The most lauded and respected of all Internet companies has joined the ranks of corporations suffering attacks from privacy loving “Netizens”. Google has announced that it will be initiating a new advertising program that will use past browsing history in addition to the current pages viewed to provide relevant “interest-based” ads. Traditionally, Google analyzed the user’s search queries during an entire session to provide advertisements more relevant than ads relevant to only the current keyword entered into the search query. The move to join other companies in behavorial ad targeting has placed Google in the crosshairs of privacy advocates such as the The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the Center for Digital Democracy. Adding insult to injury, it was only two years ago that Google Vice President of Product Management for Advertising Susan Wojcicki publicly spoke out against the growing practice of using an individual’s browsing history to compile a tailored advertising profile: “We believe that task-based information at the time (of a user’s search) is the most relevant information to what they are looking at,” she said. “We always want to be very careful about what information would or would not be used.”

Netizens worried about their privacy do have hope however; Google has stated that individuals can use what they are calling an “Ads Preferences Manager” to manipulate the types of ads that are displayed or can otherwise opt out of Google’s AdSense network by installing a plug-in that prevents the use of AdSense’s advertising cookies. The ability to opt out of this new advertising program was unannounced, however, to those “oblivious” Internet users who do not happen to frequent The Official Google Blog. In the meantime, the CCD is requesting that Google let users opt into the advertising system, to which Google Spokesperson Christine Chen replied: “Offering advertisement on an opt-in basis goes against the economic model of the Internet”. For now, it looks like we’ll have to be wary of our search habits (*cough* questionable search queries *cough*) until Congress brings action to talks of regulating behavior ad targeting.

So why did Google mention the “economic model of the Internet”? Well, as a company that derives the overwhelming majority of its revenue from advertising, the notion of allowing users to block advertisements hits a little too close to home. The price of the advertising slots is correlated to the order of the slot, it’s clickthrough rate, and the value of that slot to companies who want to advertise on Google. While Google does not plan on filling its pages with distracting advertisements, its behavioral advertising system will no doubt provide more relevant advertisements to its users and allow Google to increase the price of its ad slots. Whether you look at “interest-based” advertisements as increasing the clickthrough rate of their slot (by virtue of the fact that the ad is what users really “want” to see) or that Google can now promise companies looking to advertise that they will be more directly correlated with an interested customer base, there is no doubt that Google’s revenue model has just recieved a big shot of adrenaline.

This article is based on the the following post on The Official Google Blog:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/making-ads-more-interesting.html

The following two articles were also referenced:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/161096/googles_behavioral_ad_targeting_how_to_reclaim_control.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN3135052620070801