What is Contextual Targeting?

September 15, 2021

The deprecation of third-party cookies is well underway to protect consumer privacy. The deprecation has paved the way for context-based targeted ads. Instead of tracking personal information, contextual targeting now targets websites content, keywords, and other context-based metadata that exists within the advertising environment.

Contextual targeting will become the go-to method for targeting in advertising while we transition to the next identifier paradigm and beyond. With the implementation of contextual targeting, users feel more satisfied and engaged with the ads they are seeing. GumGum states,” 61% of all U.S advertisers use contextual targeting” and “24% wish to increase their ad spend” on it to increase user satisfaction.

How Does Contextual Targeting Work?

Proper Contextual targeting can be tricky, but a demand-side platform (DSP) is the most straightforward way to break it down. The DSP will determine the most contextually relevant website for your ads and handle the delivery process.

Targeting Parameters all advertising campaigns begin with your selection of targeting parameters. Such as topics and keywords that help achieve your campaign goal and target audience.

Contextual Providers – After deciding your parameters, Context technology will analyze all relevant pages in your targeting parameters. The DSP will proceed to serve ads on sites that are specified for targeted requirements.

Example: The New York Times published an article titled, “A New Food Hall for Midtown.” This article is under the food category. The article can fall under two other categories, beer, and wine because it claims to serve.

Your Ad will appear on Relevant Sites – If a website passes all of your targeting criteria, it will be eligible to appear on the website.Example: In the front burner category on the food page, an ad for a refrigerator appears. The ad appears because of the contents on the website; a fridge and food make sense together.

Example: In the front burner category on the food page, an ad for a refrigerator appears. The ad appears because of the contents on the website; a fridge and food make sense together.

Today, Contextual targeting has become more advanced and widespread by expanding to social media and video sharing platforms. There are many reasons why you should consider adding contextual targeting to your marketing mix; aside from being more budget-friendly, it also helps with privacy regulations, brand safety, and storytelling.

Privacy Regulations

It’s well known that online advertisers require a large-scale of user information. Gathering user information frequently occurs by collecting cookies, which often get terminated by privacy regulations like GDPR, whereby websites must ask the user for permission to manage their data.

Advertisers don’t have to worry about these regulations when using contextual targeting because contextual advertising isn’t dependent on cookies. Instead, it takes specific keywords and content on a website, allowing ads to stay relevant while maintaining user privacy.

Brand Safety

It’s no secret that controversial content and personalities are on the internet. With content going viral, your ad placement can quickly ruin a reputation and credibility of a company when placed on the wrong content. Luckily, contextual targeting taking the risk out of ad placements. Ads are no longer being served based on user behavior and history. Instead, parameters rely heavily on a website’s topic, relieving the stress placed on controversial content.

Storytelling Tool

With the rise in video content apps, consumers’ initial attention span for ad content has decreased to 8 seconds. Meaning if you can’t grab a consumer’s attention in 8 seconds, they will most likely not interact with your ad. Contextual targeting is now putting ads in front of the right people and placing it on the right content. With this combination, your company is destined for success.

Is Contextual Targeting the Best Tool?

Though there is no “best” tool for advertising, contextual targeting will be the go-to-method in the advertising industry bridging the gap in a post-cookie world. As with every tool, there are pros and cons, but with programmatic technology, it is a tool that every advertiser should keep in their toolkit. Contextual targeting has excellent benefits, such as privacy regulations, brand safety, and can be a helpful storytelling tool by finding the consumer in context.

If you are interested in getting started in contextual targeting to further your marketing needs, schedule a demo at Logiq.