This model is based on the assumption that ads are for things the consumers already know about. This is not correct.
Example: I type “housing insurance” into Google and the “organic” results are dominated by the mega insurance companies.
Without targeted advertising, the ads are also dominated by mega insurance companies because they have the biggest advertising budgets.
With targeted advertising, I can see an ad from a provider specific to my location that I didn’t know existed who offers way better rates because of the different risk pool.
The same applies for thousands of other products/services that are localized.
Similarly, the ads for someone interested in DIY vs someone who is happy to pay for skilled labor are drastically different when you search “drywall repair”.
> Without targeted advertising, the ads are also dominated by mega insurance companies because they have the biggest advertising budgets.
> With targeted advertising, I can see an ad from a provider specific to my location that I didn’t know existed who offers way better rates because of the different risk pool.
The same applies for thousands of other products/services that are localized.
You're talking about geo targeting here, which imo should still be possible. That's an in-the-moment targeting akin to an advertiser choosing to show their ad on a local news site. This doesn't require extensive tracking and profiling of users.
Fair enough, it’s not clear what level of profiling we’re eliminating. That’s why I also gave the example of a DIY profiled customer vs a “pays for handymen” profiled customer.
> Similarly, the ads for someone interested in DIY vs someone who is happy to pay for skilled labor are drastically different when you search “drywall repair”.
Google doesn't need to "Track and target" me personally to know that a web request I make comes from a specific location. Knowing I bought cycling shorts last week isn't going to increase the relevance of that search. Likewise, the reverse is true.
FWIW, have you tried searching for something like Drywall repair? Google's results for that type of search are almost identical to what you get on DDG, you just have to scroll past a page of Google garbage first.
Also... it's not too tremendously difficult to type "Drywall repair in Hoboken NY", that's what I do by default regardless.
You didn’t read my drywall example close enough. It’s not location specific, it’s specific to the type of customer. Should we be advertising a hardware store or should we be advertising “Teds drywall repair service”?
As Ted, I don’t want my ads wasted on people that want to repair things themselves. As a customer who doesn’t care how it gets fixed, I don’t want an ad for Home Depot.
I find it unlikely Google presents drastically different results (or adverts) for someone who is interested in DIY versus someone who might be looking for a contractor. Mostly because it's a terrible thing for Google to try and guess.
While Ted might find it convenient to target people based on whether they are wealthy homeowners who hire contractors or DIY guys, I have no interest in sharing that information with Google (or Facebook). It's neat for Ted, not so neat for me.
Other things which might result in "better" advertising which I don't like:
- Companies scanning my license plate while I'm at Home Depot.
- Someone camping the county building permits office with a video camera and facial recognition software.
- The phone company forwarding my phone records to advertisers.
All of these are similarly invasive to Google & Facebook's tracking and equally disgusting.
This is all particularly true since just buying the Adword for "Drywall Repair" in my area, would likely yield the exact same results without tracking.
There’s a big difference between localisation of ads (which the industry has always achieved) and targeted ads that know you are interested in DIY vs hiring a contractor.
Saving that DIY enthusiast a single modification of their google search is not worth narrowing their entire experience of the web for, or worth giving up their privacy for.
And to OP’s original point. If your business relies on invading the privacy of others, your business should not exist
> Saving that DIY enthusiast a single modification of their google search is not worth narrowing their entire experience of the web for, or worth giving up their privacy for.
Sure, but let’s be clear that it is a trade off. If you’ve ever seen non-techies Google things, they don’t provide the contextual clues that we instinctively know to include. The majority of the population just types in “drywall repair” and expects the computer to know what they “obviously mean”.
I don’t think these examples require individual targeting at all, but I agree with your point.
When you are looking for housing insurance and Facebook shows you divorce attorneys, because they know you’re gonna need one pretty soon, that is a spend that would be affected.
On both examples, the user can trivially reach the desired search outcome by manually adding their location or "diy"/"for hire" to the search query, without the search engine needing to know a single thing about them.
Example: I type “housing insurance” into Google and the “organic” results are dominated by the mega insurance companies.
Without targeted advertising, the ads are also dominated by mega insurance companies because they have the biggest advertising budgets.
With targeted advertising, I can see an ad from a provider specific to my location that I didn’t know existed who offers way better rates because of the different risk pool.
The same applies for thousands of other products/services that are localized.
Similarly, the ads for someone interested in DIY vs someone who is happy to pay for skilled labor are drastically different when you search “drywall repair”.