What is contextual advertising?
To me, contextual advertising is when ads are delivered based on the content of a Web page being viewed, usually in an automated or semiautomated manner. The ad system “sees” you’re viewing a page about travel. It knows this by examining words on the page or other factors. The system then delivers a travel-related ad. That’s the “contextual” part. The travel ad fits the “context,” or subject, of the page. Let’s examine how Google works with HowStuffWorks, one of several places its contextual ads currently appear. One page on the site discusses how DVD players work. On the left-hand side, in a “Sponsored By” box, are six ads from Google’s AdWords program, all related to renting or buying DVDs. The ads are fairly well targeted to the page’s context. As we’ll see, they’re delivered dynamically to that page. In contrast, a banner at the bottom of the page I saw for a Nokia cell phone was only generally related to the page. It was no doubt delivered through a fairly static traditional ad ca
