How to hide sponsored emails in Gmail

At the top of your Promotions and Social tabs, a couple of rows look like emails but aren’t. They’re ads, marked with a small “Sponsored” or “Ad” label, and they sit exactly where you’d expect your newest mail to be.

Where the ads show up

Gmail shows these ads at the top of the Promotions and Social tabs on the web and in the app. They aren’t in your Primary inbox.

Can you turn them off in Gmail?

Not directly. Google’s help page explains how Gmail picks ads, and the only control it offers is turning off Ads Personalization in your Google ad settings. That changes which ads you see, not whether you see them.

Because the ads live in the Promotions and Social tabs, hiding those tabs removes them:

1. In Gmail, click the gear icon, then See all settings.
2. Open the Inbox tab.
3. Under Categories, untick Promotions and Social.
4. Click Save changes.

What this costs you

• Promotional emails and social notifications no longer get their own tabs. They land in your Primary inbox with everything else.
• The change applies to the Gmail app on your phone too.
• If you later turn the tabs back on, the ads come back with them.

Turning off Ads Personalization keeps ads in place. They’re just based on less of your data.

Hide the ads and keep your tabs

DeclutterMe removes the ads that look like emails at the top of Promotions and Social. Your tabs, your sorting and every real email stay where they are. Switch it back on any time from the extension.