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• Retargeting - advertisers can target people who have already visited their website (i.e. retargeting) based on cookie drops. So I could click a search listing for Tesco, visit their site, and then visit a finance news website, and Google’s system might target me with an advert for Tesco loans.
• Based on Interest – Google will determine user’s interests based upon their usage of YouTube and site within the Google content network OR based on the interests the user specifies via this page (they can opt out completely, too). So if you spend a lot of your time looking at videos of planes (you know who you are, Mr R) then you might see adverts to air shows or selling model planes.

What about Search Ads?

This doesn't cover search adverts – it’s for content network adverts .

Taking Part

This is a private, invite only beta. (Steak will let it’s clients know about participating where relevant – contact your Account Director).

Initial Thoughts

It’s good to see Google have handed some control to consumers – although I wonder how many will actual bother with this, and how accurate this really is. I can’t imagine the public will update these profiles more than once, and people’s interest change as their lives progresses. Think of a male 18 year old – looking at universities, flat rentals, car websites etc – and then think of the same person at 23, working, paying rent, looking at cheap holidays and looking at their first mortgage (Ok, not in this financial climate!). Now think of them at 39, with children, looking at buying a people carrier....will they have kept their Google advertising profile up to date? I don’t think so.

It’s a beta...and as econsultancy note, Google betas can last a long time. So is this earth shattering, a major jump forward? Nope. Is it good to see Google starting to join up the different parts of their network? Yes. Things will get really interesting as Google integrate with Doubleclick more, and Atlas and MS get closer.

Update: taking a cynical POV, here's a list of 25 things Google knows about you

Update 2: Good write up and post scripts at SearchEngineLand, including how this might one day cover search ads, that Google will move this into the main AdWords interface at a later date, and how Google once shied away from this sort of targeting.

"To spotify" - to search for a piece of music in the free music application Spotify and listen to it.

 Hat tip to our IT Manager for predicting this.

Letter to the editor – call to action ads to spark further trademark controversy and increased costs?

"News that Google and Yahoo! are pushing brands to include search calls to action within their ad campaigns is an encouraging step forward for the holy grail of integration between online and offline marketing (NMA, 8 January). A few forward-thinking organisations – Orange, the COI and More4 amongst them – are doing this already but the practice comes with its risks.

When it comes to online, companies need to remember that the phrase they promote can be targeted by other brands in search results. Google’s trademark rules (if the phrase is a trademark to start with) only protect them in terms of copy in paid results – it doesn’t stop brands bidding on a phrase; and natural search results are even less policed. Indeed, promoting the practice (as we saw for some sectors following Google’s trademark policy reversal) could lead to increased cost-per-click costs on some phrases

As with all campaigns, be they online or offline, brands need to think carefully before building a new piece of brand equity that other advertisers can try to piggy-back upon.

They need to consider how and where they are likely to engage with consumers too. If consumers are likely to search on a mobile device, brands must ensure their mobile website experience is more than just a shoe-horned version of their desktop one."

All around you, people are having ideas. But often these are forgotten, or the person with the idea thinks the companies who could make it a reality aren't listening. Who hasn't used a product, service, or website and thought "Why don't they sell X too?" or "Wouldn't it be easier if this company/product/site worked like this instead?"

Google are setting out to capture some of these ideas and find out which ones their users want to see implemented. They've started by focusing on the mobile arena - Product Ideas for Google Mobile - but I expect to see this expanded if successful to other products. They say as much on their offical blog (23rd Dec post).

So: why are Google doing this?

• They get free ideas that could turn into money spinners, from the very people they want to keep happy - their users
• The voting system provides an indication (not foolproof I'll admit) of want their users actually want
• ideas can be "floated" past this community, to see if they are of interest or a waste of resource
• Google engineers and product managers can stay in touch with the "grass roots" of motivated, engaged users who are advocates for their products

This meets the core principles of Web 2.0 / community marketing / engagement marketing (or whatever you want to call it today) - listen to your customers, find out what they want, and then give it to them; and let them feel like they are part of the process, so they will love your brand.

Silicon Valley Insider have some good coverage of the lay offs and different Tweets, and there’s a blog post by soon-to-depart CEO Jerry Lang, as well as a leaked copy of Yahoo’s instructions to managers (here too - a script) – some of whom laid off their teams, and were then laid off themselves.

I’ve not seen coverage of cuts in Europe, yet.

This follows the sale of Kelkoo and, of course, Yahoo’s decision to not sell to Microsoft – a decision some of the comments attack. Many say they feel managers are avoiding the cuts, keeping their “pet” employees, and some of the best engineering talent is being axed. Delicious' product team were apparently amongst those to go.

Stationing recruiters outside companies who are making talented people jobless isn’t a new idea, but several start-ups have done this to Yahoo (including offering free tacos - ToxBox) - and others are using Twitter in the same way to recruit.

So, if you're making redundancies, don't expect to keep staff sentiment behind closed doors in the 21st century. if you are a recruitment agency - Twitter!

Lay-offs are never easy to see - good luck to all the Y! folks looking for work, and let's hope some kick-arse start-ups are spawned as a result.

Latest Yahoo Twitter content.