Where does data come from? - Adwords Tutorial

- [Instructor] Where does the data come from? Did you know that internet users have a digital fingerprint? And this fingerprint enables you to find target audiences that match certain aspects of that fingerprint. It all starts with the HTTP protocol, which may sound familiar. You may have seen this protocol in your browser bar as part of the URL. HTTP stands for hypertext transfer protocol. And once you understand it, you'll understand how to use it to target audiences and find other data available to you. When your computer requests a webpage or any file online, there is a formal exchange, a protocol, that takes place. First, you request the page usually by clicking a link or typing the website directly. The request goes to the server that hosts the website. The server responds by saying that the page is available, but you need to identify yourself first, an introduction. Your computer responds, and wow, does it respond. It gives your IP address, time zone, language, device, whether it's desktop, tablet, or mobile, and the mobile identifier, the operating system and the version, the browser, and the browser version, your screen resolution, what fonts you have installed, and any ad blockers or browser plugins. This isn't a comprehensive list, but you get the idea. And of course, cookies. All of this information is called your browser's fingerprint. After your computer sends all of this information, the server responds with a polite, Thank you, here is your page. Then it asks if your computer received the page. And your computer responds accordingly. Here's the key. This happens for every page that you load into your browser. Even more, this happens for every image or file that is part of the page. Each picture on a page has to be loaded separately from the server, so you go through this process all over again. Sometimes 10 to 20 times on a single page. Every individual file, image, video, PDF file, or page requests your information in order to load into your browser. The primary purpose of this protocol was to ensure the proper delivery of the page to the browser. This is why knowing the language, compatible file types, multimedia capability, installed fonts, and screen resolution were important. This evolved into analytics. Website owners could see what people were doing on their websites, how they found the website, how many pages they viewed, and how long they stayed on the site. Cookies enabled users to create accounts, maintain their preferences, and owners could track return visits by those visitors With the ability of powerful databases that could keep and constantly update millions of records, third parties accessed this data protocol through online trackers, cookies, and advertising systems. The results are massive databases that record all what people do online and all the websites they visit. This little protocol created in 1989 to allow the exchange of documents is the building block of this $70 billion a year industry. If you want to see the fingerprint in action, I recommend that you go to AmIUnique.org, and see how unique your browser fingerprint is. And look at some of the data that can be collected from your browser. All of this information collected from this protocol are targetable factors in online advertising.