Tailoring online advice to a smoker's particular patterns and beliefs about smoking was no more effective than standardized feedback in a new study comparing how many smokers successfully quit with each approach.

Research has shown that one-on-one counseling can help smokers break the habit and remain abstinent. But counseling isn't affordable or convenient for everyone. Generalized quitting advice, especially delivered online, is cheaper and easier for many.

So researchers are trying to find a good middle ground: individualized advice that can be easily disseminated.

For the new study, reported in the journal Addiction, UK researchers tested their own version of tailored, online quit advice.

They randomly assigned 1,758 smokers to get either one-size-fits-all advice from a non-profit UK website called QUIT, or an individualized version based on a participant's answers to a questionnaire about age, habits, lifestyle, motivations and other details.