Google’s New Advertising Based On What You Watch

“Who’s watching you?” asks the Geico ad. Well, for one, Google (another stack of money) admits they’re watching. They call it “interest based ads“.

This certainly isn’t a new idea on the internet. It’s sometimes called “behavioral targeting”. How does it work?

Let’s say you want to buy a new computer. You visit lots of review websites along with a few online vendors. All of a sudden, you decide to go check the sports page, and sure enough, there’s an ad with your favorite notebook (or netbook) on it. What’s going on here?

Soon after the internet was born, unsavory types started making adware and spyware to see what you’re doing. People got angry, but this didn’t make them go away. Lawyers did their own marketing, and soon something considered more ethical was born.

Websites bearing gifts (cookies) are everywhere today. Not the chocolate chip cookies, but the little files that build up somewhere in the garage space of your computer. Instead of milk, these cookies go best with a privacy policy tucked away on the website somewhere.

Sites where you log in or sign up for something send you these. Just about every website on the internet does this, right? In fact, it seems no self-respecting internet marketing strategist would be caught without a website that gives generously of these.

Most privacy policies promise to give away only good little cookies - not the ones that steal really personal information. Cookies don’t seem so bad when they do handy things like remember your username when you want to log in somewhere. They’re also responsible for those useful websites like Alexa and Compete, where you can check how many people are looking at your competitors.

That’s why most of us have eventually resigned ourselves to them. People who feed their families from online advertising profits can thank their cookies.

Speaking of internet advertising, this may be one of the few businesses that actually grew in the last part of 2008. A March 30, 2009 article in The New York Times said almost 60% of internet advertising in 2008 was pay per click advertising.

As you might have guessed, most advertising methods lost ground last year. This included magazine, newspaper and tv advertising. Less popular online advertising methods such as CPM and sponsorship advertising dropped in popularity too.

What are people actually advertising and selling? The Times article pointed out that advertising for consumer-packaged items, such as groceries, went up over 60 percent. Digital video revenues more than doubled to nearly three-quarters of a billion dollars last year.

Google makes 99% of their profits from online advertising but not everybody wants a cookie. Google is trying something totally new to pacify the objecters. They’ll let you see what information they have on you. They’ve promised not to remember, ahem, collect anything really sensitive, like your sexual orientation, race or religion.

When you surf the web, they won’t tell you they’re watching, but if you click on the little text that says “Ads by Google”, you’ll get an explanation. Of course, you can also choose to opt out (refuse their cookie).

If you want their interest-based advertising on your site, you’ll want a privacy policy by this coming April 8th.

Since the laws vary, Google didn’t suggest exactly what to say. They recommended you let people know Google uses a cookie to watch them as they surf. They also suggested a link to allow people to see Google’s privacy policy and choose whether to opt out. It’s a lengthy explanation. You might want to get some milk and cookies out before you read this.

Perhaps Google will pay you more for clicks on this newer type of ad.

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