on our web pages are customized according to your preferences based on the prediction of interests generated from your visits over time and across different websites. This is called “online behavioral” or “interest based” advertising. For instance if you have been looking through some dresses online, you will find all sorts of ads later similar to products you were once looking for.

This sometimes can be really irritating and may even become creepy, considering that the web ads know exactly what you were looking for probably from your past history searches. Well to tackle them is easy and one can simply block them from various browsers and devices as many advertising networks like Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc provide you with options to opt out from the unnecessary interest based advertising. Following are ways how you can block them:

1. On Google: Interest-based advertising by Google pulls your search history and web profile to gear advertisements for you. You can opt out of the ads both on Google and across the web page by simply going to your Google Chrome setting, click on the ads and ensure “ads based on your interest” is turned off. It can be accessed on: https://www.google.com/settings/u/0/ads/authenticated?hl=en

2. On Microsoft: Go to https://choice.microsoft.com/en-us/opt-out and turn off the “Personalized ads in this browser” setting to only allow generic ads. Windows users can also go to privacy option available in settings and turn off “Let apps use my advertising ID for experiences across apps” to disable personalized ads that appear inside apps.

3. On Facebook: Go to your account’s settings and click Edit against- ‘Ads based on my use of websites and apps’ and select ‘Off’ for Show online interest-based ads.

4. On Amazon: To stop ads from amazon on its own website or any other external sources, go to http://www.amazon.com/gp/dra/info/ and enable the setting that says “Do Not Personalize Ads from Amazon for this Internet Browser”.

5. On Twitter: Go to Settings on the web and uncheck “Tailor ads based on information shared by ad partners” to disable interest based ads. Likewise, on the Twitter app, go to Settings > Select Privacy > Select Advertising > Enable the “Limit Ad Tracking” setting.
6. On IOS Devices: select advertising available in privacy settings and turn on “Limit Ad Track” to opt-out of interest based ads from Apple’s advertising network.
7. On Android Devices: in settings tap “Accounts & sync” (this may vary, depending on your device), locate “Google listing and click on “Ads”. Then finally check box for “Opt out of interest-based ads”.

You can also opt out from interest based ads all together from any website or device by simply using web based tools like http://www.aboutads.info/ and http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ that offer a single window to help you opt out of Interest based advertising from all member networks. 

You will have to use them on all devices and browsers on which you may wish to opt out since they also use cookies and your preferences will be lost if you clear your browser cache. Then there are also various apps available on all app stores that would professionally help you access ad free web pages. 

So Good luck browsing!