In the conclusion to a two-part column, Search Editor Kevin Ryan describes the targeting wars raging on the anti-search content battlefield.

Editor's note: You can read part one of this two-part column here.

Behavioral and search … what a concept. Like many of you, I returned from last week’s Ad:Tech San Francisco activities with a pretty solid grasp of what’s hot and, of course, what’s not hot in online advertising. If you can explain adware, spyware, behavioral targeting or search engine marketing then you now have a pretty good idea of what’s happening online.

Behavioral is hot, and search, according to the recently released Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report, managed to nudge up another five percent of spending to reach 40 percent of all online spending, while display fell from 21 percent to 19 percent.

How much of search spending is content targeted and how much of the display is behavioral?

You can’t talk about search without discussing content and going beyond directive keyword buying for continued growth. And you can’t talk about smart targeting without entering behavioral into the mix. In last week’s column, we began with some definitions of what’s happening in contextual and behavioral and asked the ultimate question: which is better?

This week, we’ll dig a bit deeper into cookies, privacy and content.

Privacy and personality

One of the foundations of behavioral targeting requires the use of cookies. Of course, the behavioral folks will be quick to point out that registration data is often used in tandem with cookies, and the two are not mutually exclusive (for example, Yahoo! and Amazon use both), but you can’t argue against the importance of cookies in behavioral targeting.

Although the United States has yet to offer hard legislation on cookies, several organizations have rallied around the tracking device, such as the newly formed safecount.org. Way back in 2001, the Interactive Advertising Bureau UK launched a lobbying effort called “Save Our Cookies” in response to the European Union’s negative view of cookies. The EU Parliament originally sought to kill cookies and later watered down that initiative to allow sites to use cookies as long as the sites provided “clear and concise” information as to how it uses cookies.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on cookies and the panicked spyware/adware stricken masses' removal habits. For our purposes, I’ll break it down into an easy-to-digest SAT (the long quiz, formerly known as Scholastic Aptitude Test) question format:

Spam is to email advertising as spyware is to ___________ targeting.

While some tend to believe cookies are on their way out, others think clarification is in order. “Cookies will not disappear; public policy will be shaped by the demands of the consumer. All of the negativity is based on the demands to remove spyware,” says Omar Tawakol, senior vice president of marketing at Revenue Science. “Policy makers need to understand the difference between good and bad cookies.”

While I would tend to agree with Omar, there seems to be quite a few misunderstandings relating to cookies.

No cookie for you

Of the studies relating to cookie deletion and their ultimate effect on online advertising and targeting behaviorally, I found the April 2005 Insight Express research, “Consumers Misunderstanding of Cookies” most intriguing. Nearly 800 participants in an online survey format were asked about their attitudes and behaviors regarding those indigestible digital treats.

Some key facts from the report: Only a third of those surveyed considered cookies important when searching the web. While three quarters of users purported to know what cookies are, only a quarter of those could actually define what a cookie does. Of the many reasons those surveyed said they deleted cookies? You guessed it: While 77 percent said they wanted to clean up their computers, over 57 percent said they wanted to get rid of spyware and adware.

One firm, NextStage Analytics, abandons the cookie altogether. According to the firm’s stated claims, NextStage provides online behavioral analysis solutions that anonymously identify website visitors to offer better understandings of intention and desires. “Cookies are fine, but we realize there are big privacy concerns,” says Rob Graham, director of marketing and communications. “We are not trying to track visitors over time; we only need to know who they are at that moment.”

The real fun begins in the observational follow up to the survey. Many of those surveyed (about 56 percent) said they removed cookies at least monthly, and of the nearly 50 percent who said they were willing to remove cookies, only 35 percent were able to delete them successfully.

We thought we could rely on stated behavior from consumers. I’m thinking, not so much.

The rise of interactive rage

The Insight Express research is a window into the disparity between what is stated and what is really accomplished. The horrible truth is that most people haven’t the faintest idea as to what is going on in their computers. They buy protection software on the basis of personal recommendations, or they arbitrarily go with internet service provider software -- like what AOL offers -- in order to prevent everything from pop-ups to spam, spyware and adware.

Of course, one or two of these applications are currently messing with the online ad industry in ways previously thought unimaginable. For example, once installed Symantec's Norton Personal Firewall/Internet Security 2004 blocks almost all internet advertising by default.

That’s right folks: Forget about anyone seeing anything from text ads to pop-ups and display ads unless said consumers turn off ad blocking. Will they know how to turn it off? Will they want to?

If some applications block all ads, other applications block a portion of the ads, and if even those who wish to delete cookies can’t delete them or don’t know how, then the question becomes how can we map content without causing consumers to cry out for ignorant legislative protection or paranoid blocking software?

Revenue Science’s CEO, Bill Gossman, offers another perspective. “I believe that a large percent of the web is a content void or desert,” he says. “There are many technologies that are available today, and there is an awful lot of content out there that connects with the individual. Software and media are converging, while much of the web’s content is a void. There is this soft underbelly that has yet to be realized.”

Convergence is the answer

What was the question? Mapping content and reaching out without hurting the consumer, yes of course.

It’s a topsy turvy interactive marketing world we are living in these days. Fastclick has introduced text ads and Google is accepting graphic ads. Most of the firms and advertisers I spoke with when writing this week's SearchTHIS adventure found a need for both behavioral and content targeted advertising and offered good reasons for both.

“I go to WebMD searching for flu medication, in this instance, my behavioral profile is almost irrelevant,” reports Yaron Galai, Quigo Technologies’ senior vice president of product development. “On the other hand, if that same flu user goes to the CNN homepage the behavioral profile will make more sense.”

The bottom line with these two types of targeting is that both are appropriate, in their given context (no pun intended). The real challenge will be when to reach out for an interaction and how to do so.

Watch for convergence announcements from behavioral- and content-focused platforms in the very near future that hope to rub the “soft underbelly” in ways that will make advertisers and consumers squeal with glee.

Additional resources:

Visit Safecount

All that Google’s is Not Gold

SearchTHIS: Content Works?

SearchTHIS: Why Search is Slowing

iMedia Search Editor Kevin Ryan’s current and former client roster reads like a “who’s who” in big brands; Rolex Watch, USA, State Farm Insurance, Farmers Insurance, Minolta Corporation, Samsung Electronics America, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Panasonic Services, and the Hilton Hotels brands, to name a few. Ryan believes in sound guidance, creative thought, accountable actions and collaborative execution as applied to search, or any form of marketing. His principled approach and staunch commitment to the industry have made him one of the most sought after personalities in online marketing. Ryan volunteers his time with the Interactive Advertising Bureau, Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, and several regional non-profit organizations.

Ryan is the principal of Kinetic Marketing Results Inc., a New York-based online presence management consulting firm.