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Google Latest Target: You
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Since not every single one gets clicked on, Google's ads might be
considered less than perfect. A new patent application would make
behavioral targeting a central part of improving them.
Editor's Note: In
its ideal form, behavioral targeting would seamlessly connect consumers
with the products they want. Yet in pursuit of this ideal, privacy (as
well as loss of profit in the event of backlash) may become a concern.
Google appears to be taking the first step along the behavioral
targeting path...
do you support its move?
Patent news is, of course, somewhat noncommittal by nature. We've all
heard about patent trolls - people (or companies) who try to own every
obvious detail or outlandish possibility purely for the sake of profit.
And even though Google doesn't fall into this category, it (along with
most other businesses) doesn't make use of every patent for which it
applies.
Still, some interesting ideas are on display among the 11,000 or so
words in the application (filed last week by Googler Krishna Bharat),
and for a path through the scientist-speak, we can turn to
Barry Schwartz.
Schwartz, after giving a hat tip to Bill Slawski, summarizes, "Based on
a user's behavior, Google may adapt the AdSense ads in one or more of
these methods: Change the number of ads to show .... Change the type of
ads displayed .... change the style of the ad displayed including the
age of that content, and the type of content (e.g., text, graphics,
video, audio, mixed media, etc.) .... Previous queries may be used to
better associated geographic information to the ad .... Or more
information."
Hopefully this doesn't mean people who try to ignore advertisements will
be buried under a sea of them, and the same group probably wouldn't
appreciate ads that make sounds. Also, even as NBC's "30 Rock"
explained the uncanny valley's relation to humanlike entities,
Google might not want to get too eerily insightful about what ads it
shows users.
Still, Schwartz later continues, "Google may also use behavioral targeting
to change factors for advertisers including: Ad price information ....
Ad performance information .... Targeting criteria match information,
and .... Advertiser quality information." So it seems that the search
giant is trying to think through all the ways in which this sort of
stuff can be useful.
A timeframe for any changes remains completely unknown, of course; there
hasn't been so much as an applicable peep from either the Google Public
Policy Blog or the company's mainstream Press Center. It's entirely
possible that the proposed changes will be discarded as new ideas come
up or old ones fail to work out as planned.
Meanwhile, it'll be worth watching Microsoft, Yahoo, AOL, Ask, and every
other search company to see if they pursue similar paths. Patent
applications sometimes spill the beans, so to speak, and set off a race
even as businesses try to stay in the clear legally.
About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for
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08/28/09
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