Google’s Interest-Based Advertising – One Step Ahead

If you are internet user you must have come across Google ads in different formats like text, images and videos. It is one of the easiest ways to earn money on the internet. Google has made its fortune by matching ads to the content of a page, but now, Google will go a step further and also take your own interests into account when it decides which ads to show. Here is official announcement from Google.

Does anyone hear Privacy bells ringing??

Let’s see how it will work. In order to keep track of users’ activities, Google will set a persistent cookie on his/her system, though the company goes out of its way to say that it is doing so in the most transparent way possible and is giving users the option to control their settings.

Google is not the only internet advertiser who has started Behavioral advertising, Yahoo is also in the race. They have announced their Behavioral advertising plan last month.

“We believe there is real value to seeing ads about the things that interest you. If, for example, you love adventure travel and therefore visit adventure travel sites, Google could show you more ads for activities like hiking trips to Patagonia or African safaris. While interest-based advertising can infer your interest in adventure travel from the websites you visit, you can also choose your favorite categories, or tell us which categories you don’t want to see ads for,” Susan Wojcicki, VP, Product Management of Google explained at the company’s blog.

Here is a video by Google’s Shuman Ghosemajumder that explains the privacy policy and also describes how to add your interest category or opt out of the program.

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