4 Reasons Contextual Targeting Matters More than Ever | Criteo
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4 Reasons Contextual Targeting Matters More than Ever
Contextual targeting is taking center stage. Learn the 4 reasons why it's a trending strategy for marketers.
Updated on November 17, 2025
Contextual targeting has been around for nearly two decades, gaining prominence in the early 2000s thanks to Google AdSense. But over the years, the allure and promise of Big Data and behavioral targeting have pushed it into the background.
Because of the reasons we detail below, contextual targeting is taking center stage and serving as one solution for digital advertising in a post-cookie world. But first, a definition.
What is Contextual Targeting?
Contextual targeting matches an ad to a website page, based on the content of that page. The focus is on the content that is being consumed – not who is consuming it.
Traditional contextual targeting is done by matching keywords on the page with keywords that you want to target. It can also work on a category level basis.
Why is Contextual Targeting Top of Mind Now?
A perfect storm of factors has made now a pivotal moment for contextual targeting campaigns:
1. It addresses brand safety and suitability concerns.
Contextual targeting solves for this, ensuring that ads are only showing next to content that is relevant to their offering.
2. It doesn’t rely on third-party cookies.
Contextual targeting is one such option. Because it doesn’t target specific users, it doesn’t rely on third-party cookies in any way.
3. It still delivers a great customer experience.
Providers in the space report that contextual targeting drives better performance than behavioral targeting.
4. It’s way smarter than it used to be.
Today, natural language processing (NLP) allows for a deeper understanding of the context and sentiment of each page.
Contextual Targeting…or Contextual Intelligence?
Its AI-powered ability to identify relevant, safe placements has earned it a new name: “contextual intelligence”.
Author
Ann revels in finding the simplest and clearest way to convey a thought. Her favorite word is 'moxie', which she tries to embody whenever possible. She's been developing content strategies and writing for the tech and B2B space for more than a decade.