Interest-based ads, also referred to as targeted ads or personalized ads, refer to the showing of ads to individuals based on data collected about that person’s browsing habits, personal interests and online behaviors. Interest-based ads use cookies and other tracking technologies to collect information about an individual, then display ads about products, services or categories of products that may appeal to that individual based on the collected data.

For example, if you visit a number of websites looking for running sneakers, interest-based ads for running sneakers will be shown to you since your online behaviors showed that you were interested in such a purchase.