Semantic targeting
Encyclopedia
Semantic targeting is a technique enabling the delivery of targeted advertising
for advertisements appearing on websites and is used by online publishers
and advertisers
to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns. The selection of advertisements are served by automated systems based on the content displayed to the user.
. The Semantic Web enables the representation of concepts expressed in human language to data in such a way that facilitates automatic processing, where software can programmatically understand and reason how different elements of data are related. The concept of semantic targeting utilises this capability to identify these concepts and the contexts in which they occur, enabling marketers to deliver highly targeted and specific ad campaigns to webpages.
Behavioral targeting
aggregates data based upon a user's viewing of pages from a website. Generally this is facilitated by the placing of a cookie upon the user's PC. The cookie then reports the user's viewing behavior allowing for the identification of patterns of viewing behavior. However, great concern is expressed about the treatment of the user's right to privacy amongst consumer groups and legislators.
Contextual advertising
scans the content of webpages, seeking to identify keywords, against which advertisers have bid to have their ad linked. If a match is made the ad is placed alongside the content, through an automated process. However, such systems are unable to identify the context of the entire page and therefore, a placement could be made against content that is inappropriate, derogatory or insensitive to the subject. They are also unable to identify the sense or meaning of words, leading to a misplacement of ads. For example, the word "orange" can be a color
, a fruit
, a telecommunications company, a mountain bike
, and countless other variants.
. A key difference of semantic targeting to a contextual advertising
system is that, instead of scanning a page for bided keywords, a semantic system examines all the words and identifies the senses of those words. Because most words are polysemous, i.e. have more than one meaning, without having an understanding of the true context in which words occur, it is possible to incorrectly assign an advertisement where there is no contextual link. A semantic targeting system has to examine all the words before it can accurately identify the subject matter of the entire text and deliver an in context advertisement. For example, if the user is viewing a website relating to golf, where that website uses semantic targeting, the user may see advertisements for golf related topics, such as golf equipment, golf holidays etc. Advertisers can locate their ads in given categories using an ontology (computer science)
or taxonomy
, ensuring that their ads will only appear in the context that they request.
Semantic targeting is also capable of identifying the sentiment of a webpage, through effective analysis of the language used on page. Sentiment analysis
can determine whether content is talking about a subject in a positive or negative light. If the page was being detrimental about a particular subject, the semantic targeting system could deter the placement of a related ad alongside the story.
Other capabilities of a semantic targeting system include the availability of brand protection filtering. This can enable the blocking of an ad placed alongside content of a controversial nature. Such systems can deter placement against such subjects as Adult/Erotica, Alcohol, Nudity, Offensive language, Bad News and other such topics. This would then avoid the potentially brand damaging occurrence of, for example, and airline advertising alongside a story about an air disaster.
Targeted advertising
Targeted advertising is a type of advertising whereby advertisements are placed so as to reach consumers based on various traits such as demographics, purchase history, or observed behavior....
for advertisements appearing on websites and is used by online publishers
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
and advertisers
Online advertising
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web to deliver marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, blogs, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, interstitial...
to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns. The selection of advertisements are served by automated systems based on the content displayed to the user.
Origins
Semantic Targeting has originated from the developments arising from Semantic WebSemantic Web
The Semantic Web is a collaborative movement led by the World Wide Web Consortium that promotes common formats for data on the World Wide Web. By encouraging the inclusion of semantic content in web pages, the Semantic Web aims at converting the current web of unstructured documents into a "web of...
. The Semantic Web enables the representation of concepts expressed in human language to data in such a way that facilitates automatic processing, where software can programmatically understand and reason how different elements of data are related. The concept of semantic targeting utilises this capability to identify these concepts and the contexts in which they occur, enabling marketers to deliver highly targeted and specific ad campaigns to webpages.
The evolution of online advertising
The targeting of advertising to specific micro segments is a fundamental requirement for an effective ad campaign. The two methods of targeting of recent times have been behavioral targeting and contextual targeting. It is now generally accepted that these forms have pitfalls for both advertiser and consumer.Behavioral targeting
Behavioral targeting
Behavioral targeting is a technique used by online publishers and advertisers to increase the effectiveness of their campaigns.Behavioral targeting uses information collected on an individual's web-browsing behavior, such as the pages they have visited or the searches they have made, to select...
aggregates data based upon a user's viewing of pages from a website. Generally this is facilitated by the placing of a cookie upon the user's PC. The cookie then reports the user's viewing behavior allowing for the identification of patterns of viewing behavior. However, great concern is expressed about the treatment of the user's right to privacy amongst consumer groups and legislators.
Contextual advertising
Contextual advertising
Contextual advertising is a form of targeted advertising for advertisements appearing on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile browsers...
scans the content of webpages, seeking to identify keywords, against which advertisers have bid to have their ad linked. If a match is made the ad is placed alongside the content, through an automated process. However, such systems are unable to identify the context of the entire page and therefore, a placement could be made against content that is inappropriate, derogatory or insensitive to the subject. They are also unable to identify the sense or meaning of words, leading to a misplacement of ads. For example, the word "orange" can be a color
Color
Color or colour is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, green, blue and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors...
, a fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
, a telecommunications company, a mountain bike
Mountain bike
A mountain bike or mountain bicycle is a bicycle created for off-road cycling. This activity includes traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines,...
, and countless other variants.
How semantic targeting works
Semantic targeting aims to match the specific context of content on page within a website to an available advertising campaignAdvertising campaign
An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication...
. A key difference of semantic targeting to a contextual advertising
Contextual advertising
Contextual advertising is a form of targeted advertising for advertisements appearing on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile browsers...
system is that, instead of scanning a page for bided keywords, a semantic system examines all the words and identifies the senses of those words. Because most words are polysemous, i.e. have more than one meaning, without having an understanding of the true context in which words occur, it is possible to incorrectly assign an advertisement where there is no contextual link. A semantic targeting system has to examine all the words before it can accurately identify the subject matter of the entire text and deliver an in context advertisement. For example, if the user is viewing a website relating to golf, where that website uses semantic targeting, the user may see advertisements for golf related topics, such as golf equipment, golf holidays etc. Advertisers can locate their ads in given categories using an ontology (computer science)
Ontology (computer science)
In computer science and information science, an ontology formally represents knowledge as a set of concepts within a domain, and the relationships between those concepts. It can be used to reason about the entities within that domain and may be used to describe the domain.In theory, an ontology is...
or taxonomy
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
, ensuring that their ads will only appear in the context that they request.
Semantic targeting is also capable of identifying the sentiment of a webpage, through effective analysis of the language used on page. Sentiment analysis
Sentiment analysis
Sentiment analysis or opinion mining refers to the application of natural language processing, computational linguistics, and text analytics to identify and extract subjective information in source materials....
can determine whether content is talking about a subject in a positive or negative light. If the page was being detrimental about a particular subject, the semantic targeting system could deter the placement of a related ad alongside the story.
Other capabilities of a semantic targeting system include the availability of brand protection filtering. This can enable the blocking of an ad placed alongside content of a controversial nature. Such systems can deter placement against such subjects as Adult/Erotica, Alcohol, Nudity, Offensive language, Bad News and other such topics. This would then avoid the potentially brand damaging occurrence of, for example, and airline advertising alongside a story about an air disaster.