What is Behavioral Targeting?

The emergence of behavioral targeting is allowing companies to track the online behavior of target customers to find the best match between ad and prospect.
For example, if a person clicks on three websites related to 'Online Marketing', then visits an unrelated site for Novels or Fiction Books, Online Marketing ads may show up on that site, in addition to the 'Online Marketing' sites.
This practice ensures that ads are readily apparent for a potential customer likely to be in the market. Although critics worry about companies knowing too much about customers, Microsoft claims behavioral targeting can increase the likelihood a visitor clicks in an ad by as much as 76%.