Google moves to gear ads to user behaviour

12 March 2009

Google made it official on Wednesday that it would start getting into 'behavioural targeting', which would gear ads to the users' interests and online behaviour no matter where they are browsing. The move ran into immediate opposition from privacy advocates, with Privacy International calling for a parliamentary inquiry.

The search giant is offering users the chance to see and edit their profiles and it will also offer them the choice to opt out of the service, but opponents say this is not enough. They feel Google should have given users the option of opting into rather than out of the service. They are also concerned that persons under 18 would be targeted.

The trial service launched on YouTube and Google on Tuesday, but advertisers will not be able to display advertisements until April. In the first couple of weeks of the program, which is in test mode, 20 to 50 advertisers approved by Google will run the ads, though the programme will roll out much more widely later this year.

Google's targeting involves placing people-or more accurately, their Web browser, minus personal information-into one or more of 600 categories, such as baseball fan or luxury car seeker.

The system uses a cookie - a small piece of text that lives inside a web browser - to track users as they visit different websites that show ads through its AdSense programme. Users will be put into categories based on the content of the pages they visit.

"If a user is a keen traveller and visits lots of travel sites, Google could show them more travel-related ads," the search giant said in a statement. "We believe that ads are a valuable source of information that can connect people to products, services and ideas that interest them. By making ads more relevant and improving the connection between advertisers and our users, we can create more value."