Content Clasification = Better Monetization

In my previous blog, I had discussed the what, why and where of content classification as well as how it brings more value to a Web publisher’s inventory. In this blog, I will discuss how a publisher can create more value by keeping the content classification dynamic and granular.

Content classification can be a one-off activity. As a publisher you can go through your entire published site and determine the what, why & where of the content, and come out with a list of content topics that represent your content. In such cases, you will tend to define high-level topics and broader categories for your content. If your advertisers are looking to target based on such broad categorization of sites (for example, travel, entertainment, sports, etc.), then this one-off categorization process of content works just fine. On the other hand, if the advertisers are looking to target specific granular content categories such as pages with information on retirement plans for seniors or hybrid cars with electrical option, then you need to have content classification as an on-going activity.

As you know that most online content is not static. As content changes, you need to make sure that the content classification also stays current & relevant. Depending on the nature of the content of your site and the extent to which you want the advertisers to value your site for advertisement, you should look to automate the content classification process either through an in-house initiative or with the help of a 3^rd party company that specializes in content classification. There are specialist 3^rd party content classification companies who have developed advanced algorithms to crawl online content, differentiate the ad content from the actual page content, determine the overall page quality signals, classify each page as brand safe or not using various criteria, and provide content categories for those pages to advertisement buyers for targeting & filtering purposes. Depending on the integration mechanism with these 3^rd party technologies, the content categories can be as close as near real time, allowing advertisers to make more relevant & timely offers to online viewers.

As a publisher of the content online, it is in your interest to have your content classified comprehensively, accurately, and make it available for monetization. At the same time, you may want to choose which buyers have access to content categories for their campaigns, thereby creating value through a selection process. You may also want to put a cost structure in place so that you attract those serious buyers who value the content and the quality of the viewers that frequent your sites. One big side advantage of content classification is monitoring the overall health of your site. Once you know your content down to page level including the user-generated content (UGC), you can continue to control & improve quality of your content, thereby providing a quality user experience. A win-win situation for all – you, viewers, and advertisers.

Tags: advertising, Content Classification, Makhija, Monetization