Can Google Ads data predict the next coronavirus outbreak?

You wake up and something feels wrong. You can’t smell anything. 

Do you have the coronavirus? You grab your iPhone, head to Google, type “I can’t smell,” and tap the first link that pops up on the page.

What you clicked was a Google Ad. From that one click, Google collects a lot of information about you — demographic data, location, and more. It also shares that data with the person who paid for the ad. In some cases, that is search marketer Patrick Berlinquette.

“With [that] data, you could see how many 45-55 year old women in Chicago who have one kid and who drive Honda are reporting loss of smell … if you needed to get that deep,” Berlinquette told Mashable in an email. Read more...