Big G watching me click? or coincidence?

[freehits]

SO, im reading an article by Janeth about her siliconewristband affiliate site. I then start looking at search results and keywords.
I check you the top results and its 24hrwristbands or something, which is imprint.com.

I laugh because a peer and friend of mine just got assigned to working with their ad campaigns, so small world Im thinking, and I write her to say...wow small world.

I then goto faceyourmanga.com as im making some avatars lol (wierd work day i know)

And the 728x90 google ad banner across the "crate page" I get served is 24hourwristband.com by imprint.com, get your own custom wristbands etc.
Maybe 5 minutes after having googled a bucnh of related terms.

Huge coincidence? or google tracking and serving?

[SteveB]

I really doubt this was a coincidence, freehits. Google tracking at its finest. :lol:

[PoisonJam]

Retargeting :)

[chrisJumbo]

I would believe this is no coincidence and have seen it happen with my own results. Since, I'm not signed in with Google, I believe they must be using cookies to know what I had been looking for. So turning off cookies could be one remedy. I just ignore the ads, but doesn't it give you a warm and fuzzy that Google so kindly shows you a competitor?!?

You could always opt to block the ad or report it as spam or something fun like that.

[Tiggerito]

Retargeting :)

I'd agree, could you elaborate on it a bit more so people can understand what it means?

[PoisonJam]

Well I just provided the solution so people could Google it and find out for themselves, also people may have already heard of it, but certainly :)

Actually, I'm off to bed (it's getting late here in the UK) so here's a link to an article that explains it better than I ever could (http://www.seomoz.org/blog/retargeting-basics-what-it-is-how-to-use-it). Sorry, I know it's cheating!

[freehits]

Yep, was just on some IT certification site reading an article now...6 hours later, and there was a 250x250 image ad on the right for wristbands again.
How funny, I had heard this was part of the effectivemess, but never really noticed it so blatently till i search for something obscure and obvious in an adwords heavy market to make it glaring like this.

Too funny.

...private eyes..clap clap....are watching me.

"You place a retargeting pixel on either (a) certain sections of your site or (b) across your entire site. As visitors visit the pages you have the pixel on they are added to what is called an "audience.""

So its the seller doing the tracking or chosing to track.

Thats slick, chases down the "ones that got away" and you can steal them right back from affiliate sites and competition.

I would say thats a bit of cheating the affiliates.
I started this adventure with looking at some of Janeth's sites, including one wristband site that is an affiliate for imprint.com.

I then found imprint.com directly and picked up that cookie I guess.

So If I then went to Janeth's or other affiliates site, and got hit with an adsense ad IMPRINT put up there...I could click the banner and they steal me from their own affiliate?

Super slick for sure, on the to-do-study list, But if I was an affiliate I would domain block ads from the company i affiliate sold for with this knowledge.

[SuperMan]

Oh this is not coincidence. It is most certainly tracking and behavioral intelligence. Google know what things you are looking at and serves relevant ads...

[alienpest]

It has been a regular thing for quite some time. Somewhat annoying, but that is our present reality.

[Clint1]

Has anyone (Freehits or other) blocked Cookies to see if this still happens? Whether or not it's Cookie-related, (and if it is), this is yet another reason why I block most Cookies, especially G Cookies ("google.com", which doesn't affect Gmail or WMT).

I have IE's "slider" as high as it can go without blocking all Cookies. This way you can easily click the icon at lower right to allow one if need-be. And don't forget that most people "let Cookies turn to mold" on their HD's, never deleting them which can track indefinitely. I have IE set to dump all cache when the last browser window is closed, plus I use "IE Privacy Keeper" which secure deletes all cache and temp net files (and does many other things), but saves any Cookies you want so you won't have to keep logging in at certain sites. And, it's free.

Addendum: IE Privacy Keeper also works with Firefox.

