01
What’s on the page
An ad can relate to what you’re reading or searching for right now. That alone doesn’t establish cross-site tracking.
Contextual advertisingLess mystery. More understanding.
Why am I
seeing this ad?
That product following you around. That oddly specific post. Make sense of the ads you see—and find the choices you actually have.
No sign-up. Your answers stay in your browser.
Let’s look a little closerFictional example
For the
long way home.
long way home.
The page you’re onCould this be contextual?
Your previous activityDid the platform mention it?
An advertiser’s audienceOne possible piece of the picture
A practical guide toGoogle & YouTubeFacebook & InstagramIndependent explanations. Official sources.
Behind the ad
One ad. A few possible reasons.
Start with the mechanism. Then check what the platform actually tells you.
02
What you’ve done before
Past activity may help a platform choose an ad. Its own explanation can tell you which kinds of activity it considered.
Activity & retargeting03
Who an advertiser wants to reach
Broad audiences and customer lists are different ways to reach people. An ad by itself doesn’t tell you which was used.
Audience selectionBased on how Google and Meta describe ad selection. More than one factor can apply.
Your next step
A good explanation
starts at the source.
We help you read an ad platform’s own explanation, separate facts from possibilities, and find a relevant control.
Let’s check an ad- 1
Tell us where you saw it
Choose a platform. No personal details needed.
- 2
Find the platform’s explanation
We’ll show you where to look and what to select.
- 3
Understand it. Choose your next step.
Get a plain-language explanation, limits, and useful controls.
The learning library
Curious about something specific?
Following the signals
Why does that product keep following me?
What retargeting can explain—and what it can’t.
Read the guide Taking controlYour Google ad settings, explained.
Understand what changes, where it applies, and what stays.
Read the guide Privacy, in practiceDoes incognito change the ads you see?
A clearer view of cookies, private browsing, and identity.
Read the guideBuilt for curiosity.
Designed for privacy.
AdCheckMe doesn’t inspect your browsing history or connect to your ad accounts. You choose what to tell the explainer, and those choices stay on your device.
This is an independent project by Luis Vega. We use official sources, acknowledge what we can’t know, and welcome corrections.
Meet the project