Google has revised its privacy policy to allow information from Gmail, Drive, and Google Photos to help personalize ads when users choose to share that information with another Google service, such as Search.
The exception appears alongside new language explaining how services such as Search and Gemini Apps can access information across a user’s Google account to deliver personalized experiences. Google’s current policy, effective October 16, 2026, specifically identifies Search as a service that may process information accessed with the user’s permission to personalize content, including advertisements.
Google previously said it did not use content from Gmail, Drive, or Photos to personalize ads. The revised policy adds an exception now: if users allow another Google service to access information from those apps, that service may also use the information to personalize ads, depending on its policies and the user’s settings.
Google operates these services alongside its Search engine and advertising business, giving the policy implications across email, cloud storage, photo management, and AI-assisted search. Its Personal Intelligence features connect information across products so responses can account for details users would otherwise need to supply themselves.
For example, Google describes Search using hotel booking details from an email to recommend nearby activities. Under the revised wording, information made available for that personalized experience may also be processed for advertising, subject to the receiving service’s policies and the user’s settings.
Google’s support documentation explains what this means for Search. If users connect Gmail or Google Photos, Search can use summaries, excerpts, and conclusions drawn from their emails or photos to personalize answers. That same information may also influence which ads they see.
This means information extracted to answer a personal question can also become an advertising signal. It does not mean every connected email, photo, or personalized answer is used for ad targeting.
Google also restricts personalized advertising involving sensitive categories, including health, religion, race, and sexual orientation. Its policy continues to state that Google does not share identifying information, such as a name or email address, with advertisers unless the user requests it.
Users concerned about these connections can review Search Services Personalization, open Additional Personal Intelligence → Connected Content Apps, and disconnect Google Workspace or Google Photos. Google cautions that settings are being updated, so the interface may differ between accounts.
Advertising preferences should also be reviewed separately in My Ad Center, where Google provides controls over personalized ads and the information used to select them.
Disconnecting an app does not delete information already stored in Search Services History, even if the original email or photo is subsequently removed.
Users who want to remove previously saved activity should review and delete that history separately through Google’s activity controls.
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