Google implements interest-based ads
Wednesday 11 March 2009 | By Heidi Scott, Gosh! Media Copywriter
Internet goliath Google is changing its advertising model from keyword-related ads towards interest-based ads and the switch is already resulting in a hail of protest from privacy campaigners.
Until now, Google has offered users targeted ads based on what they are searching for at that particular moment in time. If you're searching for a breed of dog on Google, for example, you'll more than likely see ads related to pet dogs. If you're browsing the site of one of Google's AdSense partners, you'll get ads based on the content of that page – a news channel's sports page, for example, may feature ads for fitness clothing.
Google says, however, that there are some situations "where a keyword or the content of a web page simply doesn't give us enough information to serve highly relevant ads," and the company's answer is interest-based advertising.
With the new approach, Google will use additional information about the websites people visit. The company has launched its interest-based advertising as a beta test on its partner sites and YouTube. These adverts will associate various interest categories – such as gardening, art, cars or sport — with a user's browser, based on the types of websites the user visits and the pages viewed. These interest categories can then be used to show the user more relevant advertising, whether text or display ads.
Should we be worried about this move? Is Big Brother at our door? Google is well aware there's an issue: in the company's own blog, Susan Wojcicki, Vice-President of Product Management, admits "This kind of tailored advertising does raise questions about user choice and privacy."
Predicting an outcry from some quarters, Google has simultaneously launched its new Ads Preferences Manager tool, with which you can view, delete or add interest categories associated with your browser. There are 20 categories of interest that you can manage, with some 600 subcategories, although Google rather sheepishly avoids sensitive areas such as religion, sexual orientation and some health issues. The cookies that are used to track these interests won't, we're told, be related to search history or information from other Google services such as Gmail.
Google stresses that the design of its interest-based advertising demonstrates its commitment to transparency, choice and control:-
- Transparency - "We already clearly label most of the ads provided by Google on the AdSense partner network and on YouTube. You can click on the labels to get more information about how we serve ads, and the information we use to show you ads. This year we will expand the range of ad formats and publishers that display labels that provide a way to learn more and make choices about Google's ad serving."
- Choice - "We have built a tool called Ads Preferences Manager, which lets you view, delete, or add interest categories associated with your browser so that you can receive ads that are more interesting to you."
- Control - "You can always opt out of the advertising cookie for the AdSense partner network here. To make sure that your opt-out decision is respected (and isn't deleted if you clear the cookies from your browser), we have designed a plug-in for your browser that maintains your opt-out choice."
The jury is still out and user experiences will soon help to decide. The important point is that interest-based advertising is optional – users can opt out. All well and good, although some privacy advocates are still concerned that Google isn't doing enough to educate users about how to opt out.
Google's move is a sure-fire winner as far as advertisers are concerned. They are, of course, always seeking more sophisticated ways of reaching their target audience. Susan Wojcicki admits "Our advertisers and publisher partners have been asking us for a long time to offer interest-based advertising. Advertisers need an efficient way to reach those who are most interested in their products and services. And publishers can generate more revenue when they connect advertisers to interested audiences."
But should the demands of advertisers and publishers really dictate to us all in this way? Well, if we're going to view advertising, surely it's better that it's relevant and interesting? As Susan Wojcicki puts it, "Advertising is the lifeblood of the digital economy: it helps support the content and services we all enjoy for free online today, including much of our news, search, email, video and social networks."
And it's not only advertisers that can benefit. Interest-based advertising helps ads to be tailored to the needs and desires of each user, based on their previous activity, such as visits to certain websites. If you visit an online clothing store, for example, you may later be shown an ad – on another, unrelated website – offering you a discount on shirts in that store's sale.
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