Contextual Targeting

Raghu Seelamsetty | September 7, 2020

Contextual targeting refers to the practice of serving relevant ads to the target market with the help of appropriate attributes such as keywords, themes, etc. For example, an advertisement for a fitness tracker can be placed on a fitness or sports website. When advertisers target potential customers contextually, they do so on the basis of the “context” in which the viewer is surfing. In order for contextual targeting to operate effectively, the ad system is required to be aware of what your campaign is about so that it can display your ads on related web pages. There is a diversity of topics for which a specific campaign is suitable such as health, arts, and architecture, business, etc. 

The benefits of adopting contextual targeting are many: 

An ad creative can yield a higher revenue if instead of being placed in the right environment, it is displayed in the best environment at the best possible time. Doing so further enhances the significance of that ad, leading to a higher return on investment (ROI).

The customers viewing the ad creatives will be more interested in it if it’s relevant, not only to the interests of the customer but also to the content of the webpage. This can easily be achieved through contextual targeting. 

Contextually targeted advertisements do not invade the privacy of the viewer as they do not make use of cookies for targeting the niche market. The user is not targeted directly in any way and as a result, remains anonymous. 

The downside of using contextual advertising surfaces when a niche product is advertised, and there are not many relevant web pages to advertise it. The product or ad may have lesser reach because of its niche context.

Not only that but ads designed in more commonly spoken languages also have higher chances of reaching a large audience, as compared to languages such as Hawaiian, (spoken by less than 100 people).

---