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Keyword Advertising
Practical Law Glossary Item 5-508-2390 (Approx. 3 pages)
Glossary
Keyword Advertising
Online and mobile advertising where an advertiser pays for its ad to appear based on the relevance of a specified term or phrase (keyword). The advertiser is said to purchase the keyword, and typically it is not necessary that the keyword actually appear in the ad. Common forms of keyword advertising include:
- Search advertising. An ad may appear when a user conducts an internet search of the keyword. Typically, the ad appears when a user types the keyword in a search box, either alone or as part of a phrase. A keyword ad also may appear when a user clicks on a link programmed by the website operator to trigger a search of the term.
- Contextual advertising. The ad appears based on the relevance of the keyword to the content of a web page. Typically, relevance is determined based on the ad server's algorithm.
- In-text advertising. Keywords that appear in the text of a web page are shown as hypertext, and the ad appears when a user points its cursor on (mouses over) the term.
Although the law remains unsettled in the US and many other jurisdictions, the use of another party's trademark as a keyword may constitute trademark infringement if it triggers the appearance of a misleading advertisement. For more information on keyword advertising, see Practice Notes, Online Advertising and Marketing: Keywords and Brand Protection Online: Keyword Advertising.