The Power of Keyword Cohorts
Most view advertising cohorts as a singular solution that is always based on behavioral data. The reality is that innovative new developments are being made utilizing the cohort approach without being forced to lean on behavioral data.
Putting Keywords First
While behavioral cohorts group users based on their actions online, keyword cohorts are focused on grouping engagement with specific keywords. The difference being that the underlying algorithm is fed specific data on where to focus across sites and platforms, regardless of the user’s behavior beyond that data. This means that an auto company can deploy targeted campaigns based on the keyword engagement of “vehicle safety” or “automatic cars”, enabling a more precise and private system of targeting.
Keyword cohorts make it possible to group keywords around intent to purchase, with no visibility into user’s sensitive information. If a user engages with a specific keyword at a specific time, the algorithm can take note and actually group anonymized individuals based on their interests. This keyword-first approach is transformative for businesses in considered purchase path industries, as data over time allows for optimization and improvement of targeting all without privacy-overreach.
Avoiding specific keywords ensures that only non-sensitive information is being used for cohort groupings. While engagement with a single keyword doesn’t provide the clearest picture of an audience, clarity forms as soon as keywords are clustered.
Keyword Clusters
The magic begins to happen when keywords are clustered together for the purposes of advertising campaigns. Through this process, it becomes easier to refine cohorts while still remaining completely private. As users engage with multiple keywords, their cohort groupings become more nuanced. Given that all of the keywords being tracked are pre-determined, there are no concerns about sensitive information entering the mix.
Let’s take for example a user that is on the path of purchasing a new car. The automotive company that aims to convert that user can pinpoint the top 25 keywords most likely to demonstrate interest in their unique offering. Engagement with “best family cars” doesn’t demonstrate much intent, however as soon as you begin to cluster additional keywords based on their engagement like, “vehicle safety”, “used cars”, “Chicago car dealerships”, the intent to purchase becomes more obvious.
All of this delivers accuracy around what groups of users are interested in, and what point on the path to purchase they are at. This is how keyword cohorts flip the script by grouping keywords first, and then tracking engagement with those keywords instead of tracking user’s behavior in a broader sense.
Mapping the Open Internet
In order to deliver keyword cohorts that continually provide results, ReverseAds is constantly mapping the millions of pages on the open internet. Most businesses don’t consider this expanding ecosystem as a viable advertising opportunity because it is so sprawling. 1.2 billion websites exist across the open internet, and 175 new ones are created every minute. This represents a massive resource for keyword data, and one that is continually expanding.
The keyword data collected across the open internet is extremely relevant for businesses. This is because 61% of internet users start their search for products/services on the open internet. The keywords being engaged with here are valuable for that reason. By data-mining all of these sites for keywords, ReverseAds is able to constantly pull and classify the most relevant keywords that demonstrate intent, and cluster them in ways that are aligned with how they are being used across websites.
Every web page is crawled to pinpoint the keywords related to a product or service being considered. As keywords accumulate, a buyer’s profile begins to take shape and connections are made. The data that we collect is used to fuel our keyword cohort, and predict purchasing decisions based on engagement. Crawling the open internet and using AI to match keywords related to a range of content hosted on websites allows us to better understand which keywords drive specific purchasing decisions. This is the connecting of dots to accurately predict where users are heading without sacrificing privacy.
A Shifting Perspective
We’re at an industry turning point, as many AdTech platforms explore targeting methods that maintain privacy and deliver the right ads to the right audience. It’s easy to get distracted by Google’s 180 on FloC. The pushback received on their behavioral cohorts should not be a reflection of the power that cohorts hold overall. This technology still represents real potential for businesses that understand how to utilize it. Focusing on keyword cohorts instead of behavioral cohorts shifts the spotlight from users to the content they engage with, thus improving privacy and performance.
ReverseAds is at the forefront of this industry shift, providing an alternative to behavioral cohorts. We deliver access to this through an app purpose-built for the cookie-less future. Our technology is addressing the need for privacy-forward solutions that deliver new advertising experiences across the open internet.
