what is contextual targeting

Contextual targeting is an advertising technique where ads are placed based on the content of a particular web page. In contextual targeting, advertising media are controlled on the basis of the content of a website using linguistic elements. The advertisements themselves are selected and served by automated systems based on the context of what a user is looking at. A contextual advertising system scans the text of a website for keywords and returns advertisements to the webpage based on those keywords. The advertisements may be displayed on the webpage as pop-up ads. Contextual targeting allows ads to show up on web pages that have content that’s closely related to the products or services being advertised. There are several types of contextual targeting methods that businesses can use to run ads, including category contextual targeting, keyword contextual targeting, and semantic targeting. Contextual targeting is different from behavioral targeting, which targets ads based on actions people have taken before. Contextual targeting is becoming popular again because it doesnt rely on third-party cookies but on similar audiences, interests, and content.