[PoisonJam]

From a personal perspective as a user I wouldn't say it's not at all negative. I use AdBlock for personal web use but if I have to see ads I'd rather see ads I'm more likely to be interested in than general things I have no interest in.

Apart from privacy concerns from data leaks, I find customisation and personalised results are in most peoples' best interest, even if it presents us website owners, affiliates, SEOs etc. with some problems sometimes.

[deepsand]

From a personal perspective as a user I wouldn't say it's not at all negative. I use AdBlock for personal web use but if I have to see ads I'd rather see ads I'm more likely to be interested in than general things I have no interest in.

Apart from privacy concerns from data leaks, I find customisation and personalised results are in most peoples' best interest, even if it presents us website owners, affiliates, SEOs etc. with some problems sometimes.
When did it become a function of a search engine to be the arbiter of what is in ones "best interest?" :confused:

Google is an advertising firm masquerading as an IT service provider.

[PoisonJam]

When did it become a function of a search engine to be the arbiter of what is in ones "best interest?" :confused:

I wasn't specifically talking about Google, not at all in fact. It can be applied to any advertising network in general.

While on the topic though, isn't that the simple premise of a search engine anyway? They have to order the results somehow...

[mjtaylor]

When did it become a function of a search engine to be the arbiter of what is in ones "best interest?" :confused:

When Google figured out how to do it and decided it made sense for their bottom line. They are NOT a public service though webmasters (and not usually you, deep) are often confused on that point. Google is Google. What it is is what it is.

Personally, I would prefer to see relevant results or ads.

[freehits]

Oh I never said it was bad. Its pretty smart if its something publishers and sellers can control. If I can block them as I descibed..etc then why not.
Its all very "minority report".

MJ? you a key wester? I am right around the corner from ya.

[Yellowleaf]

It is called Remarketing. We use it for our business. Usually it works in conjunction with Google Adwords, but there are other companies that provide the same service. After the parameters are set up, when a visitor arrives at your site but does not complete the conversion process (perhaps purchase something) then a cookie is set and retargeting ads are displayed to the visitor for a period of time. The purpose is to retarget a potential customer. Some companies advertise that that as much as 40% of the consumers come back and purchase, however in our experience it has not been that high, but I still consider it to be a valuable part of our marketing strategy. Search Google for "What is remarketing and why should I use it?" for additional information.

[jimn]

They absolutely are using cookies and using them to serve up ads that are relevant to prior activity. I started noticing similar activity when I visited a particular website. I deleted my cookies and the ads went away. I think that whenever you visit a website that does not have relevant AdSense ads that Google serves up something that they hope you are interested in based on your prior activity.

[alienpest]

If you have an adsense account, you are given the opportunity to turn off that type of ads and serve only the ads that would be seen had the cookies not been activated. I have tried it both ways, and it seems to be a mixed bag as far as results are concerned. In some cases it serves a mixture of ads based on site content, and the visitors history.

[Sweet Tooth #3]

Here's a few nuggets of information from one of my Adsense site's Privacy policy pages.

"Where necessary, this site uses cookies to store information about a visitor’s preferences and history in order to better serve the visitor and/or present the visitor with customized content.

Advertising partners and other third parties may also use cookies, scripts and/or web beacons to track visitors to our site in order to display advertisements and other useful information. Such tracking is done directly by the third parties through their own servers and is subject to their own privacy policies."


"About Google advertising: What is the DoubleClick DART cookie? The DoubleClick DART cookie is used by Google in the ads served on publisher websites displaying AdSense for content ads. When users visit an AdSense publisher’s website and either view or click on an ad, a cookie may be dropped on that end user’s browser. The data gathered from these cookies will be used to help AdSense publishers better serve and manage the ads on their site(s) and across the web."

And then there's some links to opt out.

From a publishers perspective, interest based ads are great. IMHO They get clicked and usually have a good cpc.

From a web surfers perspective, I'm mostly fine with them, but they can be really annoying sometimes.

