-
How does Google & Facebook determine household income levels?
Posted by on June 29, 2020 at 2:01 pmWhere do they pull this information from? Zip codes?
How is Google able to determine what income level a person lands in and how accurate are there numbers when looking at targeting options on both platforms?
-
10 Replies
-
They use census data to look at the avg household income for where you live.
It’s essentially another form of postcode targeting
-
It is zip code based, not individual households.
-
Its zip code targeting with extra steps. Dont read into too much tbh
-
I’m guessing Google probably also uses data from their Rewards surveys to do probalistic modeling because I get asked on household income quite often.
-
It used to be based on zip codes and census data, it probably still is but they say they use indicators like websites visited and things purchased to determine HHI now. (they probably don’t)
I’m pretty sure they say they do it that way now so people can’t only target the poorest or richest zips which falls under the discriminatory practices that Facebook was getting in so much trouble for.
-
From Google:
“**How Google determines demographic information**
When people are signed in from their Google Account, we may use demographics derived from their settings or activity on Google properties, depending on their account status. Consumers can edit their demographic information by visiting Ads Settings. In addition, some sites might provide us with demographic information that people share on certain websites, such as social networking sites.
For people who aren’t signed in to their Google Account, we sometimes estimate their demographic information based on their activity from Google properties or the Display Network. For example, when people browse YouTube or sites on the Display Network, Google may store an identifier in their web browser, using a “cookie.” That browser may be associated with certain demographic categories, based on sites that were visited.
[Reference](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/2580383?hl=en)
From [WordStream](https://www.wordstream.com/adwords-income-targeting):
When a prospect signs in, Google uses demographic information synthesized from account information, activity on Google properties, and third party data source from social networking sites to determine that account’s characteristics.
If a searcher isn’t signed into a Google account, Google can infer demographic information based on the way a searcher used Google properties and the websites on the Display network they visit. This is done through the use of cookies.
From [MoreVisibility](https://www.morevisibility.com/blogs/sem/household-income-targeting-in-google-adwords.html):
According to Google, household income targeting is “based on publicly available data from the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS), advertisers are able to target ads to certain areas according to their average household income.”
-
Normally this is done via location data
-
Zip codes. It’s obviously not very accurate.
-
They also had a data agreement with VISA so they could easily determine this based on spending
-
It would make sense that when an advertiser pays a company like experian to build an audience based off of a certain household income level, Facebook would get insight from that. Wouldn’t they? Can anyone else confirm this?
Log in to reply.