What is Contextual Targeting in Advertising?
Targeting is a powerful tool that advertisers are taking advantage of. Targeting allows brands to reach a specific market via targeted ads. But when it comes to creating a targeting strategy, there are various methods of targeting that advertisers could use in their approach. One of these targeting methods is Contextual Targeting.
Contextual Targeting can be used to put out relevant content to the right audience. This guide will take you through contextual targeting 101 so that you can decide if it’s the right addition to your marketing strategy.
Definition of Contextual Targeting
Contextual Targeting in advertising refers to the practice of putting advertisements based on the content of a web page rather than on user behaviour or data provided by the user. This method ensures that the advertising is relevant to the content that the visitor is seeing. Here’s a rundown of its main features:
Content Analysis
The content of the webpage will be analyzed on keywords, topics, and overall subject matter. Natural language processing techniques or other sorts of content analysis can be used to accomplish this.
Ad Relevance
Ads are chosen depending on how closely their content fits that of the web page. A culinary recipe website, for example, can include advertisements for kitchenware or food stores.
User Experience
Contextual targeting tries to improve the user experience by displaying ads that are more likely to be relevant and engaging to them depending on the content they are presently watching.
Types of Contextual Targeting
There are different types of Contextual Targeting, such as:
Keyword Contextual Targeting
Advertisers choose keywords that are related to their products or services. Ads are then placed on pages with prominent keywords. This necessitates the use of advanced algorithms to comprehend the context in which keywords are used, ensuring that ads are matched with the appropriate content.
Semantic Targeting
Semantic Targeting uses machine learning to gain an understanding of the website’s content. This allows the AI to more specifically target the advertisements to webpages.
Contextual Targeting is used by marketers to direct their ads to a specific website. Whether the ad is targeted using specific keywords, or context generated by AI, contextual advertising solutions allow marketers to reach the webpage visitors that are likely to be their target market.
How Does Contextual Targeting Work?
Contextual Targeting works by matching ads to the relevant information that the user is reading, resulting in a smooth and relevant ad experience. This method begins with an extensive analysis of the content on a webpage, using complex algorithms and natural language processing (NLP) techniques to comprehend the page’s subject, themes, and context. The algorithm recognizes important words and phrases that are necessary for distinguishing the main themes presented. In an article about outdoor activities, for example, keywords like “hiking,” “camping gear,” or “outdoor adventures” may be highlighted. Advertisers are then linked with content keywords based on pre-selected keywords and themes related to their offerings. The advertising system will automatically display these ads on pages with content that meets these criteria.
Contextual Targeting can use artificial intelligence (AI) technology to analyze real-time content, such as text and images. AI can analyze your advertisement and find out what your audience wants and needs by using the right tools. This then creates a situation where the right ad is delivered to the right viewer at the right time.
Why is Contextual Targeting Important in Advertising?
Contextual Targeting has a ton of excellent benefits, which is why it is often used by advertisers in their marketing efforts. Here are some of the benefits of Contextual Targeting:
Benefits of Contextual Targeting
- Contextual Targeting eliminates the need for third-party data and cookies, as well as behavioral information.
- Customers get a more personalized experience because they’re seeing more relevant content.
- It’s an easy and cost-effective strategy for marketers to implement.
- Better targeting can bring in a better ROI (return on investment) This means more revenue for businesses.
- Brands can showcase their creativity and better stand out amongst the competition.
Contextual Targeting vs. Behavioral Targeting
Understanding the difference between Contextual Targeting and Behavioral Targeting can help advertisers better understand which marketing strategy may be best for their brand and their next marketing campaign.
Behavioral Targeting is when ads are targeted toward the user during online advertising, based on their behavior. What this means it’s that the activity of a user will determine which ads they see. The user’s behavior can identify their interests and purchasing habits to show them ads that they’re more likely to have an interest in and engage with.
Contextual traffic has proven to be a lifeline for advertisers. Contextual ad targeting began on desktop, then moved to mobile, and then became less common as Behavioral Targeting evolved.
With Behavioral Targeting, we can track user behavior. Contextual Targeting can have an advantage over Behavioral Targeting because it doesn’t use third-party cookies. Some users choose not to have their cookies tracked, and this can pose a disadvantage for marketers.
Viewers are determined based on their web browsing behaviors. These web browsing behaviors include links clicked searches performed, pages visited, and products purchased. If mobile data and physical location data are also included in the data pool then this will also count geographical location and in-store purchases as behavior data.
Target Audience
Web users that have similar data will be pooled into a group together. This group will make up a specific target audience. By creating this brands can target their ads toward audiences who fall within their specific target market. This allows advertisers to direct their ads to a relevant audience, and in turn, create more engagement with their ad campaigns.
On the other hand, Contextual Targeting uses the data of the website to predict the website’s audience. Likely, someone visiting a sports website is interested in sports. Advertisements that are relevant to sports will be shown on that page using Contextual Targeting to build deeper personalization. This could be an ad for sports gambling or an ad for athletic apparel.
Why is Context Important in Advertising?
Context is crucial in helping marketers understand the types of content a consumer wants. A business could target them with an advert that attracts customers to relevant information or messages. The use of contextual information can tell the advertisers what customers are interested in right now rather than relying upon past behavior. Advertisers may use the opportunity for ad delivery by delivering high-quality and timely advertisements.
Companies can face a growing number of problems in implementing and managing the usage of cookies to improve their customer experience.
Importance of Contextual Advertising in a Cookieless World
As some parts of the internet move away from cookies, Contextual Advertising may become more relevant than behavioral advertising. Context Advertising is experiencing resurgent popularity due to new data protection measures such as GDPR.
Contextual Advertising offers advertisers a more convenient way to obtain more privacy on the Web. It’s secure, and you can still gather compelling customer details with no cookies.
Displaying Contextual Advertisements
Displaying Contextual ads allows websites to only display relevant ads without compromising their reputation. To match a more specific reach, a web page would need to contain target keywords. Using this approach may be helpful for businesses that are looking for a new product and allowing for personalization.
Targeted Topics
Contextual Targeting does not pose this risk because ads are displayed solely based on keyword or topic targeting, regardless of what users have been watching, reading, or interacting with. To get a broad reach, your ad will be based on topic targeting.
