12 March 2009
Google to match online adverts with web users' viewing habits
Mark Howe, Google's Country Manager for the UK, said: "The Holy Grail for advertisers is getting more relevant ads. This is an opportunity for advertisers to reach a better audience."
Google is to start targeting its internet advertisements according to what people look at on the web, a controversial technique that privacy groups fear will give the search engine group even greater access to personal information. The internet company will monitor the web pages that people visit and the YouTube videos they watch to create a profile of each user.
The company will then use the information to show adverts to viewers based on those interests whenever they browse the web. Google hopes advertisers will pay more for these targeted adverts, an important move at a time when the growth of online advertising is slowing down. A small group of advertisers will start using the system next month.
Mark Howe, Google's Country Manager for the UK, said: "The Holy Grail for advertisers is getting more relevant ads. This is an opportunity for advertisers to reach a better audience. I would hope that it would drive revenue for publishers and ourselves."
Behavioural targeting of this kind, which is already used by rivals such as Yahoo and AOL, has raised concerns among privacy groups.
Google hopes to allay such fears by providing controls that let users see, change and delete the information that has been compiled about them, and even to switch off the monitoring permanently.
The monitoring system might fail to satisfy some privacy advocates because it relies on users opting out if they want the monitoring switched off, rather than asking if they want to opt in before tracking begins.
Web pages with sensitive information - such as those related to politics, religion, health, sexual orientation, certain financial transactions and pornography - will not be tracked.
Simon Davies, of Privacy International, said: "The privacy threat from Google is growing by the day. It is now time for parliaments and regulators to launch a full investigation of the company."
Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, added: "There will be a huge commercial pressure to use it for things it was not originally intended for." Shares in Google rose by the close of trading yesterday.
Credits: Maija Palmer in London and Alan Rappeport in New York
t2 Studios comment:
t2 Studios digital printing division print4tomorrow uses search engine organic and pay per click (ppc) advertising extensively to generate first contact with potential new clients, driving sales without the overheads of a traditional sales force. Over time we have used analytic tools to target our organic listings to the most successful pay per click keywords, which in turn helps to reduce click costs whilst maximising returns.
Google's Holy Grail of more relevant adverts for users is great for them, however may be they should consider that advert relevancy is firstly based on the keywords targeted and the way a pay per click campaign is written. If relevancy is such a problem, perhaps they should consider closing the public application for their adwords system and only allow registered professionals to maintain campaigns and feedback to the client - although this might reduce their revenue!
A recent search for "escort van" on Google leads to organic listings (free) that related to "FORD ESCORT VANS" brilliant, however in the pay per click advertising area there is an advert in position three with the following copy "Get Sex for Free" - not so brilliant. Surely closing the public application would lead to better relevancy and potential regulation so that advertisers get a better return on investment.
Rather than just tracking users Google should potentially look at regulating their own systems better if they truly want to deliver relevance.
Further reading:
Yahoo looks to differentiate with rich media in search adverts
pay-per-click companies have grown substantially...
Fresh business thinking - Compiling A Search Engine Optimisation Strategy
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