Google Looks to User for Advertising.

Recent articles show a new buzz centering on Google’s use of behavioral advertising. Based on people’s interests and online behavior, advertisements are tailored to the user’s interests. Google accomplishes this by reading “cookies” or bits of information embedded in advertising partner websites which collect and store information to your computer’s hard drive. Affiliate program, Adsense, automatically analyzes web content in order to designate categories and subcategories to assign to each website. To begin, Google will only be utilizing roughly 30 categories and 600 subcategories, therefore a user who frequently searches “travel” will see more travel-based advertisements while browsing. For example, if a user visits several Google partner sites tagged “travel,” then they are flagged as having a heightened interest in that category, in turn viewing more advertisements tailored to that specific interest.

Of course, moves such as this one were met with several privacy concerns. Issues stemming from user tracking and saved previous searches, are viewed as breaches of privacy and possibly even user security. In a statement to the Associated Press, Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Information Privacy Center stated, “This is a very serious development. I don’t think the world’s largest search engine should be in the business of profiling people.” To this effect, Google has promised to follow guidelines to protect the privacy and integrity of its users, stating:

• It will not collect the user’s name or any other personal information.
• It will not use sensitive interest categories such as those based on race, religion, sexual orientation, health or “sensitive financial categories.”
• Users will be able to view, delete and add interest categories associated with their browser.
• Users can opt not to accept advertising cookies from Google partners.

Targeted advertising is by no means a new form of advertising introduced by Google, but a method used by MySpace, Facebook, Amazon and iTunes. Tim Richardson, professor of eCommerce at Seneca College and the University of Toronto, told CBC News that, “What Google doesn’t want is for people to think it’s Big Brother.” Potential advertising affiliates will be closely watching the results of Google’s new marketing methods, as Google has been the industry leader in online search for several years.

Check out more related articles at The Times and Business Week!

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