Google Ads Get “Interesting”

Google just announced on their official blog a new ad program that looks at both the content on a page AND the sites the user has recently visited. Google says they are “making ads more interesting.”

The good news is that ads should be more relevant as Google tries to understand the categories of sites someone might be visiting. For example, while you are reading a review of the latest server hardware you might see a new brand and want to find out more. When you search for the brand, Google will try to match ads that connect the “server technology” category with the brand you just searched for.

Advertisers are likely to enjoy the change. Now customers they never thought of being able to reach might see their ads. Since Google will dish out ads that are more relevant, the ads are also more likely to get clicked.

The bad news is that publishers (website owners and content providers) will have to make some adjustments. It’s going to be harder to predict what ads will be rotating through the pages on the site now that Google is shifting from keyword-based ads to keywords + browser history.

Big changes are always awkward. Consumers stand to gain by being served more relevant ads…at least in theory. Advertisers stand to gain because a whole new set of customers may be reached. The real question is how the publishers will react.Keep up with posts like this by subscribing to our RSS feed, or following @WhoIsHosting on Twitter.