Google plugs your surf history into ad money machine

Google has unleashed a new behavioral ad targeting scheme onto YouTube and partner sites in its AdSense advertising network - though it has carefully avoided the term behavioral ad targeting. Google prefers "interest-based advertising." Whatever you call it, YouTube and AdSense sites are now showing ads to websurfers based on the (many) pages they've perused in the past. "We think we can make online advertising even more relevant and useful by using additional information about the websites people visit," Google VP Susan Wojcicki wrote this morning in a blog post entitled "Making ads more interesting." "Today, we are launching 'interest-based' advertising as a beta test on our partner sites and on YouTube. These ads will associate categories of interest - say sports, gardening, cars, pets - with your browser, based on the types of sites you visit and the pages you view. We may then use those interest categories to show you more relevant text and display ads." Google refers to the new system as a beta. But it calls everything a beta. The new system does not tailor ads on Google's search engine. At least, not yet. Though you have to wonder whether Google is already using browser history to place search ads. "To date, we have shown ads based mainly on what your interests are at a specific moment," the company says in today's blog post. Note the word "mainly."

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/11/google_behavioral_advertising/