Does Google Ad Planner = Privacy Concerns?
Just a few days after launching Google Website Trends, Google revealed the real purpose of all that nice new data: Google Ad Planner. Launching just yesterday, it is "a research and media planning tool that connects advertisers and publishers." In plain English, Ad Planner enables you to find websites for placing your ads based on behavioral ad targeting and demographics. Figuring out where all that data is coming from has people—including me—scratching our heads. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.
How does this thing work? Well, it’s still in private beta, but from what I can gather, you give Ad Planner the demographics or favorite web sites of your target audience and, according to Google, the tool will…
...return information about sites (both on and off the Google content network) that your audience is likely to visit. You can drill down further to get more detail like demographics and related searches for a particular site, or you can get aggregate statistics for the sites you’ve added to your media plan.
This also sheds some light on how Google is planning on integrating with the recently acquired Double Click.
Oddly enough, all that data Ad Planner spits out won’t actually integrate with Google AdWords. It will, however, plug straight into the Double Click platform, Media Visor. Not using Double Click? You can export your data into a .csv file—I’m unsure how that will plugin to something like AdWords Editor.
To return to my first question, where is this data coming from? I’ve been reading plenty of speculations, and while some if it is a bit doomsday-ish; Danny Sullivan at Search Engine Land had a good post regarding Google’s mysterious data reservoir. When he asked Google where the demographic data was being drawn from—specifically asking if the Google Toolbar was playing a part—this was Google’s response:
We do not disclose the elements of our secret sauce as these elements are subject to change. Similar to Google search, disclosing our data sources could also encourage people to game the system. You can imagine some websites would want to make their numbers look more attractive and would try to find ways to game Google Trends for Websites estimates. In addition, it takes time to determine which of these data sources will end up being useful, and it turns out that combining various sources of data ensures higher quality.
While you can’t access the Google Ad Planner yet; you can access the Ad Planner help pages. Here is Google’s official take about how the data is being generated:
Google Ad Planner combines information from a variety of sources, such as aggregated Google search data, opt-in anonymous Google Analytics data, opt-in external consumer panel data, and other third-party market research. The data is aggregated over millions of users and powered by computer algorithms; it doesn’t contain personally-identifiable information. In addition, Google Ad Planner only shows results for sites that receive a significant amount of traffic, and enforces minimum thresholds for inclusion in the tool.
It makes sense that the folks at Google wouldn’t just tell everyone—it really is their secret sauce and people really would game the system. However, I have a hard time believing Google Analytics data and opt-in panels alone provide the type of data the Ad Planner is purported to provide. I’m not accusing Google of shady behavior; but I do think this will bring even more scrutiny into data sharing and privacy concerns from our lovely government. And Google’s recent agreement with Yahoo! (and the other 1,000 things that Google gets accused of) certainly isn’t helping ease the paranoid mind.
All that to say, I’m eager to give this tool a try; but I’m equally as eager to respect privacy and ensure we are marketing in an ethical and respectful manner. I’d love to hear others thoughts, and I again point you to the aforementinoed Search Engine Land post as well as a post on Techcrunch also regarding the Google Toolbar. Ah, the interwebs...they never allow a boring day. Again, what’s your opinion?
It’s hard to draw a line between Internet marketers getting information that helps them to make better decisions, and Google getting that information by invading privacy.
I have an idea that I’d love to implement that would really help Internet marketers, but it would take a Google to gather the information, and some people may consider it an invasion of privacy.
But off line stores are already gathering demographic data on customers. I’ve heard that Wal-Mart keeps record of the items you buy by demographics of customers. It’s great for business, but not so good for privacy concerns.
Linda,
Agreed, it’s a blurry line. For me, it goes back to the #1—the customer. You might be able to argue it’s better for the customer to receive targeted ads, but at what cost? And if WalMart is doing it, it’s gotta be wrong =) I’m leaning toward that idea that anytime demographic data is being capture without consent, that seems shady. Am I just hyper-sensitive?
Great post Josh. I must admit I am becoming less and less concerned with privacy as my sanity is more valuable to me. If I think too hard about Google’s ability to mine my life’s data it makes me numb. My search history, the information Google toolbar is probably recording, the information which could be extracted from my GMail account and my credit information in Google Checkout- I hope Google does abide by its own motto: “Don’t be Evil”.
@Trace: Yeah, that is a good point. There’s so many other things I use Google for, I suppose I’m already pretty far down that path. But, if I found out Google Checkout was recording my purchases and targeting me with my credit card, I’d be pissed. Even if I do trust them, it seems like the more steps like this they take, the likelier it is that the government will become more intentionally involved.
I have found that Google just likes to be vague about everything. It’s difficult to get any kind of straight answer from them. They are a lot like “big brother” What about the ads directly related to the content of the email I’m reading?...I also see the secretive responses when people ask legitimate questions trying to do the right thing on the AdSense program, like asking about paid traffic, or traffic generating systems (not click generating, because that is clearly defined) and being given such answers as “we can’t endorse one program over another, refer to the TOS..” Which was vague in the first place, hence the question...People get banned all the time without warning and the consensus across the boards and posts is that everyone seems to be walking on eggshells when it comes to AdSense. I don’t think it would be giving away their “secret sauce” if they gave some more detailed explanations of some of their terms or operations. Information is power and Google seems to have it all..and keeping it to themselves.
Josh,
Linda Morton here again.
I basically believe that anytime a business gets too big, especially approaching a monopoly, it’s leaders just do whatever they want without any concern for the people who are affected by it’s leadership decisions.
I think Google is there.
@Webmaster Flash: While you’re not the first person I’ve heard complain about Google’s inconsistent banning habits, I haven’t experienced that myself nor have any of our clients. I wonder if there’s a trend in their “mistakes” ? I agree that they could be more forthright and not harm themselves.
@Linda: Thanks for following up. That’s bold! But, you may be right. I’m not ready to go there yet, I feel like Google is still pretty responsive in listening to their customers—and people are still raving about Google as a great place to work. But, you might be right. I hope not though…
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