The web service Google Adsense will soon begin offering “interest-based advertising”. This addition “will allow advertisers to show ads based on a user’s previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser website and also to reach users based on their interests”.

What does this mean to those of us who use Google Adsense on our websites and blogs?

Let’s understand what “interest-based advertising” is first. To quote the Google Adsense site, “Interest-based advertising enables advertisers to reach users based on their interests (e.g. ‘sports enthusiasts’), and allows them to show ads based on a user’s previous interactions with them, such as visits to advertiser websites. To complement interest-based advertising, the Ads Preferences Manager lets users view and edit their interest categories.”

The idea is to provide a greater level of focus and granularity for serving relevant ads to users. The technology behind this is called the “DoubleClick DART cookie“. As you browse websites in the AdSense network, Google stores an advertising cookie in your browser to understand the types of pages that you are visiting. This information is used to show ads based on interest categories that might appeal to you. If you don’t like the interest groups that Google has assigned, you can edit their list of interest categories within the Ads Preferences Manager.

Google has made it clear that the use of this technology is used in accordance with their privacy policy, stating “It is not used to identify users personally and we don’t show ads based on personal information. We also will not show ads based on sensitive information or interest categories, such as those based on race, religion, sexual orientation, health, or sensitive financial categories, without a user’s opt-in consent”.

Google is suggesting that website owners update their privacy policy to reflect the changes if you are using the Adsense to serve ads on your website.

For more information on Google interest-based advertising, check out this list of frequently asked questions.

Recommendations on updating your privacy policy can be found here.

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