Contextual advertising is one of the best ways for a business to make itself known. On the one hand, it expands the geography of sales and allows you to show ads in regions that are of interest to the business. On the other hand – it brings quick results and shows the offer to a hot audience. What is contextual advertising, how much it costs and how to prepare for its launch, consider in this article.
If it’s official: contextual advertising with a text, graphics and video ads that are shown to users if they enter a search query or are interested in a particular topic on the Internet. Contextual advertising is shown on search engines, mobile applications, websites and other resources.
But in fact, contextual advertising is more often understood as the basic features and tools of the two services of advertising on the Internet – Google Ads.
Contextual advertising can be conventionally divided into search advertising and network advertising. But it has long ceased to be limited to any explicit framework, and new opportunities for advertisers appear all the time.
The main types of advertising campaigns in Google Ads:
Search Ads. Ads in Google search results.
Campaigns on the Google Ads Contextual Media Network. Advertising on websites, applications and other resources of advertising systems partners.
Google Shopping Campaigns. The format is suitable for e-commerce: with it, you can show product cards with images and prices.
Advertising for mobile applications on Google Ads.
Video ads. Interactive advertising in video format. If you run ads in Google Ads, you can choose YouTube as a platform.
Features of search advertising:
Ads are shown to those who search for your products or services.
PPC-model is active – you pay when user clicks on your announcement.
You yourself determine the maximum allowable price which you are willing to pay per click.
What a search ad consists of
The main elements – the title, text ads and links to the site.
By running ads in networks, we are targeting, or targeting, users who are not looking for a product / service right now, but somehow have shown interest in what we advertise. Each advertising system has its own network of partner sites:
Google has a Google Display Network (Contextual Media Network, CMN).
Types of targeting in Google KMS:
Targeting for sites. You specify the sites on which you want to show your ads. You can advertise on broad targeting (to specify a common theme of sites you are interested in) or select sites more specifically (for example, specify specific sites or channels on YouTube).
Audience targeting. You select the audience you want to show ads to (for example, by socio-demographics, interests and other parameters). This also includes remarketing.
The advantages of contextual advertising
Flexibility in ad campaign settings and a variety of opportunities to find your target audience.
Free web analytics systems, such as Google Analytics, allow for analysis of campaigns, so you can clearly see if your advertising investment is paying off and what kind of profit it brings.
Quick return on investment. The effect of contextual advertising starts immediately after its placement. But only if you do not let advertising on its own, and will regularly monitor the results and optimize the campaign based on statistics.
How to set up contextual advertising
The general algorithm is as follows:
- Install Google Analytics counters on the site. Set up the necessary goals. Link the accounts in the analytics services with the accounts in the advertising systems.
- Specify key phrases and minus words.
Set up the campaign (geo-targeting, targeting, etc.).
- Create ads.
- Choose a bid management strategy and specify the maximum price you’re willing to pay per click.
- Submit the campaign for moderation.
