Google has recently begun using behavioral targeting to help it display more relevant ads based on keywords.

 

According to Nick Fox, Google’s group business product manager for ads quality. Fox said the new feature, aims to capture a more robust understanding of user intent and thereby deliver a better ad.

 

"The current query the user is issuing is pretty useful, but in some cases it misses the context of what the user is doing," said Fox. By studying the larger context of queries relating to a consumer’s "overall task," he said, Google can boost relevance.

 

ClickZ has good analysis on the news.

 

None of this is unexpected to anyone who has read The Search, How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture, a book by John Battle.

 

Behavioral targeting has the potential to really reshape how marketing is done. If you are looking to learn more about this space be sure to read my behavioral targeting entry from April of this year.

 

This is really interesting stuff and hopefully will result in more targeted marketing. The result? Web users should be happier and so should advertisers.