Advertisers to get more control over contextual ad campaigns

Google will soon enable their advertisers to bid on contextual ads on pre-selected websites. The new function will give advertisers more control over the quality of websites on which their brands will appear, the current AdSense model does not allow for this level of refinement and nor does Microsoft's AdCenter or Yahoo's Search Marketing.

But Quigo, a New York-based start up, is already taking contextual advertising up a notch. Not only can they provide brand advertisers with the assurance of being seen where they dictate by bidding for placements on specific sites, they can also filter out undesirable websites and receive reports on the effectiveness of individual placements.

Another attraction for advertisers is that Quigo's branding doesn't appear on any of the ads it serves.

It’s about time that Google and Yahoo had some stiff competition. Whilst Quigo controls less than 10 percent of the contextual ad market, it has been attracting some big names. Over the last eighteen months, companies such as ESPN, Cox Newspapers, FoxNews, CareerBuilder.com and, most recently, Forbes.com have moved their business to Quigo. Jim Spanfeller, Forbes.com’s chief executive, said that leaving Google for Quigo was “a dollar-and-cent thing.”

Google appear unruffled. Kim Malone, director of online sales and operations for AdSense, said they have “a large number of publishers who have tried out other solutions, and they have always come back.”

Tags: AdSense, contextual advertising, Forbes.com, Google, Quigo, search marketing, Yahoo