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Google's Behavioral Ad Targeting: How to Reclaim Control

11.03.2009
Google has unveiled a new system that'll read your browsing history, then cater ads based on where you've been. While Google sells the concept as an user-oriented improvement that'll bring you "more interesting" and "useful" content, you may want to consider the privacy implications of having your surfing habits monitored and monetized.

Behavioral Ad Targeting

The advertising system, on Wednesday, increases Google's level of advertising customization. The company's AdSense network (which generates the ads within Google Search, Gmail, and other Google properties) had already been selecting ads based on your current activity: If you searched for "video card," for example, the ads on the right would be related to computer components. Now, however, the system will delve deeper, using data from the past in addition to the present.

"Advertisers need an efficient way to reach those who are most interested in their products and services," says Susan Wojcicki, Google's VP of product management. "Publishers can generate more revenue when they connect advertisers to interested audiences."

(InfoWorld columnist Dan T... -- er, sorry, -- counters with : "What gets me is the notion that ads based on my surfing habits are inherently more interesting. They're still ads. Even when I'm shopping for something, the ads are the last place I look.")

The "interest-based" ads, as Google calls them, will initially appear on YouTube and other Google partner sites.