Google and Yahoo now allow USA users to opt out of online advertisement targeting

Both Google and Yahoo have decided to allow web users to be able to opt out of advert targeting on both their websites and on the web.

A one click procedure for each company will make that possible.

Analysts have suggested that Congressional hearings into the behavioural targeting of advertising, with the privacy concerns involved, are behind the decisions.

It’s thought that this will make little difference to online ad revenue because most people won’t bother to do this.

The concern for Google and Yahoo is that authorities may go further and only allow online ad targeting by cookies for users who opt in.

This is of interest for the 10 million businesses that are listed in our USA Local Search Business Directory, which is partially funded by Google AdSense, since this allows their businesses to be listed at no cost to them.