Question

I was trying to do something like Google’s Adsense. I believe they use javascript? But is using iFrame a good idea to have someone put on their site if they want to display ads? Would iFrames able to capture user’s data information such as cookies (how adsense works, they get users cookies–that’s why they can display ads of sites you’ve visited, correct me if I’m wrong)?

If this works, how would I able to get users cookies? Is it possible? How does google get users cookies?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Answer 1

(how adsense works, they get users cookies–that’s why they can display ads of sites you’ve visited, correct me if I’m wrong)?

You are wrong. Google can only access Google’s cookies. It’s a big point in cookie security; no browser will allow you to get to other sites’ cookies. Google can use cookies to identify you, but can’t use them to see your behaviour on non-Google sites.

AdSense knows what you’ve been browsing by checking what links you click on Google Search and other services, what Ads you click on, what pages you visit that have AdSense in them (window.top.document.location) and which pages you visit them from (window.top.document.referrer), and probably more methods that people smarter than me at Google come up with 🙂

EDIT: as shown in comments, in fact one can’t rely on top properties.