I was recently shopping online for my trip to Yosemite
National Park. I went on 6pm.com to look for hiking shoes, but I got distracted
before making my purchase. Several hours later I logged into Pandora – and up
popped an ad for the sneakers I had almost purchased a few hours earlier. Two
or three years ago, this level of personalization would have freaked me out,
but now I’ve come to expect it – and I am even a little surprised when the ads
on the pages I view don’t match my search history. If you’re wondering – yes, I
bought the sneakers.
One of the biggest buzzwords in relation to the web
experience is “engagement” and what better way to engage someone than to use
personal data to create a unique experience. Google and Bing use personal data
to improve the quality of a search by filling in what they know about you
including location, recent searches, interests and preferred sites. As a
result, two users may not get the same results from the same query. This means
the best results for the individual – not the average population. (Nussey,
2012).
According to Google
Help, users who show a pattern, for example a user who views sports-related
videos, stores and websites will subsequently see more sports-related ads. If a
user visits sites that “have a majority of female visitors (based on aggregated
survey data on site visitation),” the user’s cookie may be associated with a
female demographic. (Google Help). A
user can exert some control over what ads they see, by editing their inferred
interest and demographic categories using the Ads Preferences Manager.
All of this is great for the user, but even better for your
company if you learn to maximize the tools available to you. Jack Menzel,
Prodcut Management Director for Search at Google strongly advises web masters
to make sure their sites work on mobile devices. He also said companies should
claim their spot in Google Places
and should check to make sure the information is correct and complete. If you
deliver different content based on geography, take advantage of Geotargeting.
According to Google’s webmaster tools, you can provide Google with information to
help supplement their existing data.
To set a geographic target:
1. On the Webmaster Tools Home page, click the
site you want.
2. Under Site configuration, click Settings.
3. In the Geographic target section,
select the option you want.
If you want to
ensure that your site is not associated with any country or region, select Unlisted.
(Google, 2012).
Individual metrics are helping companies reach their
business objectives and helping users to get the most out of their searches. On
some levels, this is a marketers dream come true.
Nussey, V. (2012, February 28). SEO - SMX West 2012: Getting
Personal, Part 2: How Google & Bing Personalize With Search History &
Geography - Bruce Clay. BruceClay - Internet Marketing Optimization Company.
Retrieved June 4, 2012, from http://www.bruceclay.com/blog/2012/02/google-bing-personalize/
How does Google infer interest and demographic categories? -
AdSense Help. (n.d.). Google Help. Retrieved June 4, 2012, from http://support.google.com/adsense/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=140378
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