Google joins behavioural advertising brigade

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 11 Mar 2009 at 16:56

Google has announced that it's to begin serving up behavioural advertising to customers.

The behavioural ads system works by downloading a cookie to the user's browser which then tracks their movement through sites that employ Google's Adsense technology.

Beginning 8 April these sites will then serve up ads based on previously visited sites, though users will be able to tailor the types of ads by changing their preferences at Google's ad-preferences page.

"These ads will associate categories of interest - say sports, gardening, cars, pets - with your browser, based on the types of sites you visit and the pages you view," says Google's vice president of product management, Susan Wojcicki on the Google blog. "We may then use those interest categories to show you more relevant text and display ads."

Google was also keen to note that it would not associate sites to do with race, religion, sexual orientation, health, or sensitive financial categories with the cookie.

In order to sidestep the privacy row that is flaring around behavioural advertising, Google will allow users to download a browser plug-in that provides a permanent opt-out from the service.

Asked why it hadn't made the service opt in from the beginning Google was candid: "Offering an opt-in would go against the very economic model of the majority of content on the internet," the company says in a statement.

"Consumers prefer to see more relevant advertising, which in turn fuels many of the services on the internet. We don't want to go against a model that is giving consumers the benefits they need out of it. If certain users prefer not to receive interest-based ads, we believe that we give them clear information and tools to make that choice."