Google has introduced a new feature called "Why These Ads" that is meant to explain why a user was targeted with a particular ad, and to give him or her a way to block such ads from future search results. It is part of the company’s push to increase transparency in the use of online behavioral advertising.

'Why These Ads' also allow users to to opt out of specific advertisers or from personalized ads.

Missing Information

The new format has been criticized for not going far enough, by privacy advocates. Their preference would be for Google to stop collecting the information – what ad Google displays is almost besides the point.

While privacy is indeed a driver behind this feature, advertisers should realize that users may be clicking on it for another reason:  ads are still dragging down page speeds.

Roy Bahat, at Online Media Daily, recently pointed out that ads can drag down a load times by 40% even though they take up less than one-fifth of the real estate on a page.