Basically, contextual advertising is a method of reaching users. It is a technology that allows advertisers to send real-time targeted messages to consumers while the consumer surfs the Net.
Effectiveness: Unlike other types of advertising that depend on clicking a banner ad or text ad, contextual advertising is more effective because it produces better results.
Behavioral marketing: Contextual advertising is basically behavioral marketing because it targets the user’s online habits and behavior. It focuses on what the user does.
Web site betterment: Websites can improve their ability to reach users by showing ads that are relevant to what the user is looking for.
Search engine marketing: In most cases, contextual advertising is used by search engines by showing you ads that are according to the keyword you used.
Target search results: Many advertisers use contextual advertising as a way to display ads to visitors based on what they are looking for. The user inputs a keyword into the search engine and the search engine displays the URLs along with the contextual ads for the user to view.
Target URLs: Advertisers also use contextual advertising to target specific URLs containing related content that the user wants. When a user clicks on an ad they show the advertiser this is what they want. Therefore, they record this website as what the user wants. In turn the site becomes potential revenue for the advertiser.