You’ve probably noticed it before. No matter which site you go to, the same image ads seem to follow you around. And usually it’s for something you are interested in, or were recently looking at – which makes it even more creepy!

The good news is, you are not going insane. Even better, your computer has not been hacked. This is a new advertising trick called “remarketing”.

How Remarketing Works  

An advertiser using something like Google Adwords (a very large Display Network advertiser) makes a decision to collect a group of people based on a page on their website. The page is like a honeypot.. once you’ve visited it, it sets a cookie in your browser so it knows who you are.

For example, lets say you were searching for shoes and then ended up on a website about that nice new pair of shoes you like. But you didn’t buy them… you didn’t even bookmark them. At that point though, the website saw that you were interested in those shoes and set the tracking computer on your computer.

The real spooky thing is, the tracking begins instantly. The very next website you visit (assuming it is connected to the same ad network) shows you an ad for that shoe store! Or, if they are really clever, for the very same pair of shoes you were looking at.

Now, now matter where you surf that damned ad for that damned awesome pair of shoes is popping up everywhere. Before you know it, you give up and whip out your credit card, slamming down the plastic for that pair of shoes you keep seeing everywhere and have always wanted! Well, at least that’s how it works in theory.

How to Stop Showing the Ads That Keep Following You

Easy enough, just clear your cookies. Once you’ve told your browser to clear the cookies you will be logged out of everything (e.g. Facebook, Google Accounts etc) but the ads will also stop following you.

That is, at least until you go back to that shoe store …

If you would like to try the power of remarketing for your website or products, call zen¹⁰ on 1300 477 121.