Contextual Targeting

Targeting based on the content of a webpage.

If a webpage is about another planned remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, a properly functioning contextual targeting engine will assume that most visitors to such a page are horror movie fans. Said engine will attempt to prioritize contextually relevant ads such as those for horror movie streaming services, sleep aids, or hockey masks.

A non-functioning contextual targeting engine will review the terms on that page and show ads for the Dallas Mavericks, Home Depot, and funeral homes. Such gaffes were more common pre-2010 when contextual technologies (including Google’s) regularly misfired, but they remain a source of ad industry amusement.