The World Wide Web has become a tour-de-force for advertising over the last few years. Googles main source of income is through advertising netting over $6.5 million a year. It is through an initiative called Ad Words that companies can bid against each other to be higher up on the search page. Google also records your key search words and displays relevant adverts on the page to your search. This means advertising has become more tailored to the individual consumer. If you type in Sardinia you will notice holiday booking and flight company ads appear more often. Google also uses cookies to scan your activity on the internet and distribute this information to advertising agencies so they can gain a greater understanding of trends and the way to more successfully target consumers. This is called behavioural targeting. Behavioural engines are also a popular tool on sites such as amazon.co.uk and lovefilm. By using your resent search history on their website they can recommend similar titles for you to look at.
