Webfusion

In the wake of Google’s acquisition of Double Click in 2007, the company has now fully integrated behavioral targeting into its core advertising platform. Traditionally, keyword-driven advertising has been the primary model by which publishers (via Adsense) and advertisers (via Adwords) were able to target consumers. As contextual targeting has advanced, the system has moved closer to a behavioral model and the recent announcement solidifies this shift.

While some have privacy concerns over behavioral targeting, the ultimate aim is to provide more relevant ads for consumers, based upon their interests and demographics. Along with the new move, Google has introduced an opt-out for both users (in terms of an independent cookie and privacy protection plugin), as well as publishers (who can decide which types of ads they will run.) Moving beyond keyword-based targeting, the new model is what Google calls an “interest based” targeting that aims to serve ads catered to specific users, rather than anonymously targeting ads based upon site content.

Advertisers will be able to target users by interest vertical (such as sports), so that they can reach users who fit their demographic profile (independent of the site they may be on.) With the recent shifts in ad rates and the difficulty of contextual targeting, both site owners and publishers will certainly test the new platform as a means to improve the performance of their online ad campaigns.