How did Google know I looked something up?

Loading that page loads

https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/conversion.js
https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id=GTM-WPPRGM
https://stats.g.doubleclick.net/dc.js

The reason Google can track you is that the website shares details of your visit with them - in this case via loading Google JavaScript code for their ads service.

*To expand on this -

The Google ad code will use a cookie to track you. But even if it didn't there are browser fingerprinting mechanisms which in most cases can correctly identify a user's machine even after a full browser cache / history clear.

When you visit a site with ads a request is made to the ad providers server. This sends the ID associated with you to say "an ad on [x website] for [user y] is available. The ad providers nowadays often then real-time auction off the slot in 1/100th of a second - where potential advertisers computers can bid for the advert space.

The site you visited is djoser. Since djoser knows you looked at products on their site yesterday they know there is a reasonable chance you are considering buying something from them. So when you visit another site somewhere else, the ad slot on that other site is more valuable to djoser, and they bid higher than anyone else - hence why you keep seeing them.


While Hector's answer correctly explains how Google got to know the page you visited, the real answer to the OP:

How did Google know I looked something up?

Is

They Don't

In fact, no one is telling Google what your search was: only the destination page is sharing information about your visit, which does not include your search query (because DuckDuckGo hides that).

Of course, Google's advertising services still target you with content that is relevant to the website you visited (to avoid that, follow Hector's good advices), but they don't know what you looked up on DuckDuckGo.

Also, please know that Google do get informed of the fact that DuckDuckGo sent you there (while, sorry for the repetition, they don't get to know what you searched for)


It is most likely due to the website using Google tools.

Many website uses Google analytics or advertisement service, with whom they can get information on who's visiting their website etc.

Hence, Google is informed of your visit of this website.

Tags:

Privacy

Google