For a few months straight, every time after I would go to Fiverr, I would see ads for this Fiverr gig. "I will be your Facebook girlfriend for a week for $5."

WTF...It was so annoying, and it would appear on my sites. How much could a click for a Fiverr gig possible pay? And why advertise an annoying Fiverr gig on Adwords??

So not only does G know I like Fiverr, It also knows I'm a guy. I'm not exactly sure how the whole Facebook girlfriend thing fits into that.


Oh, and btw, Facebook...Don't even get me started on that. Can you imagine the amount of information Facebook has on you?? Wow...

[deepsand]

I wasn't specifically talking about Google, not at all in fact. It can be applied to any advertising network in general.
Except, per Eric Schmidt to Congress, Google's sole product is search.


While on the topic though, isn't that the simple premise of a search engine anyway? They have to order the results somehow...
Helping the user to find what Google wants them to see is far from an objective ordering of results.


When Google figured out how to do it and decided it made sense for their bottom line. They are NOT a public service though webmasters (and not usually you, deep) are often confused on that point. Google is Google.
No confusion on my part. Google has ceased to be an objective provider of search results. Hell, they now even go so far as to actively intrude when people are viewing your own site by way of Google Related.

[freehits]

In case you think your OK with this, which I am......Adwords also reads your Gmails content and what you have been writing in emails to get ad content.

I got the emails and screen shots on that one above...i dont really care since they are serving those ads to me....but it must be cached or saved in some way to perform that.

[mwbyrd]

I've been dealing with an advertising/seo company that does exactly what google is doing. So I don't think we can just 'blame' google. This is probably business as usual for marketing companies with the technical know how.

[freehits]

Nobody else is reading my gmails.

[deepsand]

Nobody else is reading my gmails.
Doesn't negate the fact that Google is not alone here.

[Sweet Tooth #3]

Nobody else is reading my gmails.

Yahoo reads my emails and serves me relevant ads. I guess the only way around it would be to use a service that you have to pay for.

But at least they don't advertise the Facebook girlfriend. ;)

[deepsand]

But at least they don't advertise the Facebook girlfriend. ;)
But, she is cheap. :mrgreen:

[LD]

Cheap, is in the eye of the beholder. :shock:

[dgswilson]

also browser saved cookies, history, searches and offline (pc) storage. I set options to none, delete all on end session. Don't track etc.

[deepsand]

also browser saved cookies, history, searches and offline (pc) storage. I set options to none, delete all on end session. Don't track etc.
The problem with that draconian approach is that it kills useful and legitimate cookies, so that logging back into frequently used accounts becomes tiresome and cumbersome, in some cases requiring out-of-band authentication before being allowed back in.

[Tiggerito]

The problem with that draconian approach is that it kills useful and legitimate cookies, so that logging back into frequently used accounts becomes tiresome and cumbersome, in some cases requiring out-of-band authentication before being allowed back in.

To solve that I run a version of Google Chrome with it's own profile folder. This one I use in incognito and have things like cookies disabled. I just run that version when I want to be as anonymous as possible. I actually have 4 Chrome profiles so I can do things like multiple Google logins.

I also use my own tools to make queries for me, giving me full control over cookies and the like.

[dgswilson]

The problem with that draconian approach is that it kills useful and legitimate cookies, so that logging back into frequently used accounts becomes tiresome and cumbersome, in some cases requiring out-of-band authentication before being allowed back in.

Yeah, I keep wipe passwords

[deepsand]

But, what about necessary persistent cookies that are used, for example, for authentication?

[Clint1]

also browser saved cookies, history, searches and offline (pc) storage. I set options to none, delete all on end session. Don't track etc.

