Google Guesses Your Demographic

[JuniperWoolf]

Using a tracking cookie, Google stores info based on your searches to better target ads at you, meaning that the site guesses your age and gender. You can see what demographic it placed you in by going here (https://www.google.com/settings/ads/onweb/). Apparently it thinks I'm a male, age 18-24 (silly google).

I'm curious to see how accurate it is. Did it get you right?

[Darcy88]

It says I'm a male age 25-34, which is close, as I'm 23. I think its convenient. I'll be reading about Dostoevsky, then I'll go to google and type only the letter D and Dostoevsky shows right up.

Isn't that how Google makes its billions? By building a database of consumer characteristics and habits and selling them to advertisers?

[Paulclem]

It says I'm a male age 25-34, which is close, as I'm 23. I think its convenient. I'll be reading about Dostoevsky, then I'll go to google and type only the letter D and Dostoevsky shows right up.

Isn't that how Google makes its billions? By building a database of consumer characteristics and habits and selling them to advertisers?

It must mean you're mature for your age. :biggrinjester:

I'm down as a 65 year old female. I'm a 48 year old male. My wife also uses this computer though, and probably searches more than me. That's my excuse. :wink5:

[Lokasenna]

Ahem...

"No interest or demographic categories are associated with your ad preferences yet."

Woohoo, Loka the enigma...

[OrphanPip]

It has me as 18-24 male, so it's got that right.

[Charles Darnay]

It has me as 18-24 male as well....which is correct.

I get how they checked my age, but I wonder how they made the gender distinction. I mostly search movies, books, random data - I don't think I search anything "manly" (maybe video games is what did it.)

[JuniperWoolf]

Ahem...

"No interest or demographic categories are associated with your ad preferences yet."

Woohoo, Loka the enigma...

Haha, well that's a bit odd.

[Charles Darnay]

Hmm to answer my own question, google switches my gender based on which device I check it from

[Helga]

Google has a list of categories they associate with me but no demographic, wonder why...

[MystyrMystyry]

Hah! Mine was rather complimentary. It must think I'm a compliment seeker, which I don't mind - it's preferable to the alternative, which I've had an excess of

But then again, it is about advertising...

[Paulclem]

Hmm to answer my own question, google switches my gender based on which device I check it from

Does that make you bi-gadget? :biggrinjester:

[kiki1982]

24-35-year old female...

But that's not difficult, because recently I looked for methods of getting rid of hair down there :blush: Ok, too much info, but it can't have been difficult to determine my sex then, can it?

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

It doesn't have an age for me, but it thinks I'm a woman. That's what I get for searching opera.


24-35-year old female...

But that's not difficult, because recently I looked for methods of getting rid of hair down there :blush: Ok, too much info, but it can't have been difficult to determine my sex then, can it?
Quite the contrary, I don't think it's enough information. Please, tell us more.

[JuniperWoolf]

*edit* Thread switching mishap, disregard.

[iamnobody]

It quessed, correctly, that I'm female, but didn't list an age. Maybe Google was just being polite.

[papayahed]

From my home computer:
Age: 18-24
Gender: Female

Work computer:
No interest or demographic categories are associated with your ad preferences yet.

[qimissung]

It listed my gender, female, correctly, but no age, and then a long list of interests. I share some compters with my sons, so there was an overlap. It's also a bit amusing that while, yes, I do look at "gardening" things, it's to get ideas of things to paint, not because I'm actually interested in gardening.

[OrphanPip]

Apparently I have an interest in "Folk and Traditional" music, celebrity gossip, and pet supplies.

[Darcy88]

It says I like country music. That dart entirely missed the board.

[BienvenuJDC]

No demographic for me...

[Helga]

no age or gender yet but they do say I have Subcultures & Niche Interests , what does that mean!? I look at the same six or seven websites every day, do they need me to check out more to find out my gender and age....

[Catamite]

It thought I was female....for some reason this pleased me.

[papayahed]

My interests on my work computer:

Arts & Entertainment - Music & Audio - Rock Music
Shopping - Apparel - Casual Apparel - T-Shirts
World Localities - North America - USA - South (USA) - Louisiana

[kiki1982]

Oh, oh, and my intersts are:

Reference works - General - Dictionaries and encyclopedias

Reference works - Linguistic sources - Foreign language sources

Beauty and fitness - Face and body care - Skin and nail care

As I said, I looked up something rather embarrassing :blush: and I had a cardiology translation this weekend, so naturally it'll put me down for a moron.

The rest probably has to do with my work as well...

[JuniperWoolf]

We have a lot of catagory-less people here, I'm kind of jealous of you guys.

For my interests I got:
Arts & Entertainment - Movies - Movie Reference
Arts & Entertainment - Music & Audio - Rock Music
Pets & Animals - Animal Products & Services

Yep, that's me (I fix broken animals, or at least try to).

[Varenne Rodin]

It has me as a female 18-24. The age is wrong. Here is the rest:

Arts & Entertainment - Movies - Movie Reference
Arts & Entertainment - Visual Art & Design
Pets & Animals - Animal Products & Services
Shopping - Toys
World Localities - North America - USA -California - Southern California - San Diego
World Localities - North America - USA - Mid-Atlantic (USA) - Pennsylvania

It has me right up until Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania?! Wtf? I have traveled to about 20 different states and a couple of countries. Never PA. Haha. This is hilarious. I love it! Thanks, Juniper!

[Varenne Rodin]

For some reason Pip's post made me laugh. :)

[Paulclem]

Apparently I have an interest in "Folk and Traditional" music, celebrity gossip, and pet supplies.

Has it nailed you? :biggrinjester:

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Ahem...

"No interest or demographic categories are associated with your ad preferences yet."

Woohoo, Loka the enigma...I am not even an enigma, as I simply do not exist in that respect. There is no such tracking cookie on my computer.

/Claes

[JuniperWoolf]

I am not even an enigma, as I simply do not exist in that respect. There is no such tracking cookie on my computer.

/Claes

You're "off the grid."

[prendrelemick]

so much for my man of mystery wannabe, it has me fixed measured and plumbed.

Although it reckons I have an interest in apparel shopping - well it would do, I shop on the interenet because I hate shopping for apparel.

[Hawkman]

An interesting and rather fun thread. I followed the link and discovered, that according to Google, I am female and aged 65+

It lists my preferences as:

Arts & Entertainment - Music & Audio - Music Reference - Song Lyrics & Tabs

Books & Literature - Poetry

People & Society

Shopping - Apparel

Well, It got the poetry and literature right. Of course, if it is important which device one uses when accessing this page, I have to bear in mind that I've only had this computer for about 3 weeks. I am keen to find out what it will say when I use my old one. However, I have never bought or even searched for apparel online.

Having just checked on the old office PC it's still calling me an old woman although my interests seem to be confined to poetry. This may have something to do with the fact that I recently deleated all the cookies on this computer. God knows what it would have made of my investigation of U-boats and their crews a while back - lol. I think I should be allowed to vote twice :D

[ClaesGefvenberg]

You're "off the grid."Yep, I am: As a matter of fact there are but a few tracking cookies on my computer: The ones I have not blocked. :smash:

/Claes

[Helga]

I kinda feel a bit left out by google, they won't guess my age but they did ask if I wanted to tell them my age and gender. poor little me, not even google wants to play with me

[aliengirl]

"No interest or demographic categories are associated with your ad preferences yet."

Aha, aliens are still a riddle for Google. ;)

[ralfyman]

Blocked by my hosts file.