Targeting cookies: This is how advertising recognizes our online habits!

Targeting cookies: This is how advertising recognizes our online habits!

The digital world is increasingly characterized by the use of cookies, which play an essential role in online marketing and user experience. Cookies are small text files that are stored on end devices when you visit a website. They enable websites to recognize users on their next visit and can store information such as login details or the contents of a shopping cart. According to the website hessen.de, some of the cookies track user behavior, sometimes across websites.

The use of cookies is not without controversy: While technically necessary cookies are required for basic functions of a website, such as session management, non-essential cookies that track user behavior require explicit consent from users. A cookie banner is used to obtain consent for cookies that are not absolutely necessary and is subject to data protection requirements.

Personalized advertising and user profiles

In the digital advertising world, intensive work is done with the data collected through cookies. Partner cookies and similar online identifiers can be stored or read on devices to collect information such as browser type, language and supported technologies. The aim of this is to recognize the user every time an app or website is accessed, as the website fondsprofessional.de reports.

Companies in particular use Google Advertising Products and INFOnline GmbH to place advertising based on reduced data that takes information such as location or device type into account. For example, urban users are shown targeted advertising for electric vehicles after 6:30 p.m. In order to measure the effectiveness of advertising measures, information about clicks and interactions with advertising is collected and analyzed.

• Ein Hersteller von Wasserfarben plant, Amateur- und Profikünstler durch eine gezielte Online-Werbekampagne zu erreichen.
• Ein Bekleidungsunternehmen beauftragt eine Agentur zur Erstellung von Profilen wohlhabender junger Eltern für präzise Werbung.
• Online-Händler bewerben gezielt Laufschuhe an Nutzer, die zuvor Interesse an diesen gezeigt haben.

Storing information about user activity is crucial for creating and optimizing user profiles, which helps make advertising more relevant and effective. Interaction data not only helps with advertising, but also with optimizing non-advertising content to better tailor future offers to users' interests.

Nevertheless, protecting personal data remains a key challenge. In accordance with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), personal data is only transmitted, for example to Google LLC, with the express consent of the user. Consciously navigating this complex landscape between personalized advertising and privacy is important for consumers and businesses alike.

In the debate about cookies, especially with regard to their use and the necessary consent, it is crucial that users are aware of their rights. You can prevent tracking through cookies by refusing to set unnecessary cookies, managing cookies in the browser settings or installing special browser extensions that prevent web tracking.