Content Placement Ads

We don't encourage our clients to use standard content placement ads, because of the lack of control that they have over where their ad will appear, the article maybe a negative or positive, the search engine algorithms don't currently understand this and can damage your brand or reputation. Imagine explaining to a client that their product appeared next to an article that placed doubt on its future.

Google VS MSN Content Placement

Google's content targeting scans the page that the ad is being served on and figures out the contextual topic via the keywords. Google matches the topic to a predetermined list of categories which are then matched to ad groups in the same way.

MSN's model is much simpler as MSN figures out the primary keywords on the page and then looks for ad groups that have those keywords in it. One good feature of MSN content is that it's set at the ad group level vs. the campaign level with Google. Setting up each Ad Group on content can be more time consuming on MSN but allows for fine tuning and optimisation in the future.

Expensive Option
If you were interested in running a content campaign like below there is also large minimum spends required to advertise content on high profile networks like Fairfax Digitial which start around $5000 and the average cost per thousands displays average at $18-20,which can quickly spend your budget as the site gets 50,000 to 100,000 visitors a day. This is not saying that content placement doesn't have a role in advertising but currently there are no safeguards in place for controlling negative articles or reviews, that your ads will pay to support.

Example Case 1

Toshiba HD-DVD
There was much speculation about when a decision would be made to concede defeat to Sony Blu-Ray discs, and one very strong article outlined how Toshiba technology had lost the marketing battle and how it was only a matter of time before the unofficial decision was made official. "We have entered the final stage of planning to make our exit from the next generation DVD business," the Toshiba source told Reuters. But while a decision was pending, Toshiba were still advertising their soon to be mothballed product. This is a major example of how not carefully monitoring of placement ads across news all articles can backfire for PR, this was a not really a relevant article to display Toshiba HD-DVD as it had a negative impact on the company as not understanding their market. Toshiba had bought a bulk ad package and had a set amount of Ads that had to be displayed.

If you visit the article today you will find a Telstra advertisment replacing the Toshiba add.

This article was courtesy of SMH.com.au