Google to Launch Behavioral Targeted Ad Tool

Google is to launch a new behavioral targeting system which will deliver ads based on the sites people visit, not just the searches they make or the site on which the ad appears. In a beta test of the new service, Google will show ads on YouTube and on its partners' sites.

Relevant text and display ads will be served up according to the user's 'categories of interest' - such as sports, travel, pets or cars. However, a tool called Ads Preferences Manager will allow consumers to tailor these categories to enable them to receive ads for products and services in which they are interested.

Google currently targets ads based on the keywords surfers look for when using its search engine, or based on the content of web pages they visit on the sites of partners enrolled in its AdSense program.

Ads targeted in this way only reflect surfers' interests at the moment the ads are displayed, whereas the firm says its new system allows targeted ads to be displayed on unrelated sites or in response to unrelated searches.

Google will not allow advertisers to target certain 'sensitive interest' categories, including those relating to health or children.

Last month, the US Federal Trade Commission issued a revised report which reinforces the view that companies which track peoples' online behaviour should follow self-regulatory guidelines to protect user privacy. These guidelines recommend that consumers should be allowed to choose whether or not their information is collected.

Online ad businesses, including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! backed a similar set of self-regulatory guidelines issued by the UK's Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) earlier this month.

To head off concerns about online privacy, Susan Wojcicki, VP of Product Management, commented: 'This kind of tailored advertising does raise questions about user choice and privacy - questions the whole online ad industry has a responsibility to answer.'

Google says it will respect users' privacy by enabling them to opt out of the new programme.

Web site: www.google.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.