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Follow @DistilledWe’ve already seen demographic targeting for some time on Google’s content network but now they are taking a step further and offering behaviour-based advertising. By tracking your surfing habits, they will be able to display adverts based on your interests rather than the content of the page that you are reading. This area of advertising has been getting a fair amount of press recently due to Phorm, who have had trouble launching their service due to questions of legality. Opponents have claimed that the analysis of web users’ browsing habits is an invasion of privacy and the Information Commissioner’s Office has backed this up to an extent by declaring that “Phorm would only be legal under UK law if it were an opt-in service”.
Google is offering users the opportunity to opt out and so avoids this problem but there will still be many people unhappy with the move. Privacy online is a problematic area and Google already has vast quantities of data about our browsing habits. However let’s ignore the legal and ethical questions and talk about this new toy we have to play with and what its benefits are to us, the advertiser.
One of the problems that contextual advertisers have is that people can tend to become ‘snow blind’ to adverts that mirror the content that is being read. If you are reading about socks and then a sock advert comes up then, to an extent, this will not stand out and you will blank it out. With behavioural advertising you would be able to counter this by providing out-of-context adverts that are still relevant to the specific user’s interests. This should then jar with the reading of the page, catching the eye and, because the advert is relevant to their interests, should mean that the user is more likely to click and crucially convert. Potentially this is a powerful tool and could be a big boost to the effectiveness of the content network if used correctly. However it should be noted that this out-of-context effect does not work across all areas equally so there would still need to be a lot of analysis to get the most out of it.
Mr Titchmarsh, can we interest you in a bigger fork?
Personally I look forward to testing this out. I think that for certain clients this will prove to be a really useful and productive avenue for advertising with the potential to raise clickthrough and conversion rates significantly. Although it seems like a big step forward in advertising, I think that, with the speed that the space is developing, this will quickly seem mundane and normal as newer and better tools and services create new debates over privacy and the power of the internet giants. For the moment though this is the ‘next big thing’ and it will be fascinating to see how it develops.
I don’t like it.
This means that I pay Google (or someone) for ads so people come to my site, Then Google sells me out to another company, sending my potential customer away.
(I know it means I can do the same thing to other companies, but does that make it right?)
Roofing Guy, If you have content network adverts on your site then there is a chance that you may gain a visitor through Google but then lose them due to behavioural advertising – but then surely that is always the danger with having adverts on your site? The question is whether the revenue from the advertising on your site is more valuable than the time and money that the visitors would be spending on your site without it. Over time you should be able to look at the data and come to a conclusion that is in your best interests.
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Really, with all the advances we see, our online experience and how we get there and what information we have access too and how quickly we can access it is moving us closer and closer to telepathy. to a certain extent we already speak through our devices, someday we may even lose the ability to communicate through speach….Ok, I digress. Yes the privacy issue makes things scary, but over time we give it all up, wait and see.
DSFlyman – and here’s us typing in our own searches like suckers! How much time would we save if companies knew what we wanted as soon as (or before) we did? Come on Google, we’re already bored with behavioural advertising, we want telepathic advertising now.
I don’t have ads on my site. We only sell products. The issue here is Google tracking people who come to my site, watching their every move.
Then that same person goes to some other site, where Google knows what their looking for because they just left my site. Then they pop up ads for other metal roof companies.
All of this tracking without my consent, and usually not the customer’s consent. (yes, there’s an opt-out option, but how many average web-users really know about it or think about it)
I see what you mean. Yes, that’s true and I am sure that it will be a contentious issue. In that sort of situation it may well hurt people more if they have a long buying cycle. Competitors will be able to target those visitors after they have completed their research phase and potentially cut in at the point when they are ready to buy.
That’s the thing. Metal roofing has buying cycles often ranging from 2 weeks to 2 months.
But I guess the important thing is, as long as we have competitive advantages on price, quality, uniqueness (is that a word), etc… We should be fine.
Exactly – as long as you have a competitive service then you have a great chance of making behavioural advertising work for you.
If I’m advertising on the content network, is the behavioural advertising automatically on, or is it an AdWords feature that must be turned on? Can these behavioural ads be tracked separately from other ads, or can the option be turned off?
I can’t say for sure but I would imagine it will run much like demographic targeting. You would have to select the behaviours you are interested in advertising to and there would be reports specifically designed for tracking the results.
Google is out of control! They integrate themselves into so much of the web and our activities that they have an advantage over all of their competitors. Besides the privacy issues that come into question,there are the ethical issues that arise too. We all get caught up in Google SEO so much that we lose site of what they really are…big brother #2!