When we talk about retargeting, we tend to focus on concepts like customization, relevancy and personalization. It’s only natural to surmise that to truly reach the right customers, you need to be as precise as possible in attempting to target them. Plus, providing more relevant content always increasing the chance of conversion.

This lesson can be applied to the Internet as a whole, as web users are increasingly turning to customized and specialized sites to find what they need – think Amazon.

Let’s take it a step further, say you’re trying to rent a car. You might navigate to Google and type “car rentals” in the search box. But you also might just navigate directly to Priceline.com or Orbitz.com and have a look around. So, as a smart advertiser how can you be sure that you’re targeting users who are navigating directly to website and bypassing search engines in conjunction with retargeting campaigns?

First, utilize search retargeting in conjunction with site retargeting to ensure you catch those who are using search engines and also those visiting your own site directly. Why? Because, search retargeting is a highly effective targeting technique that allows you to reach online consumers based on search behavior – so you learn what they like.  Now, to reach the millions of consumers who are actively searching for products, services and topics across the web by navigating directly to websites you need to utiize keyword contextual targeting. It allows you to serve your ad to users based on keywords contained in the pages they visit. So, if a user navigates to Priceline.com without performing a search you can still target that user after they leave Priceline.com based on the keywords contained in the page they visited.

Another example would be a user who lands on a travel site, clicks on the hotels tab, then clicks on the conveniently placed link for hotels in Maui and two drop down menus later this user’s  investigation is complete. However, in utilizing keyword contextual targeting you can serve your own ad for a Maui hotel to that same consumer after they’ve left the page on the travel site based on the keywords.

Leveraging intent based keyword data in display adveritsing aids in increasing relevancy, personalization and customization and we predict will continue to grow. The ability to expand keyword based targeting with contextual display gives advertisers the ability to reach in market searchers who do not perform a search. Ultimately, allowing advertisers to begin a conversation earlier in the decision making process with their target audience, resulting in more robust long term strategy.

Learn more by contacting us.