Behavioural Targeting
An Introduction to Behavioural Targeting
Behavioural targeting uses the website visitor’s activity on the site to better target the site’s content for the user. For example, if you have a user who looks only at the jobs in Scotland, there’s a pretty good chance that that’s what he’s interested in, so you can modify the presentation of information to him to be more Scottish focused. If he looks at more sales jobs than anything else then you are starting to get a better picture of his interests. This works even if you have no idea who he is, but once he registers, or applies for a job, you can “attach” his profile to his contact details. Brilliant, mostly because he hasn’t had to provide you with comprehensive information by filling in “profile” forms.
What this means of course is that you can present each user with a more relevant experience (read: better targeted advertising)
Clearly the process could be compared to “spying” and there are those that believe its a gross invasion of privacy, but I believe that as long as your site is transparent and makes it clear that this profiling is going on, most people would be happy to know that they will get a better experience from your site. Most concerns are based on being “tracked” across ALL the sites they use, and that big profile getting into the wrong hands.
Of course you should always give the user the information – and the choice, but whether this is opt-in or opt-out is open to much debate.
More Resources
- http://adinfo-guardian.co.uk/online/behavioural-targeting.shtml
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2009/05/bbc_online_and_behavioral_targ.html
- http://searchenginewatch.com/3633086
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavioral_targeting
- http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/090311-094307
