In 2015, we posted a blog about Contextual Advertising –
“Contextual advertising is an effective form of marketing that targets a specific user based on keywords on the webpage they are viewing. This tends to occur on display banners or pop-up adverts. This form of advertising does not require a key word search to retrieve the ad, as it is based on the content of the webpage. It works by scanning the text of a website for keywords and returns related ads.
Publishers and advertisers only profit from this systems when the ad is clicked – a method known as PPC (pay per click) or CPC (cost per click).
Also, this advertising technique is used by search engines to display advertisements on search result pages related to the search. A big contender in contextual advertising of both types is Google, with Google AdSense.
There has, however, been controversy related to this technique due to potential privacy issues. This is because of the use of ‘third-party hyperlinking’ – where a third party installs software onto a user’s computer.
There are three components used by agencies in advertising online – 1) Creation of ad (focus on appearance) 2) Media Planning (decides when to run ads) 3) Media buying (how ads are paid for). Contextual ads replace the media planning element as the decision of when to place ads is when the relevant page is viewed by relevant users.
Contextual advertising can be an incredibly effective and useful way of advertising a product or service by linking it to the webpages of related products, and is a worthwhile venture for most advertisers and media companies.”
At the time, contextual advertising was in its infancy. Since we posted this blog, the world of advertising has evolved. Now, contextual advertising is much bigger and is more widely used across the web. Google’s display network allows advertisers to utilise contextual advertising with ease, and there are plenty of other ad networks that provide contextual targeting.
Contextual advertising is important as it creates ads with relevancy. So many ads are out of place, poorly targeted and seem annoyingly incongruent. Contextual ensures ads fit with the content and theme of the webpage they appear on. That way, consumers are far more likely to view an ad that is appealing to them.
Nowadays, contextual ads appear in all environments – banner ads, pop-ups, interstitials, on digital billboards, native ads and so on. These ads are run and chosen by algorithms, meaning that the most suitable ad for that webpage is always chosen.
New Media Co run contextual advertising. If you have a query about this form of advertising, please contact us.
