Google collects your Email address to serve you Ads

In the never-ending quest for eyeballs and dollars, Google is said to be asking advertisers for customer data like email addresses to serve up more highly-targeted ads, the Wall Street Journal reports.

In the proposed idea, an advertiser — like an online retailer, for instance — would give Google more data about their customers, like their email addresses. Google would then use that data to let that retailer buy ads targeting those existing customers when they search for products the retailer sells.

Such a move mirrors a similar service Facebook launched in 2012. Called “custom audiences,” Facebook’s ad offering has helped the social media company grow its advertising revenue by 65% to $11.5 billion, the Journal notes, cutting into Google’s ad share.

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