Google puts different slant on behavioral targeting

Google believes that search patterns, identified at the time of a user’s search, are more relevant to search advertising than a deeper user profile built up over time.

by Helen Leggatt

Susan Wojcicki, Google’s vice president of product management for advertising, spoke with reporters earlier this week and, amongst other things, outlined Google’s current views and developments in the realm of behavioral targeting.

One particular development in search advertising has seen Google move away from traditional behavioral targeting methods. Instead of relying on data collected about a consumer over a period of time, Google is confining user tracking to a single search session.

"If you wanted to buy a car two weeks ago and you bought it, you don't necessarily want to see ads for cars today," commented Wojcicki.

As an experiment I typed in “mountain biking”. As usual it gave me generic search results with a raft of ads relating to mountain biking in New Zealand (my country of residence) alongside. I paused for a few seconds before clearing the search box and typing in “Austria”. I was then presented with five ads, of which only one was not specifically for mountain biking tours and trails in Austria (although it was an ad for an Austrian hotel).

According to Wojcicki, "Nothing is stored, nothing is remembered. It all happens within that session."

After the above experiment I closed the search window, re-entered Google and typed in Austria. Not a single mountain bike ad was displayed.