Google recently announced the launch of confidential matching. It’s a privacy-first solution and a feature of Google Ads Data Manager. With this feature, offline first-party data can be connected securely for campaign measurement and audience targeting using confidential computing technology. Data is protected using Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), which means that no one can access the data including Google.
For marketers, this is beneficial since data privacy is increasingly important to consumers and data privacy regulations continue to tighten. Confidential matching helps to ensure that data handling meets all security regulations and provides an extra layer of protection for customer data, so you know your customers’ data is secure while still being usable for targeted marketing. Confidential matching is now the default in Google Ads for Customer Match.
How Does It Work?
Google Cloud’s Confidential Space technology is used, which has already been implemented in industries such as healthcare and finance. Business data is isolated by confidential matching during processing and customer identities and other sensitive information is safeguarded.
A TEE is a special configuration of hardware and software that provides an isolated environment to process personal information. It’s designed to prevent tampering or obstruction of data. Using a TEE, overlap can be identified between a customer list you create and upload and Google’s audience. Unused identifiers are removed from lists that are uploaded to Google’s audience solutions.
Confidential matching is enabled by default with no charge to advertisers, and as a marketer, there’s nothing you need to do in order to use this processing feature. The same process used in Customer Match is used, where the input is a list comprised of the customer information you created and the output is a list of matched users in your Google Ads account. This can help you to either reach existing customers, work on re-engaging them or find new customers across platforms such as YouTube, Display, Search, Shopping and Gmail.
Customer data files aren’t retained by Google for longer than necessary. Uploaded data files are deleted after the matching process and once compliance checks have been completed, the file is marked for deletion. This usually happens within 48 hours.
Google’s Commitment to Privacy
Google is committed to advancing privacy and security technologies and confidential matching is part of this commitment. This privacy solution has been built into existing tools and integrated seamlessly, so there’s no need to worry about increased expenses or additional setup. More privacy features are expected to be rolled out in the coming months, including encryption support while Google continues to work on ensuring that data handling meets all security regulations.
As more privacy features are rolled out, it’s important for marketers to stay informed and to adapt to new features promptly. Softline Solutions stays on top of marketing trends and changes and can help you adapt your ad strategy and achieve the best performance possible from your PPC ads. Let Softline Solutions help you meet your online potential. Get in touch with us today.
