Google Using Search History to Serve PPC Ads

It has been known for many months that if you have a Google account, google can track your web history and sites visited (see Search Engine Land for a brief overview). This can be a rather interesting phenomena as Google has been using it to tailor organic search results to particular users’ tastes. For example, I have done keyword searches on my laptop and then done identical searches on the computer at my local library and the University of Utah library. I noted that the search engine results were different. My website appeared higher on the list when I searched for it on my home computer. It was lower when I searched on the library computers. I have repeated the search process of several months and it replicated each time.

However, I recently noticed something even more interesting - Google appears to be using my searches to serve ads on unrelated searchs. I had heard they were doing this, but I only noticed it recently. I was doing a brief SEO/SEM site analysis on a company called, “Checks In the Mail” Checks in the mail is a lovely example of company that successfully moved from direct mail and phone ordering to internet-based ordering.

As I was going through and checking some of their product lines and rankings, I typed in “Spiderman Checks” on Google. Next, I was interrupted by a phone call and then did a search on another topic. Lo and behold - There in the paid placement (i.e. PPC ads) was an ad related to my previous search on checks. Fascinating! I am going to keep my eyes open for other examples of this.

Have you noticed something similar? Post a comment and let me know.

I have also noticed that a PPC ad that I clicked on the New York Times website several weeks ago keeps appearing on the website. However, they may simply be doing site specific advertising.