Google's Online Ad Re-Targeting based on Post-Search Behavior of Users

What is similar between the below 4 screenshots of my web sessions :

• In the 1^st browser window, I am searching in YouTube for Euro Cup top 10 goals.
• In the 2^nd  window, I am watching a video on Euro Cup top 10 goals in YouTube.

Then I shut down my PC, and after an hour again start my PC, then open my web browser and start browsing some newspapers online.

• In the 3^rd window, I am reading an article in Eenadu, very popular Telugu language newspaper online.
• In the 4^th window, just out of curiosity I open a popular Tamil language daily magazine online, Dinamalar.com

If we notice all these web browsing sessions carefully, something is very strange. Every website, I had opened that evening, were displaying a particular Ad on “San Francisco Car Rentals”. This was strange.

I was also in Bangalore, India on that day.

What’s wrong here -

I am in Bangalore, then why should I get an online Display Ad on “San Francisco Car Rentals” on almost every website or YouTube video that I browsed to or watched on that day.  Definitely car rentals in San Francisco are not relevant for a Bangalore, India based browser who is hundreds of thousands of miles faraway.

Now I open DeccanHerald.com, very popular English language newspaper among old timers of Bangalore, and we can see a similar Display Ad “Car Hire SFO Airport” even on this website.

Definitely Ads on “San Francisco Car Rentals” or “SFO Airport Car Hire” are not relevant when I am watching a

1. YouTube video on Euro Cup soccer top 10 goals. At least if Display Ads for Bus timings in Paris or Amsterdam was displayed while watching this video on European soccer we can understand, but what is a far away San Francisco, USA Car Rentals company’s online Ad doing on a YouTube video about Euro Cup soccer top 10 goals.
2. India speaks many different languages, fine – but every language newspaper online whether Telugu, Tamil or English was displaying this Ad by this San Francisco, USA Car Rentals company. Again this online Ad is not relevant on these newspaper websites.

So what’s wrong here – If YouTube alone is not doing a good job of mapping Ad relevancy of its videos, we can understand; but how can many other websites in different languages belonging to totally different media companies also do the same mistake of showing the same irrelevant Ad? 

Actually nothing is wrong here. Let me give a clue, all these different websites that I had visited, from YouTube to regional language news websites were opened using the same web browser Google Chrome.

Welcome to the home of Ad Re-Targeting on Google’s Online Advertising platform.  

Actually on that same day, early in the morning I had searched for "San Francisco Car Rentals" in Google.com using Google Chrome web browser, since I was planning a business trip 2 weeks later to San Francisco. I had clicked on a Google Search Ad of a Car Rentals company, browsed to its website and viewed different models of cars and after selecting a model, decided to book it. Then after clicking on “Book this car” submission, on this Car Rentals website had decided to abandon this transaction midway without actually booking, as I wanted to check out other car hire deals on other Car Rental websites and also wanted to book closer to my trip date.

Google had tracked this entire activity of mine done early in the morning on that day, from the time I had searched for "San Francisco Car Rentals"  till I had abandoned the booking on that Car Rentals website, and everything in between. I am not sure, but Google might have even tracked the models of cars I had viewed on this Car Rentals website, the dates selected for car hire and even the car pickup location. I am sure about the last one, since later in that day I had seen an Ad on DeccanHerald.com on “Car Hire SFO Airport”. Therefore for Google’s Online Ad algorithms, this was a strong user intent towards a conversion, as I had tried to almost book a rental car before abandoning midway.

Hence these algorithms have decided to Re-Target me with online Display Ads on “San Francisco Car Rentals“ every time I was browsing through other websites or watching YouTube videos using Google Chrome browser. If I used a different web browser the next day or next week, I wouldn't see these Re-Targeted ads. As long as I am using Google’s Chrome web browser – for the next few days perhaps for few weeks I am going to frequently see this SFO Car Rental Ad in almost all my web browsing sessions, as I have become a good qualified lead for SFO car rentals.

I had even searched for "Hotels in San Francisco", on that same morning but did not try to book any hotel (as my hotel booking has to be done through my Employer’s Contractor only) and only wanted to check out the prices. For Google’s Online Ad algorithms, this was not a strong user intent towards a conversion – since I had not tried to book a hotel on the Hotel Booking website after clicking through the Google Search Ad. Therefore in case of San Francisco hotel booking, these algorithms have decided not to Re-Target me with online Ads as I am not a good prospect for SFO hotel booking.

Using the Visitor Identification and Browse behavior (including the Keywords searched in Google.com and the specific intent expressed by users on various websites visited post-search) Google’s powerful Online Ad algorithms are capable to Re-Target Ads to Visitors through the cookies stored in Google Chrome browsers. These algorithms typically execute on Big Data Analytics Architecture as discussed previously.

Signature: Roopkumar T.V.