As of June 14th we have been under shelter in place for:

90 days 

2160 hours

129,600 minutes

7,776,000 seconds

12 weeks and 6 days

Or damn near 25% of 2020

So, if you are like me, you have spent way more time online than you usually do.

Shopping, research, goofing off and whatever.

Guess what?  Every one of those sites has decided that you need to be targeted with ads!  It’s called retargeting and is used by marketers to bring you to their offers in the hopes that you will buy something.

And, I’m willing to bet that you have made purchases based on the ads that you see on websites.

Is that a bad thing? Probably not.  Is it annoying?  Probably is over time.

What can you do about it?  The first step is to clear your browser cache.

Here are links for popular browsers that will walk you through the process:

Google Chrome: https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/32050

(You can also clear your phone/tablet at this site too)

Apple Safari on your computer: 

https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/clear-your-browsing-history-sfri47acf5d6/mac

Apple Safari on your iPhone: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201265

Firefox on your computer: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-cookies-and-site-data-firefox

Firefox on your iPhone: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/clear-browsing-history-firefox-ios

Firefox on your Android: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/982571

Microsoft Edge: https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/2010/

Internet Explorer: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17438/windows-internet-explorer-view-delete-browsing-history

If I haven’t covered your favorite browser, just do a Google Search for it. 

Clearing your browser cache is a good start and it is recommended that you do so frequently.

But wait, there is more!  Now go to https://whoisretargeting.me to see who is retargeting you. This will be pretty interesting to see who is retargeting you!  You can click on the “x” in the upper right corner of each ad to see why you were shown the ad and also to set your Google ad preferences.

But, there is one more step that you can take to slow the flow of retargeting ads.  It’s not 100% effective, but it only takes minutes to do, so it’s worth doing.

Go to https://optout.aboutads.info/ This site will analyze your browser and make suggestions on which advertisers can be asked to stop retargeting you.  Since this only works with advertisers that agree to honor your request, it may not be 100% effective.  But it’s worth doing!

If you routinely use multiple browsers, you will have to go through these steps with each browser!

If you set a reminder to go through these steps at least monthly, you’ll end up getting fewer ads that are targeted to you!  You’ll still see ads, but they will be random ones based on your location, time/date and browser.

And let’s hope that things get back to normal soon!