Google are to update the advertisement system behind their popular email service, Gmail, by adding less irrelevant ads combined with a new ranking system and "offers and coupons for your local area".
Gmail was launched in 2004 as an invitation only service and finally went public in 2007, although still under the beta tag. Since the launch it has accumulated nearly 200 million monthly users, an impressive volume for any company. By comparison, Hotmail has 364 million monthly users, although it was founded eight years before Google brought their offering to the table.
The aim of the update is to provide more relevant Ads to the platforms users. I am sure many of us have been offered services we have no need for, I know I have. The article states, "Bad ads tend to annoy people. We"re trying to cut down on these ads, and make the ones you do see much more useful." Google say that are going to approach Ads in a similar way they currently filter Bacn (emails which you might want to read but not at the moment) emails, by "using some of the same signals that help predict which messages are likely to be important to you, Gmail will better predict which ads may be useful to you."
An example would be if you have been receiving a few emails about computers, with the new system you might get an advertisement containing a promotional code for a local store, a feature which may be useful to many.