The problem with that draconian approach is that it kills useful and legitimate cookies, so that logging back into frequently used accounts becomes tiresome and cumbersome, in some cases requiring out-of-band authentication before being allowed back in.
http://www.webproworld.com/webmaster-forum/threads/114137-Big-G-watching-me-click-or-coincidence?p=596488&viewfull=1#post596488 (2nd paragraph). "IE Privacy Keeper (http://www.browsertools.net/IE-Privacy-Keeper/)". I can't edit the post now, but I left out it also works with FF.

[Tiggerito]

But, what about necessary persistent cookies that are used, for example, for authentication?

CCleaner is a partial help for those that rely on deleting cookies as it lets you specify domains to exclude from deletion. It won't help with Google though as you have to delete the login/authentication data to become anonymous and get cleaner results.

Multiple profiles works well as cookies, extensions and browser settings are stored on a per profile basis.


Yeah, I keep wipe passwords

I'm not sure what password storage is to do with this, but I use an external Password management tool (KeePass) so I don't store any passwords in my browsers. It also makes it easy to access passwords across browsers, applications and systems.

[deepsand]

As I use only FF & IE, and have both set to reject 3rd party cookies, it's no big deal for me to manually whack 1st party HTML cookies, as well as the Flash ones.

Additionally, Spybot Search & Destroy registers IE/Mozilla/Netscape cookies, and provides for the user's marking individual ones to be ignored when it does scans for tracking objects.


http://www.webproworld.com/webmaster-forum/threads/114137-Big-G-watching-me-click-or-coincidence?p=596488&viewfull=1#post596488 (2nd paragraph). "IE Privacy Keeper (http://www.browsertools.net/IE-Privacy-Keeper/)". I can't edit the post now, but I left out it also works with FF.
Added an Addendum to that post re. FF.


I'm not sure what password storage is to do with this, but I use an external Password management tool (KeePass) so I don't store any passwords in my browsers. It also makes it easy to access passwords across browsers, applications and systems.
IE stores Forms data & Passwords separately from other browser related data, along with other sensitive data, in Protected Storage.

[Clint1]

Added an Addendum to that post re. FF.
Good.........................

[dgswilson]

Is it possible that aside from tracking adsense just floods ads at certain times or for certain dollars. I'm thinking about that big banana I see all over. Sometimes on my site it will show up a few times in a row. I have no interest in the banana, don't go places where the banana would be relevant. Sometimes there are schools and place ads here and other ads appearing a lot - then not so much.

I don't remember ever clicking on an ad. Maybe once or twice just to see what happened. I'm sure google and every one else tracks what it can to get clicks but I think there are other factors here - not sure what.

A lot of my clearing cache and history has to do with what seems to be a slowing down of the browser after a while. I never turn browsers off unless I have updates that require it.

[deepsand]

Is it possible that aside from tracking adsense just floods ads at certain times or for certain dollars. I'm thinking about that big banana I see all over. Sometimes on my site it will show up a few times in a row. I have no interest in the banana, don't go places where the banana would be relevant. Sometimes there are schools and place ads here and other ads appearing a lot - then not so much.
Are you saying that such content is being injected into the rendered displays of one or more pages of a site managed by you?

[dgswilson]

injected into the rendered displays

I'm term dumb (injected/rendered display) but I doubt it. - Just regular ligit adsense ads. But I notice i'll see the same ad "on my site" a lot, for a time, then things sort of settle back to normal relevant ads. A lot of the time I don't look but it's hard to ignore the big yellow weight loss (?) banana

[deepsand]

Well, since I'm on the AdWords side of the fence, all that I can offer is that I long ago abandoned Content Match, as my ads were being displayed in too many places where no contextual relevancy was apparent, much as seems to be the case with the weight loss ad showing on your page(s).

I came to the conclusion that Google was either incompetent or deliberately over-reaching in the hopes of increasing their ad revenues. In either case, as it was wasting my ad budget, I opted to use only Search Match from then on.

[dgswilson]

Checked rendered display with web developer - my pub id - Today "Rackspace" - no relevance to page so - money. ***ChkPm