Contextual advertising: a path in a cookieless world
Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 6:38 am
Concerns about user security and privacy have had a significant impact on digital marketing, as the use of cookies will be discontinued from the second half of 2024.
However, Google Chrome has already started to disable it from the first week of January and, according to it, will adopt alternatives “more focused on privacy”.
Given this scenario, models such as contextual advertising emerge as possible paths in a cookieless world, as it allows creating a connection with the user without invading their particularities.
Want to better understand the changes made by Google and how to use contextual advertising to your advantage? Continue reading and learn more about this new reality.
What are cookieless?
Cookies are small text files stored on users' devices when they interact with websites or online applications.
These cookies play a crucial role in collecting information about user behavior, allowing marketers to track activity, personalize experiences, and target ads more effectively.
Read more at: Cookieless Era: Adopting Data Strategies and Understanding the Impact of Media
Each time you access a portal, blog or website, you will be presented with a notice asking you to enable cookies. This is a message to inform you that the given electronic address will store these small files, which will be used for various purposes, such as:
Remember your preferences;
Improve user experience;
Track user behavior.
Why cookies will be discontinued
While cookies generate benefits for a specific search or purchasing journey, this mechanism also allows third parties to track your online habits, which in addition to offering intrusive advertisements, causes the loss of privacy and security of user data.
With new regulations, such as the LGPD (General Data Protection Law), Google, the world's largest search platform, announced the discontinuation of third-party cookies in its browsers, making room for more user-friendly alternatives, including contextual advertising.
Google Chrome to begin disabling third-party cookies from January 2024
The announcement that Google is discontinuing the cookieless era is not new. Quite the opposite.
In 2020, the giant began working to stop this type of tracking, as competitors Safari, Mozilla, Firefox and others already adopted privacy measures for users.
For Google, the measure is being taken in order to apply an “Anti-Tracking Protection” that is part of the Privacy Sandbox initiative, "whose goal is to gradually turn off third-party cookies for everyone starting in the second half of 2024".
How to act without third-party Cookies
Without this functionality, other means need to be measured, and in the case of Google, the company plans to pass on the information anonymously.
Some advertisers, for example, may use Topics, a tool that filters users by interests inferred from websites visited.
Interest-based advertising can also be an alternative, when user behavior data on the website itself singapore phone number example is used to target ads. This includes browsing data, previous clicks, preferences and purchase history.
Demographic targeting, native advertising, partnerships and collaborations, and other means may also be alternatives to the end of the cookieless era.
According to Gabriel Nunes, Ads Lead at MATH , brands will have to work much more with correlation between what is being done in the media and how this is impacting the business, based on everything from consumer behavior to an experimentation strategy.
What is contextual advertising?
Contextual advertising is an approach that focuses on the content in which ads are displayed, rather than relying on user-specific tracking data.
Rather than targeting ads based on individual browsing behavior, contextual advertising considers the context of the content of the page on which the ad appears. This includes factors such as keywords, topics, overall context, and search intent.
The importance of contextual advertising in a cookieless world
In a cookieless era, contextual advertising is gaining traction as a more user-friendly way to do so. Below, we’ve listed some of the reasons why this practice is effective.
Greater respect for user privacy: Contextual advertising eliminates the need to track individuals, prioritizing content relevance over personal data.
More authentic connections with consumers: By displaying relevant ads in relevant contexts, brands can establish more personalized communication with their audiences, based on shared interests and purchase intent.
Greater accuracy in audience targeting: By considering the context in which ads are displayed, companies can target leads with specific needs, increasing the accuracy and relevance of ads.
Protection against regulatory changes: By reducing reliance on third-party cookies, contextual advertising strategies help businesses more easily adapt to regulatory changes and emerging privacy restrictions.
Contextual advertising solutions in the cookieless era
In the post-cookie era, contextual advertising will prove to be a promising option for marketers to reach users in a targeted way, without relying on their personal data.
Check out the practices and uses of contextual advertising in this new scenario below.
Aligned contents
Contextual advertising is highly effective when aligned with the content of a web page. This means that the ads displayed are relevant to what the user is reading, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion.
Topic targeting
Instead of filtering users based on their browsing data, contextual advertising can focus on specific topics.
For example, when visiting a wellness and sports website, the user will receive, at that moment, through contextual advertising, advertisements relating to sporting goods or spaces recommended for practicing physical activity.
Reinforcement of the use of keywords
Contextual advertising can also be driven by impactful keywords present in the page content. This allows advertisers to target users based on specific terms that reflect their current interests, without interrupting the search journey abruptly.
Advanced context analysis
With the advancement of artificial intelligence and big data analysis, contextual advertising systems are able to understand the context of a page much more accurately.
This helps advertisers more effectively target their audiences based not only on specific page content, but also on broader user behavior engagement and search trends.
As we can see, contextual advertising presents itself as a favorable path to creating relationships with the user.
By focusing on the context and relevance of content, brands can build personalized connections with their consumers while maintaining the effectiveness and results of their digital advertising campaigns.
For Guilherme Assumpção, head of Industry & Platform Sales at Yahoo!, each brand and each audience has its own individuality. In the company in question, for example, creativity and curiosity are used to make the brand's needs real for the market.
However, these are all tests to evaluate and validate the data, use them as insights and make future decisions. For the executive, there will be questions that need to be tested and learned from, without a “magic button” or “silver bullet”.
