Google Ads Introduces Confidential Matching

Google Ads announced what it calls "confidential matching." Confidential matching is a "way to securely connect your first-party data for our measurement and audience solutions," Google said. And it will be used on Google Ads in numerous areas.

Here Google will use "special software and hardware known as Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), unlock new ways for businesses to use their first-party data to reach customers and measure the impact of their digital ad campaigns."

This means, if you upload your customer data, email addresses, phone numbers, etc to Google. Google won't see it or use it unless there is a match. Otherwise that data is not visible to Google.

Google said it "gives added data security and transparency, by isolating your business information during processing so that no one — including Google — can access the data being processed."

Greg had a nice summary of this at the beginning of our Its New show from yesterday:

And he posted in more detail on Marketing O'Clock:

Confidential matching is now the default for any data connections made for Google Ads Customer Match, and rolling out to enhanced conversions for web in the coming months.

Ginny Marvin from Google said on X:

Now when you connect your first party data to Google Ads for Customer Match, and soon for enhanced conversions, it will automatically be processed using confidential matching – no additional work is required on your end.

Confidential matching is powered by a technology called confidential computing, which uses special software, and hardware called a trusted execution environment or TEE (you may recall we mentioned this at GML this year) to securely process data.

Confidential matching can ensure your data remains encrypted and unseen by anyone, including Google.

Advertisers also have the option to encrypt their data themselves and receive proof that their data is processed as intended.

Confidential matching is now available to all customers globally.

Here are some other clarifications and details:

Clean rooms can address many of the same challenges but are highly variable based on the specific customization of the provider. Our clean room solution, Ads Data Hub, enables agencies and measurement partners to do customized analysis of campaigns while protecting user privacy.

TEEs use a combination of hardware and software to process data in an isolated part of a system so that no one, including Google in this case, can access the data being processed. TEEs also provide the ability to review the code and receive a technical guarantee of the software's behavior.

Hi Tad, To clarify a bit here: Today, advertiser’s data is already protected by robust security measures. Confidential matching is possible thanks to newer privacy enhancing technologies and provides more transparency over the first party data advertisers connect and use in…

— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) September 12, 2024

Good question, hope this helps clarify:
DV360’s Publisher Advertiser Identity Reconciliation, or PAIR, is a protocol using clean room technology that enables publishers & advertisers to securely and privately reconcile their first-party data for audiences who have visited both an…

— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) September 12, 2024

Hi Michael, Sensitive interest categories remain restricted and all policies remain the same for Customer Match: https://t.co/F0DVcxP298.

— AdsLiaison (@adsliaison) September 12, 2024

Forum discussion at X.