Since April, publishers who use Google Adsense have noticed that ads are now coming from the DoubleClick.net URL rather than the googlesyndication URL. Apparently this was done mainly to support the interest-based advertising features. DoubleClick actively utilized behavioral targeting technology, and Google is finally incorporating this feature for advertisers that use Adwords in the content network.

This behavioral targeting/behavioral advertising/interest-based marketing feature is currently in beta for select Adwords accounts. For publishers who use Adsense, interest-based marketing is supposed to maximize their earnings potential. In concept at least, this type of targeting is clearly a benefit for advertisers and for publishers.

As for consumers, there is a tendency to become spooked by such ad targeting – especially while imagining some violating or embarrassing scenarios. What if you are categorized as diseased, impotent criminal with a gambling addiction?

Also, this feature helps Google to compete with behavioral targeting options within other large content networks such as Facebook. For instance, the behavioral targeting options at Facebook lets advertisers target users “in college” including up to 20 schools and/or 20 majors. Also they now support city level targeting, with a selected radius option which will help narrow in on specific university hot spots.

In April 2009, the Adsense team informs content publishers:

… with our latest addition of interest-based advertising, advertisers will be able to reach users based on their interests or previous interactions with an advertiser’s site.

And in early May Google began using this same DoubleClick.net URL for Feedburner to enable interest-based targeting of ads in feeds.

Google Privacy: Interest-based Advertising

Below is an official statement from Google, and the video is below. Google has also published another statement regarding consumer control and an interest-based advertising FAQ that is quite informative.

Our goal is to help you, our users, to find the information you’re looking for.  We do this by showing you search results, but also by showing you ads that you might be interested in.

Some of these ads are on sites around the web, such as news sites or blogs that partner with Google to show ads. And some are on our video site – YouTube. You can recognize many of our ads by the “Ads By Google” label. We want these ads to be as relevant as possible for you.

Sometimes we show ads related to the content on the page you’re currently viewing. Other times we’ll show you ads based on interest categories. So if you love to travel and frequently visit travel-related websites, you’re more likely to see interest-based ads about vacations and travel deals as you surf the web.

Here’s how this works:

When you visit a website that shows “Ads by Google,” Google stores a cookie, a string of random numbers and letters in your browser to remember your visit. If many of the websites you visit, or YouTube videos you watch, are about travel, Google puts your cookie number in the travel interest category. Now, when you visit websites that user interest-based “Ads by Google,” Google recognizes your cookie number and shows you more travel ads.

Google also uses your cookie number to allow advertisers to show you ads based on your previous interactions with them… such as visits to their websites. For example, if you visit a website that sells pet supplies, you might see an ad for that particular website next time you browse a website showing interest-based “Ads by Google.”

It’s important to remember that when you see interest-based “Ads by Google” they’re not based on any information that’s stored in your Google account such as your  email; or, any visits to websites with sensitive content, such as medical information.

Your cookie doesn’t tell Google who you are or any personal information about you – such as your address or phone number. We don’t collect personal information or share it with others without your permission.

Google lets you edit the interest categories associated with your cookie using our Ads Preferences manager. This lets you customize which interest-based advertisements you see so they’re even more relevant to you.

To set your Google Ads Preferences type “google.com/ads/preferences” into your browser. Or, in many cases you can click on “Ads by Google” then click on “Ads Preferences.” Click “Add Interest” to scroll through a list of interest categories. If your interested in sports, just ad the sports category, and we’ll show you more sports related ads. You can also remove interest categories if you’d like to see fewer of those types of ads.

Your preferences also apply to ads you see on YouTube. If you’re curious, the Ads Preferences Manager shows you the cookie number that Google associates with your interests.

If you prefer not to see interest-based ads from Google, you can opt out at any time in one click. After you opt out, Google won’t collect interest category information and you won’t receive interest-based ads. You’ll still see the same number of ads, but they may not be as relevant to you.

Remember, if you set your ads preferences or opt out of interest-based ads, this information is only stored on the browser of the computer that you’re using at the time. If you delete your browser’s cookies, you’ll need to reset your preferences or opt out of interest-based ads again.

You can also save your opt-out settings permanently. After you opt out, just click the download button and follow the instructions to install a browser plugin that saves your opt out settings even when you clear your cookies.

I hope this gives you a better idea of how Google users interest based ads and how you can set your Ads Preferences.

Google Interest-based Ads & How You Can Set Your Ads Preferences: Video