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Behavioral targeting

Behavioral targeting is a method that publishers and advertisers employ to improve their marketing campaigns. Behavioral targeting relies on gathering data on visitors’ actions and using that data to increase the relevance of ads and marketing content across digital channels. Using Cookies to analyze user browsing behavior allows displaying more relevant ads to visitors.

Some examples of user browsing behavior are:

  • Social networks
  • clicking paths of an anonymous user profile
  • interactions with banners
  • scrolling the list of topics the user has shown interest in.

Behavioral marketing can be used on its own or with other forms of targeting. For example, popular social networks like Facebook and Instagram offer behavioral targeting and hypertargeting through their ad platforms. These ad practices raise privacy concerns in Europe.

To read more about this method, visit the Piwik PRO blog: Funnels based on behavioral segmentation: a little-known way to map the entire customer journey

  • first party data

    First-party analytics without consent: Your Digital Omnibus compliance guide

    The Digital Omnibus is the European Commission’s simplification initiative to modernize the EU’s digital rulebook and reduce consent fatigue. The framework would enable first-party analytics without consent when specific criteria are met, ending years of uncertainty about the use of legitimate interest for web statistics.

  • University website personalization: First-party data strategies for student recruitment and retention

    University websites receive millions of visits annually from diverse audiences – prospective students, admitted students weighing their options, current undergraduates, graduate students, parents, alumni, and faculty. Yet most institutions serve identical content to all these visitors, missing critical opportunities to engage each audience with relevant information.

Other definitions

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