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Advertising and affiliate links

Privacy and your data 4 min read Beginner Updated

On this page
  1. The Personalized advertising choice
  2. Ads on sites that show them
  3. Affiliate links
  4. What is recorded when you follow a store link
  5. Questions or advertising enquiries
  6. Common questions

Two things on 4Search involve money: advertising, on the sites that show it, and affiliate links, mainly in Shopping. This page explains what each means for you and which controls you have.

#The Personalized advertising choice

Only a site that shows Google display ads has an advertising switch in the privacy panel. It is called Personalized advertising and is off until you switch it on. The ads are shown whether or not you switch it on; what the switch changes is whether they are personalized.

A site that shows no display ads has no advertising switch, because there is nothing to choose.

See Your privacy choices for the panel.

#Ads on sites that show them

On a site that shows Google display ads:

  • They are labeled. Ad areas carry the label Advertisements, at the top, in the right-hand column on wide screens and at the bottom of results and home pages.
  • They are non-personalized unless you allow more. Without the Personalized advertising choice, the panel says the ads are chosen from the page you are viewing and your general location.
  • What Google receives. According to the Privacy Policy, when a page shows a Google ad, Google receives the page address, which on a search results page contains your search terms, your IP address and browser information. It uses them to choose and deliver a non-personalized ad, limit how often it repeats, report aggregate statistics and prevent fraud.
  • If you allow personalization, Google may also use its cookies to personalize ads and measure how they perform. The Cookie Policy points to Google's My Ad Center, where you can manage ad personalization.
  • Some searches get no display ads. The policy says display ads are not placed on search results the site's classifier identifies as health-related, adult or sensitive.

If your browser sends Global Privacy Control, the ads stay non-personalized and the switch cannot be turned on.

Sponsored placements, when a site uses them, are identified as Ad, Sponsored or a comparably clear label, according to the Affiliate and Advertising Disclosure.

Some outbound shopping and product links are affiliate links. If you follow one and make a qualifying purchase, 4Internet, LLC may receive a commission from the retailer, at no additional cost to you. The disclosure adds that a commission:

  • does not raise the price you pay,
  • does not make 4Internet the seller, and
  • does not transfer the retailer's obligations to 4Internet. Availability, price, shipping, returns and warranties are the retailer's.

On Shopping pages, according to the disclosure, results are ordered by how well they match your search and by price, never by the commission a store pays. Each price shows when it was checked. The price at the store's checkout applies. A rating next to an offer is the store's own rating.

The store link passes through a redirect so that a store's commission report can be matched to the click. The Privacy Policy says the record contains the product and the store, the search words that led to it, the page and position of the link, the site and the time. It sets no cookie or other identifier, and does not include your IP address. See What 4Search collects, and what it does not.

#Questions or advertising enquiries

Questions about an affiliate relationship or an ad placement go through the advertising contact form. To place advertising yourself, use the same page.

#Common questions

Why am I seeing ads?

The site you are on shows Google display ads. They are labeled Advertisements, and without your permission they are not personalized. Switch off personalization with the Personalized advertising switch or with Global Privacy Control.

I see no ads. Why is there no advertising switch?

A site without display ads has nothing to personalize, so its privacy panel has no advertising switch. On a site that shows ads, the switch is called Personalized advertising.

Does a commission change what I pay?

No. The disclosure says an affiliate commission comes at no additional cost to you.

Does a store pay to rank higher?

Not according to the disclosure: Shopping results are ordered by match to your search and by price, never by the commission a store pays.

Read next

Privacy and your data Your privacy choices The banner, the privacy panel, the shield button and the Your Privacy Choices page: what each category does and how to change your mind at any time. Privacy and your data Global Privacy Control A browser signal that says "do not sell or share my data". 4Search honors it for advertising, and the privacy panel shows when it is on. Privacy and your data What 4Search collects, and what it does not A plain-words walk through what the site records when you search, use a form or open a page, how long records are kept, and what the policy says it does not do. Shopping Shopping: compare store prices in one search One search checks many stores at once, groups the same product together and shows each store's price, shipping and condition; you buy on the store's own site. Privacy and your data Where to find each policy A guide to the 4Search policy pages in plain words: what each one covers, when to read it and where to find it in the footer and the Menu.