Behavioural Targeting Vs Contextual Targeting

The web is a witness to various advertising techniques used by marketers and advertisers. Advertising techniques are used for the purpose of catching the attention of online users. Today, there are two controversial techniques that are attracting more advertisers: contextual targeting and behavioural targeting. Is it true that behavioural targeting has already grabbed the crown for advertising?

Previous internet reports conclude that more online users prefer contextual targeting more than the other forms of targeting. However, recent studies reveal that behavioural targeting may already be on the verge of outperforming contextual targeting.

Contextual targeting refers to adding advertisements related to the website content presented to online users. Behavioural targeting, on the other hand, refers to adding advertisements based on the behaviour of the target market. The latter aims to study an online user’s behaviour. The result of the study becomes the basis in deciding what ad to present to the online user.

Behavioural Targeting Versus Contextual Advertising

Online users who visit a particular content can become interested with the ads of the same context. This is how contextual advertising grabs the attention of its target market. When an online user visits a page, he is interested with the content of the page, thus, he can be equally interested with ads related to the page content.

But behavioural targeting believers stress that even if the ads are not related to the context of the page content, if it interests the online users, it will still receive views and clicks. A behavioural targeted ad appeals to the personal interest of the online users. This is the reason why most advertisers conclude that behavioural targeting is becoming the new effective advertising trend.

Research studies show that more and more online users are attracted to behavioural targeted ads. In various industries, online users are more prone to click on behavioural targeted ads compared to contextual ads.

Some controversies arise with the result of the studies. Other advertisers believe that it is a matter of strategic coincidence. A behavioural targeted ad appearing among several contextual ads will most likely get the attention of the online users. The online users will become curious as the ad appears different from the rest.

The conclusion is that no matter what kind of targeting advertisers use, as long as the ads are highly optimised for the right market, it will attract online users. The results of the research studies pointing to behavioural targeting as better than contextual advertising don’t mean that it is the only solution to higher clicks for ads.