Could behavioural targeting become the norm?

Google has announced that it is set to focus on the behavioural advertisement marketing market, which has led to a large amount of debate among the search engine optimisation sector.

Speaking before parliament, the internet's creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee argued that internet service providers should not on principle be able to profile the online movements of their users, the Register reports.

However, Google has stated that it is set to begin collecting such data in order to separate its users into different groups, such as hockey fans or travel enthusiasts.

The data would not be drawn from users' search queries, but from cookies that Google installs on the web browsers of users who visit pages where it serves advertisements, the firm explained.

Frank Watson, in a post for Search Engine Watch said that if internet users were made aware of their online activity being used in this way and agree with it then there should not be any conflict.

"As transparency becomes the norm and popular companies like Google approach their many users about providing a better user experience, behavioural targeting could possibly be an integral part of your web experience soon," he concluded.

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