However, do as Yahoo! does and be sure to carry out tests, as in the case of Contextual Advertising, to understand which format works best for your business reality.
However, Google Chrome has already started to disable it from the first week of January and, according to it, will adopt alternatives “more focused on privacy”.
Given this scenario, models such as contextual advertising emerge as possible paths in a cookieless world, as it allows creating a connection with the user without invading their particularities.
Want to better understand the changes made by Google and how to use contextual advertising to your advantage? Continue reading and learn more about this new reality.
What are cookieless?
Cookies are small text files stored on users' devices when they interact with websites or online applications.
These cookies play a crucial role in collecting information about user behavior, allowing marketers to track activity, personalize experiences, and target ads more effectively.
Read more at: Cookieless Era: Adopting Data Strategies and Understanding the Impact of Media
Each time you access a portal, blog or website, you will be presented with a notice asking you to enable cookies. This is a message to inform you that the given electronic address will store these small files, which will be used for various purposes, such as:
Remember your preferences;
Improve user experience;
Track user behavior.
Why cookies will be discontinued
While cookies generate benefits for a specific search or purchasing journey, this mechanism also allows third parties to track your online habits, which in addition to offering intrusive advertisements, causes the loss of privacy and security of user data.
With new regulations, such as the LGPD (General Data Protection Law), Google, the world's largest search platform, announced the discontinuation of third-party cookies in its browsers, making room for more user-friendly alternatives, including contextual advertising.
Google Chrome to begin disabling third-party cookies from January 2024
The announcement that Google is discontinuing the cookieless era is not new. Quite the opposite.
In 2020, the giant began working to stop this type of tracking, as competitors Safari, Mozilla, Firefox and others already adopted privacy measures for users.
For Google, the measure is being taken in order to apply an “Anti-Tracking Protection” that is part of the Privacy Sandbox initiative, "whose goal is to gradually turn off third-party cookies for everyone starting in the second half of 2024".
How to act without third-party Cookies
Without this functionality, other means need to be measured, and in the case of Google, the company plans to pass on the information anonymously.
Some advertisers, for example, may use Topics, a tool that filters users by interests inferred from websites visited.
Interest-based advertising can also be an alternative, when user behavior data on the website itself singapore phone number example is used to target ads. This includes browsing data, previous clicks, preferences and purchase history.
Demographic targeting, native advertising, partnerships and collaborations, and other means may also be alternatives to the end of the cookieless era.
According to Gabriel Nunes, Ads Lead at MATH , brands will have to work much more with correlation between what is being done in the media and how this is impacting the business, based on everything from consumer behavior to an experimentation strategy.
What is contextual advertising?
Contextual advertising is an approach that focuses on the content in which ads are displayed, rather than relying on user-specific tracking data.
Rather than targeting ads based on individual browsing behavior, contextual advertising considers the context of the content of the page on which the ad appears. This includes factors such as keywords, topics, overall context, and search intent.
The importance of contextual advertising in a cookieless world
In a cookieless era, contextual advertising is gaining traction as a more user-friendly way to do so. Below, we’ve listed some of the reasons why this practice is effective.
Greater respect for user privacy: Contextual advertising eliminates the need to track individuals, prioritizing content relevance over personal data.
More authentic connections with consumers: By displaying relevant ads in relevant contexts, brands can establish more personalized communication with their audiences, based on shared interests and purchase intent.
Greater accuracy in audience targeting: By considering the context in which ads are displayed, companies can target leads with specific needs, increasing the accuracy and relevance of ads.
Protection against regulatory changes: By reducing reliance on third-party cookies, contextual advertising strategies help businesses more easily adapt to regulatory changes and emerging privacy restrictions.
Contextual advertising solutions in the cookieless era
In the post-cookie era, contextual advertising will prove to be a promising option for marketers to reach users in a targeted way, without relying on their personal data.
Check out the practices and uses of contextual advertising in this new scenario below.
Aligned contents
Contextual advertising is highly effective when aligned with the content of a web page. This means that the ads displayed are relevant to what the user is reading, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion.
Topic targeting
Instead of filtering users based on their browsing data, contextual advertising can focus on specific topics.
For example, when visiting a wellness and sports website, the user will receive, at that moment, through contextual advertising, advertisements relating to sporting goods or spaces recommended for practicing physical activity.
Reinforcement of the use of keywords
Contextual advertising can also be driven by impactful keywords present in the page content. This allows advertisers to target users based on specific terms that reflect their current interests, without interrupting the search journey abruptly.
Advanced context analysis
With the advancement of artificial intelligence and big data analysis, contextual advertising systems are able to understand the context of a page much more accurately.
This helps advertisers more effectively target their audiences based not only on specific page content, but also on broader user behavior engagement and search trends.
As we can see, contextual advertising presents itself as a favorable path to creating relationships with the user.
By focusing on the context and relevance of content, brands can build personalized connections with their consumers while maintaining the effectiveness and results of their digital advertising campaigns.
For Guilherme Assumpção, head of Industry & Platform Sales at Yahoo!, each brand and each audience has its own individuality. In the company in question, for example, creativity and curiosity are used to make the brand's needs real for the market.
However, these are all tests to evaluate and validate the data, use them as insights and make future decisions. For the executive, there will be questions that need to be tested and learned from, without a “magic button” or “silver bullet”.
However, do as Yahoo! does and be sure to carry out tests, as in the case of Contextual Advertising, to understand which format works best for your business reality.