any thoughts on how Interest-Based Advertising ( http://www.google.com/ads/preferences/html/about.html ) might affect your keyword-based PPC campaigns? my first thought is, if people are going to see ads based, not on keywords, but on their own behavior, PPC is about to become an entirely new game. am i insane or is keyword research-based marketing about to die?
Could make things very interesting AND exciting to advertising. Prior to now, advertisers knew only one thing about their audience-- the keywords they typed into the search bar. That is completely different now. With this, advertisers now know the BEHAVIOR of the target audience. A huge step for google, IMO. There will be growing pains for advertisers, just as there have been for any change google has made. But this is pretty revolutionary for PPC advertising. Its always been about keywords, now it is about keywords... and behavior.
Thanks for sharing but this isn't going to have a huge impact other than allowing more relevant content ads to be shown (which will in turn benefit anyone using Adwords and/or Adsense). Keywords are still going to be the major part of PPC advertising as the Search Network is still the most commonly used of all.
This isn't going to have any impact in the search network, Google is only refering to the content network the above link and it is only tell publishers how it will affect their Adsense revenue. Keywords and research will always be important because people type the most insane things into search engines every day. People will always search and we will always be able to purchase advertising in some capacity related to what they are searching for.
It is too early to comment whether this system would harm or benefit the publishers.... I am little apprehensive of the fact that till now, our content decided the advt. niche but what if from now on, google placed low-paying niche's advt. on our websites under the pretext of our visitor's behavior...? Regards, RightMan
But in the end, it could also be niche with better price/click. Plus you'll probably end up with more money most of the time because of the additional clicks ads targeted at interests will generate. It's good for the 2 sides. I hardly see how this could have a negative impact, except if you are in a niche in a very high cost per click. But then, google will probably show the ads relevant to your content because this higher price per click also means more money for them. Remember that it's in their interest to get you the biggest profit since they get a share of publisher's earning. I'm starting to think I should start advertising on adwords.
For now, its too early to say, as its just been launched. However, it could make the content network more targeted and increase the quality of the traffic coming from it.
Behavioral targeting should lead to more targeted ads, which should make you more - not less - money.
ha - i totally missed that. thanks alanl... and thanks everybody for weighing in... the concensus actually made me breathe a little easier. wishing every one of you much continued success! more comments certainly welcome...
Keywords will still dominate as google can not decrease Value of Keywords for its adwords or adsense campaign. Because if it does show people would prefer to get list in natural search rather then listed as a sponsored links.
Basically, what Google appear to be saying is that content based adverts will now get shown to people based on their browsing history rather than the actual content of the site they are on; e.g. I do some searches for "blue widgets" and visit a number of related sites. Later, I visit a site that has little specific content, such as a general news site, so Google continue to display "blue widget ads" rather than ads based on the actual page content. Regrettably, it is just another step on the road towards the awful, apparent, "holy grail" of Google - "personalized search". It does not in any way herald the death of keyword based advertising - the initial "trigger" to show your ads will still be your keywords. P.S. Ooops! almost forget to answer the original question, will it cost us money? Theoretically, I would say, yes; your ads are going to be shown more often to an apparently interested audience so you should get and pay for more clicks. At least, I imagine that is what Google are hoping and anyway, when did G ever introduce anything that was not designed to, ultimately, pries more money out of you?
PPC Advertisers - I'd say yes, it probably will cost more, but it will probably generate more income too so in all probability it'll even itself out. In any case, I don't know anyone who makes much out of the content network anyway Adsense users - they'll probably make more out of it