Yahoo Impulse

This via ComputerWorld.com:

"That banner ad you see today on a Yahoo Inc. Web page may have been triggered by a search you did on the company's search engine two days ago.

That is because Yahoo tracks users' queries on its search engine and, based on that information, tailors the graphical ads it beams at them later throughout its network of sites, a Yahoo official said Thursday."

This program is officially called Yahoo Impulse, and while Yahoo has had the ability to track queries and match ads for about four years now, previously it was only for about one hour afterwards that they were able to do this. Now, Yahoo can "track" your "preferences" for about 48 hours.

For instance, if I'm searching for tape, I'll get banner ads with tape. Hmm. Are there ads for tape? Scotch tape, I guess. Duct tape and masking tape might get a bum rap there. Okay. I'm done.

Related:

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• Yahoo My Web 2.0 Beta Social Search Engine: Yahoo My Web 2.0 is a social search engine, which means that people and search technology are working together to create both better searches and a better search experience.
• Yahoo and Technorati: Yahoo is inevitably going to release an RSS search engine.