I just read and interesting blog post by Zachary Rodgers at ClickZ. It’s all about Google’s introduction of Ad Preferences several months ago where a consumer could fine-tune the ads they see based on their interests, or completely opt out of behavioral targeting.
To make a short story even shorter, consumers don’t go to the site in large numbers and when they do, far more leave things as they are or fine-tune to their interests than opt out. Like 10 times greater!
This isn’t surprising for all of us who are trying to reach consumers online and lead them into a sale. Google Local Search is already the perfect place for marketers to find consumers who say they are looking for a product in a specific market where we know we have a good dealer. That’s why they come to Google in the first place and why we buy adwords to help them along.
Nevertheless it’s reassuring to see that consumers are acting as we thought they would and are willing to let us help them find what they want.